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While I don't disagree with what he's saying, there is a nuance that isn't coming across that is pretty important: It's not just about entrepreneurship - every

While I don't disagree with what he's saying, there is a nuance that isn't coming across that is pretty important: It's not just about entrepreneurship - every real business is steeped in stuff that just can't (or shouldn't be) taught in school. Business school theory is meant to be general, and sometimes painfully high-level in its focus. BUT! That doesn't make the knowledge and experience of business school worthless or something that has to be "unlearned". A broad knowledge of business practice and theory is not a substitute for practical domain experience and knowledge. It is a great compliment, however. It seems trendy to dismiss MBA's (the degrees, not the people) as worthless, or even worse, apologize for having one. The truth is far less sensational: It's a degree - nothing more, nothing less. As long as you keep an open mind, all knowledge is good.

slantyyz 16y ago
Agree. There's this presumption that MBAs are robots. I can tell you from experience (although mine predates the explosion of the WWW) that more than half of the people in MBA programs are robots. Having said that, isn't that true for any other degree? In the end, it's not the degree that matters, but the person. Funny thing is that when I did my MBA, the professors were saying that MBAs in Canada (where I'm from) were nothing like the US. MBA's in Canada were taught to be middle managers, while MBAs in the US were taught to be more entrepreneurial (there's no "American dream" in Canada). When you read about the US tech gurus mocking MBAs you get the impression that's clearly not the case. I don't think it's necessarily fair to judge people by the degree, but on the person as a whole - personality, geek level, work experience, etc.
- Tamerlin 16y ago
  "Having said that, isn't that true for any other degree? In the end, it's not the degree that matters, but the person." Yes, definitely -- there are a lot of cultures that place more value on the degree than on anything else, and these are cultures that emphasize rote learning and memorization. Rote learning and memorization are worthless in the long run, since the avoid training you to think for yourself and actually USE the information you've crammed into your head, but it's also a lot easier to teach by telling your students to memorize things than to think. I ran into exactly the same thing in biology, and a close friend of mine ran into it in medical school. He told me about some of the explanations that his med school compatriots offered up -- they demonstrated a glaring lack of understanding of basic physics and chemistry (we're talking high school stuff, not even college level knowledge here).

slantyyz 16y ago

Agree. There's this presumption that MBAs are robots. I can tell you from experience (although mine predates the explosion of the WWW) that more than half of the people in MBA programs are robots. Having said that, isn't that true for any other degree? In the end, it's not the degree that matters, but the person. Funny thing is that when I did my MBA, the professors were saying that MBAs in Canada (where I'm from) were nothing like the US. MBA's in Canada were taught to be middle managers, while MBAs in the US were taught to be more entrepreneurial (there's no "American dream" in Canada). When you read about the US tech gurus mocking MBAs you get the impression that's clearly not the case. I don't think it's necessarily fair to judge people by the degree, but on the person as a whole - personality, geek level, work experience, etc.

Tamerlin 16y ago
"Having said that, isn't that true for any other degree? In the end, it's not the degree that matters, but the person." Yes, definitely -- there are a lot of cultures that place more value on the degree than on anything else, and these are cultures that emphasize rote learning and memorization. Rote learning and memorization are worthless in the long run, since the avoid training you to think for yourself and actually USE the information you've crammed into your head, but it's also a lot easier to teach by telling your students to memorize things than to think. I ran into exactly the same thing in biology, and a close friend of mine ran into it in medical school. He told me about some of the explanations that his med school compatriots offered up -- they demonstrated a glaring lack of understanding of basic physics and chemistry (we're talking high school stuff, not even college level knowledge here).