''Anyone with mediocre intellect, some spare time, and some money (or student loans) can obtain credentials. Credentials are mostly obtained through committing lots of “facts” as defined by a pre-established school of thought, into the short-term memory in order to answer enough of the questions correctly to obtain a passing grade. The information itself may or may not even be correct. Even the information dispersed from some of the world’s most respected learning institutions is just as prone to error, blindness, corruption, and manipulation as any other.Credentials and knowledge are not the same thing. And even the accumulation of vast amounts of knowledge doesn’t yield the only true metric of having acquired useful information – expertise. Expertise comes from learning broadly and passionately, subjecting that information to the intense scrutiny of critical thinking and differing opinion, keenly observing the real-world application of that information, building useful skills along the way, and then communicating it in a relatable way.
Credentials are becoming increasingly irrelevant in today’s modern information age. Go to college? Are you kidding me? Going to college to learn something is like wearing headphones to a concert. I mean, “Mr. Borophyll is up there talking about god knows what” when you could be reading dozens of studies, watching informational videos, communicating directly with dozens of leading pioneers in any field and asking specific questions, and even perusing the curricula of Ivy League classes – all with a few clicks of a button at hyperspeed. Not only that, but you can be learning about what you are interested in, precisely when you are interested in it, which yields accelerated learning and greatly-heightened retention and comprehension of the information learned.''
-Matt Stone
Credentials are becoming increasingly irrelevant in today’s modern information age. Go to college? Are you kidding me? Going to college to learn something is like wearing headphones to a concert. I mean, “Mr. Borophyll is up there talking about god knows what” when you could be reading dozens of studies, watching informational videos, communicating directly with dozens of leading pioneers in any field and asking specific questions, and even perusing the curricula of Ivy League classes – all with a few clicks of a button at hyperspeed. Not only that, but you can be learning about what you are interested in, precisely when you are interested in it, which yields accelerated learning and greatly-heightened retention and comprehension of the information learned.''
-Matt Stone
As someone who is a self taught artist, (30+ years and still learning) I say: 'Great Post', and I shall remember it went credential-ed fools try to talk down to me because they have...art school credentials.
ReplyDeleteRight on Stephanie. Its your pedigree, not degree that matters :)
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