With all those MBA degrees and business schools, this really does sound ironic, doesn’t it?
The dynamic spirit of enterprising crushes the static pillars education tried to build. Education is all about ‘let me teach you the way’ and enterprising says, “Thank you very much but there is nothing as satisfying as finding my way.”
So a degree in enterprising will really be one of the greatest ironies.
99 or None?
Here is a question for you educated ones:
‘There were 100 sheep in a farm, one found a way to escape. How many were left?’
Educated One: 99
Enterprising One: none – if one finds a way, why’d others stay behind.
The static maths of education cannot calculate the dynamics of life without accounting for the mindset (read: intent).
What Experts Think
The other day I was talking to Mohit, he runs L-Pad, once he had an institute for enterprising and MBA. He told me that it took him two years to realize that enterprising and MBA are completely opposite things. MBA teaches you systems and how to follow them, while enterprising breaks the system and creates new.
“MBA is training house for big corporate” – Mohit Bansal
On a similar note, during my interview with Nick Tart, co-author of50 Interviews: Young Entrepreneurs and blogger at JuniorBiz, we talked about how 99% of people in his university studying business are going to get a job.
Irony? No! All these courses and degrees are rat races, something no entrepreneur believes in.
‘I was born intelligent but education ruined me’ this T-Shirt slogan is always coming true, I see a lot of kids (my age) wasting their talents in name of school. World can’t afford to lose those brilliant minds. Here is a TED Talk that says more:
We don’t need no education. – Pink Floyd
I think education should be used just as a skill. It should be process of honing your skills and not a series of stuff you go through. As Sir Robinson says – it needs to be organic.
What is your take on this? Do you think Education is really doing what it started out to do? Is it really education or just a training system?
Photo by TouTouke
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Awesome dude !!
Yea, thanks. Get a GRAVATR
Hey King! First of all… killer headline! And thanks for the mention/links.
I will always, always encourage people to go to college/university and get an education. There is something invaluable about going through that experience. Entrepreneurship will teach you more than a standard education and that knowledge will be a lot more targeted and relevant to your life, but going to school opens some incredible opportunities.
Education and academia can do a much better job of teaching more practical advice and less theoretical concepts, but that experience did not kill the entrepreneur inside of me. In fact, it nurtured it. But this doesn’t mean that everyone will have that same experience.
Good one, King!
P.S. Interviewed Adora today!
:D!!! Waiting for the exceprt. I hope it went well.
Yo Nick,
Links are free, context is what needs to be earned :P
School does that for sure and it does have a good effect on entrepreneurs beacuse if it were not for such experience to be there, we would never think of something better as our lives. So they benefit termendously. But just wanted to make it clear that is it, there is not much that people can or should expected out of education.
Cheers Nick! This one was close to my heart!
Hey King, great article. Also, I apologise in advance for this long comment, haha.
Personally I see both sides of the argument:
For education: It gives you vital life experience. Without being educated it seems certain that entrepreneurs would not have as much knowledge in how to run a business. For example, you can have the best idea in the world but if you don’t know how to implement it in to an effective business plan, how will you benefit from it?
Against Education: It gives everyone a set way to think (as you said in the article). Education will teach everyone the same way and not really cater for individual needs, so personalities won’t really be nurtured.
I think your article is really about ‘is education killing INNOVATION‘, not ‘is education killing ENTREPRENEURS (and the entrepreneurial spirit)‘.
In which case, again, there’s positives and negatives. People will still think for themselves regardless of education, but going to school/university will set that initial base for the entrepreneurs to build on.
Look at it like this:
I have a brilliant idea, something that will completely change the way we connect with each other. It could make millions (or even billions) of dollars, but I didn’t go to school. I don’t know how to go through the research and development stages properly, I can’t write a proper business plan, I don’t know how to connect with other entrepreneurs who can help me.
So, am I going to make this product a success? Probably not.
Sorry for rambling, I’m going on a bit here, so I’ll summarise.
My point is this:
Education can undoubtedly crush a bit of the creative spirit. However, in my opinion entrepreneurs are born that way. They’ll always be thinking of ideas and new innovations regardless of how they’re taught.
School and education will, however, set a guideline of how to run a business (etc), but this is only a guideline, and true entrepreneurs will still innovate and BUILD on that.
Education doesn’t produce a finished person. It produces a base for the entrepreneur to build on.
Hope that made sense :)
Simon,
ThemeCave.com
Don’t apologize! There is nothing better than a heart-felt comment. Speaks of success of the post.
Nice point ‘for’ it man. But still I think education’s role is highly overrated. People figure out anyways. Education is not the way; it is one of the ways. Don’t you agree?
When I go about defining entrepreneurs, I really think of them as creative and innovative or they are just white-collar-businessman. But if you are to be Gandalf the Grey that you are meant to be then innovation, passion, creativity and money are all important.
Tried to look your way, reminded me of Ford. He knew nothing of cars and engines as such but he did it. But I see what you are getting at – social skills. But I will tell you what, for completion of your dream all you need is you and then all other co-operative components fall in place. They have to.
Loved your rant, it’s not rant after all, leading edge of thought more like.
Made sense, dude. It absolutely did.
Thanks for such an awesome comment. I am glad I could speak to your heart too.
Hi King,
I think you have made some great points against education. But, one thing that a formal education provides you is access to other people and exposure to new ideas that you may not have been exposed to before. Sure, there are other ways to meet people, but knowing that everyone is there with the same reason as you – to learn- provides a powerful thread betwee people. I also think it’s a fantastic growth opportunity for many people.
Hey Karen!
Great to see you here!
Yes you are right, the only point I want to make trough this post is – it is highly overrated.
But you are right in every point you made.
Hope to see you here more often.
I do agree that education tends to limit creativity, but it depends on how you look at it.
Education produces people who wake up every day and go to work from 9 to 5. They aren’t creative. They aren’t innovative. They are trained from day one to get a good education so they can go to a good university, and get a good job.
As someone who has created his own business from scratch, part of me really dislikes that ideal. However, I keep in mind that without that ideal, I wouldn’t have the necessary food chain in place to keep my business running. Really, I wouldn’t have any of the (relatively) plush existence that I enjoy today.
I guess my point is that if everyone is the creative, enterprising type, you don’t have any worker bees to keep the infrastructure running. From CEOs to mid level management to office workers all the way down to the guy that drives the trash truck every Tuesday, they’re all necessary “evils.”
Did you ever think that maybe a system that molds everyone to fit into one box allows the truly creative individuals to really shine?
I should also say that I come from a family of “worker bees” and have a ton of respect for people who live that life. Its something I would have a tough time doing and it requires making a lot of sacrifices. There’s certainly not anything wrong with being a “9-5er”
WTF? I just replied to my own comment and it deleted the original…
Yea, the comments need moderation before they are published (just once) that’s why they disappeared.
brain fart…we all have our moments ;)
Well, you make a really valid point. But I really disagree.
Not all creative people want to be entrepreneurs. Some of them really like to serve. So uninspired workers that education produces won’t deliver their best to themselves, let alone you. But inspired creative (will always think in self interest) but will deliver the best.
An inspired person is always more powerful than 1000 uninspired / motivated (same thing) person.
Young people are like that: http://www.64notes.com/handle-geny-talent
Thanks for the heart felt comment man. It evoked clarity from me :)
Also, I so agree that the limited environment education provides (irony) proves creativity. All I want to say is “I’ve had enough” – and most of the people in my generation would agree.
Can I just say that I am SO seeing eye-to-eye with you here? Maybe because the same point about “wageslaves make your creative path possible” has tormented me in the past, until I realized the even bigger picture at work, regarding a fully-empowered world that we have yet to achieve. I love how you articulated these ideas here.
OOh! yay! So nice to see someone who sees what I see. Three cheers to us who see what we see.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart. The only people most current modes of education are working for, are those who are questioning it at every step and carving out their own paths. I’m at design school, and every day I think about dropping out to devote 100% of my time to my own vision, already! But some of the learning is intuitive and precious and cultivate the yet rough edges of my ability. Creativity (and isn’t that what entrepreneurship really is?) has to be nurtured, and if you can use education to help you “find your own way,” more power to you. Unfortunately, this is not how our systems are set up. And therefore my idealism hardly rings true for most students/would-be entrepreneurs. What we need is an educational revolution, not necessarily a complete overthrowing of education in itself :)
Thank you for writing this. I only recently discovered your myriad of websites, but am already incredibly impressed.
Hey Tessa!
Thanks for stopping by! I see what you see :P And I really like your idea of education helping out you to “find your own way”. What a profound vision. Yes it’snot true yet but so what? We will make it true – we can and we have to. Nothing else will do.
Thank you so much for this comment. Gave me a new perspective and a hope that things will change for good. A hope that there are people like me who believe in this change. I am sure we will make it there. Very soon!
Thanks again. Keep visiting :D
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