The value of education is not just determined by how much you make in money. The greatest value from education is the liberation of the mind. Do not measure the value of your education, formal or otherwise, by paycheck. Rather, try to ascertain how that program has liberated you from dogmas and norms which hitherto could have affected your ability to advance.
The same applies when people write “those fighting for As, where has it taken them?” The argument is that possibly Dangote, Elumelu, Zuckerberg, etc were not the top of their respective classes. Making that argument misses the point: that you made As in school does not mean that you will make “As” as an entrepreneur, doctor, engineer, etc.
This is the point: it is statistically possible that a student who pursued As in school will be a better candidate to be a better doctor, engineer, lawyer, etc largely because of universality of the principles of aiming high, pursuing visions, and working to become the best possible one that be. Applying those principles in anything will deliver better results. But that is not a probability of “1” (i.e. certainty).
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But if I may ask those who throw digital flames to the As makers: does making Es help? I think they cannot provide better data. Yes, making Es does not improve chances either!
When you earn a PhD degree (doctor of philosophy), the school has essentially ascertained that you have mastered logic and philosophy in that field (say Mathematics, Economics, Chemical Engineering, etc). That “philosophy” there goes back to how “education” was structured before the end of the 18th century where all core sciences were studied under natural philosophy.
You get it? Education does one thing: it liberates your mind by helping you to master logic. Do not equate your degree with paycheck. See beyond money as you go to school. Of course, if you master logic of your field, big paycheck follows.
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Comment: If “Es” doesn’t help beause of its Face Value, then “As” don’t equally help due to the hidden inadequacies of its Intrinsic Value.
Elon Musk’s classmates said he never showed signs of exceptional intelligence in school, he didn’t fail at school albeit, but Richard Branson was an academic fiasco, yet their companies make case studies here. Their types make up most of the top successful entrepreneurs.
Michael Faraday who propounded the famous Laws of Electromagnetism that is widely studied in schools and applied world over was completely self-taught, he never set foot in college. Nikola Tesla who capitalised on that theory to invent the AC Motor and many great inventions that power our Post Modern lives had No Degrees.
Meanwhile, Dr. Samuel Langley, a DECORATED PROFESSOR of PHYSICS and MATHEMATICS and president of the Simthsonian Institute who was HEAVILY FUNDED by the government to build the first aeroplane failed, but Wright Brothers, who were bicycle mechanics, did it.
When we make these arguments, it’s not to negate the fact that multitudes of A Students also achieve great success, it’s simply to prove that Education is NOT EQUAL TO Academics whose Promise is now dated, that Education can be Informal too, and adequately so.
My Response: note this – Elon Musk broke records on computer related subjects that the Board requested that he be re-tested. See here . Steve Jobs went to school and largely studied one thing many times. He did not care for other things. In Carnegie Mellon University, we had a student who came, took courses on autonomous vehicles and said he was done. George Hotz went to create Comma AI which turns cars into autonomous vehicles.
You may not believe, it would be hard to find any successful person who did VERY poorly in school in the area he later became successful even though his CGPA may be poor. In other words, Musk made As in computer related courses but possibly struggled in the distractions and that could make his CPGA low. But he was brilliant in his interests. Same for Steve Jobs. Same for Elumelu. Same for Holz. What the press does is not the full story: Mr A made 3.0/4.0 in college without noting that he was above average in one area he cared about!
Musk made all A+ (see link) but he possibly was low on History of South Africa, Afrikaner, etc.
On Tesla, etc, I already wrote “education, formal or otherwise,”
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How many people still see education as liberator of minds? That is where the real problem is. The certificates are meant to be evidences that you studied, unfortunately they have become the education themselves.
The structured learning the school system espouses works for some and doesn’t work for others, yet when it comes to social grading or selection for higher responsibilities, it becomes the defacto criteria, anyone outside it suddenly comes second, the bias is implicit.
Those who speak and write very well already have enormous advantage, it doesn’t matter if they possess practical abilities that make things happen, you wonder why finance guys and lawyers are revered? They rarely have any practical skill, neither are they overflowing with talents, but they decide most things in our world!
Ingenuity runs contrary to what happens in classrooms, the same way certain environments force you to think harder and deeper, but we have somewhat codified everything, so in the order of relevance – a professor or PhD holder will be recognised before a real genius, think about it…