3 ms·

s/education/higher education in liberal arts and business/g. Next time you need surgery, you probably don't want your doctor to have been self taught.

randomdata 10y ago
If resources were infinite, I wouldn't have any concern about a self-taught doctor. If they are smart enough to perform surgery, they're smart enough to figure out how to do it. The challenge the real world presents is that the resources needed to reach that level, such as access to specialized equipment, is not in reach of the average person. It's not like a software development career where a widely available personal computer that can be purchased for hundreds – even tens – of dollars pretty much sums up everything you need to become among the best in the world. What the schools have been able to provide is a place where people can pool their resources to gain shared access to infrastructure. Education comes as a natural consequence of effectively utilizing that infrastructure, of course.
- IgorPartola 10y ago
  Smart does not mean experienced. I don't say this often on HN, but you really have no clue with what you are talking about here.
  - randomdata 10y ago
    Where, exactly, do you think experience comes from? By actually utilizing the aforementioned infrastructure that is not accessible to most people. Nobody becomes a surgeon just by watching a lecture in a classroom. If it were that simple, surgeons really could just watch some Youtube videos. I get the impression you didn't actually stop to take in what I wrote.
SFJulie 10y ago
Having a father who was a surgeon (and quite good), I have enough real life feedback to say that apprenticeship/internship in medecine may matter more than the years of theoretical studies that actually are used mostly for selecting the «right persons». Not to say theoretical education worth naught, I say there is a cursor that is way tilted in favour of theory that costs less and make universities earn more. Let's call it a corporatism behaviour. You don't want a surgeon that was good at school, you want a surgeon that when his hospital is poor will use his earning to buy medical reviews to stay up to date, say fuck to the hospital and take unpaid vacations to go in conferences to stay up to date. You want a surgeon that don't care about his diploma, or the titles but stay focused on his craft and will go on learning without caring for what society legally requires him to do in order to practice.

randomdata 10y ago

If resources were infinite, I wouldn't have any concern about a self-taught doctor. If they are smart enough to perform surgery, they're smart enough to figure out how to do it. The challenge the real world presents is that the resources needed to reach that level, such as access to specialized equipment, is not in reach of the average person. It's not like a software development career where a widely available personal computer that can be purchased for hundreds – even tens – of dollars pretty much sums up everything you need to become among the best in the world. What the schools have been able to provide is a place where people can pool their resources to gain shared access to infrastructure. Education comes as a natural consequence of effectively utilizing that infrastructure, of course.

IgorPartola 10y ago
Smart does not mean experienced. I don't say this often on HN, but you really have no clue with what you are talking about here.
- randomdata 10y ago
  Where, exactly, do you think experience comes from? By actually utilizing the aforementioned infrastructure that is not accessible to most people. Nobody becomes a surgeon just by watching a lecture in a classroom. If it were that simple, surgeons really could just watch some Youtube videos. I get the impression you didn't actually stop to take in what I wrote.

SFJulie 10y ago

Having a father who was a surgeon (and quite good), I have enough real life feedback to say that apprenticeship/internship in medecine may matter more than the years of theoretical studies that actually are used mostly for selecting the «right persons». Not to say theoretical education worth naught, I say there is a cursor that is way tilted in favour of theory that costs less and make universities earn more. Let's call it a corporatism behaviour. You don't want a surgeon that was good at school, you want a surgeon that when his hospital is poor will use his earning to buy medical reviews to stay up to date, say fuck to the hospital and take unpaid vacations to go in conferences to stay up to date. You want a surgeon that don't care about his diploma, or the titles but stay focused on his craft and will go on learning without caring for what society legally requires him to do in order to practice.