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Higher degrees no key to success
(ST Forum 11 August 2003)

THE speed of innovation and change is a major reason why formal education is no longer the key to success that it once was.

Acquiring new job skills and mastering the application of relevant new technology while working boosts a career more than having several higher degrees.

The material taught in an academic setting is usually based on technology and knowledge that is about 10 years behind what is happening in business at the moment.

It takes about that long for business knowledge to move from direct experiences to a form where it can be packaged and taught in a university course, by a professor with sufficient knowledge.

One facet of American business that is hard to grasp for people who have spent many years earning higher degrees is the number of people with a bachelor's degree whose earnings and advancement outpace those with several master's degrees.

However, the reasons are not mysterious when the differences between academia and work are understood.

A person who has spent 10 years earning degrees has effectively removed himself from business or work.

By contrast, a person who has spent most of that time working will have direct experience, which has a higher economic value.

More critically, the experience of the person who has been working is far more up to date than that of the student.

This indicates that the formal education systems of the past, which effectively removed people from work, are now obsolete.

Universities will need to adopt far more flexible approaches to teaching, including online and evening courses as well as other non-traditional methods.

If they cannot innovate, then the value of their degrees will drop as graduates find themselves falling farther behind colleagues who do not pursue academic achievements.


BRIAN LYNCH
Texas, USA

"GUA CAYA AH SAMA LU BRIAN!"