Great take on this. The point about substanitive learning happening outside formal education really hits home, especially when you look at how many successful people built expertise through doing rather than sitting in lectures. Your firefighter experience is a perfect example of how purpose-driven work creates real growth. I've seen friends with engineering degrees struggle more than tradespeople who started learning their craft at 18. The apprenticeship model deserves way more credit than it gets these days.
I achieved my MBA later in life and now have to seek a discharge for the loans because I’m still struggling to find a decent role nearly a decade after receiving the degree.
Great take on this. The point about substanitive learning happening outside formal education really hits home, especially when you look at how many successful people built expertise through doing rather than sitting in lectures. Your firefighter experience is a perfect example of how purpose-driven work creates real growth. I've seen friends with engineering degrees struggle more than tradespeople who started learning their craft at 18. The apprenticeship model deserves way more credit than it gets these days.
I achieved my MBA later in life and now have to seek a discharge for the loans because I’m still struggling to find a decent role nearly a decade after receiving the degree.
Exactly!
I bought into that myth, myself:
https://hxlibraries.substack.com/p/when-collegiality-becomes-censorship
https://unbekoming.substack.com/p/anthropological-reversibility