If your car had an engine problem, will you hire the mechanic who knows how to fix engines? Or the certified mechanic who has no clue on how to fix car engines?
Practical wisdom dictates that you will hire the former. It does not matter if he went to harvard.
The point is not that certification is not useful. The point is that if you want your car fixed, you want to give the job to the guy who understands the assignment.
To be clear, going to school does not mean one will not get the job done. Competence and formal education are not mutually exclusive. Neither does a lack of formal education mean that one is competent.
But the question we are asking ourselves here is, what is the role of formal education?
What does a person get from a school?
Well, school certificates are like a driver’s license.
A driver’s license allows you to legally drive a car on the roads. But many of us have a driver’s license. And very few of us are safari rally drivers.
Academic credentials therefore do not indicate that one has mastered the craft.
But what criteria does a school use to determine who is qualified and who is not? A written examination.
Really? A written exam?
Essentially, school plays the role of a gatekeeper.
Perhaps this gatekeeping is what makes the formal education system to remain out of touch with reality.
Now, is there need for the gatekeepers in this day and age where knowledge, skills and mastery can be acquired outside the classroom?
Life is life
Fabio