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Drake · 11-27-2004, 07:05 PM

Yes it helped indirectly. I couldn't say "they taught me X and I went into the world and did X and became successful as a result", but in general, the critical thinking skills did help. It helps to organize, analyze, and decipher information, and doing that has allowed me to make better informed business decisions.

While it's not absolutely necessary for success, because we can all point to people with little or no education who are wealthy. We shouldn't forget that they are still the minority, and many of them came from the generation where there was less competition and anybody could attend college/university without having to pay enormous sums of money. The world is different now than it was then. It's expensive and very competitive.

The internet has allowed many young adults and many without formal education to become wealthy, but again, that's the minority and once you step offline, you're judged by those degrees that you have or don't have.

I remember being in highschool and disliking English class because I had to struggle in it. I used to think, why do we have to write essays? Why do we have to read so much? Why do we have to give presentations? Now I know. Because in the 'adult' world being able to write clearly (ex. write proposal, job application, website descriptions), to be able to read well (ex. legal documents, industry news), and to be able to speak about topics can and will work in your favor. If you submit a proposal, job application, or article full of spelling errors and grammatical errors, the readers will judge you and think that you're unprofessional (thank goodness for spellcheck and templates lol).

Some people can pick these things up as they go along and don't need formal training.

I think much of it has to do with the subjects you study as well. Beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, you don't require any more mathematical skills for business. You don't need to know calculus, physics, geometry, algebra, or trig for business. Statistics can give you a better understanding of how numbers can be used to manipulate people (ex. 2 out of every 3 doctors recommends Tylonel - well, what kind of doctors are we talking about?).

Philosophy can give you a general perspective on life an you can choose which way you think is best to live. This will effect your decisions in life (ex. if you think all people are scum, you'll likely treat them that way. if you your philosophy is that people are good, but can turn bad thru life experiences, you may give people the benefit of the doubt).

Subjects like sociology and psychology can give you insight into how people and populations behave. For instance most people will do what they see others doing a culture because it's the normative behavior. For example, circumsicion is or was the norm in North America and even with imperical evidence showing it is not necessary, most will have their children circumcized. In other societies, it's females that have to endure it. On an individual basis, you'll find that most people will be behave similarly in a given situation depending on a number of factors. Under the instruction of an 'authority figure' such as a doctor, people will do all kinds of bizarre things they wouldn't agree to do on their own or under the instruction of somebody else.

History and politics are great subjects. Knowing why we're where we are now can give clues to where we're going or where we can go. What if you don't want to study wars? You can study business history. Find out how men like Rockefeller became wealthy. You'll find that the things that separated men like him from you and me isn't very much. Most business men are geniuses, but rather men who are guided by common sense, and many times they're cutthroat individuals whose morality comes into question.

One problem with college/university is that it needs to rely on memorizing work in order to test people's intelligence using tests. What happens is that many if not most students focus on memorizing work rather than being interested in what they're learning. There are probably just as many followers as their are leaders in college/university as their are in the outside world. For many, college is merely a stepping stone to a big paying job, so the process of being engaged in learning never takes place for them. In a business like online adult that gives you hands-on experience, you're engaged because you have to be. You certainly can't learn how to get around in the world by going to any school.

11-27-2004, 07:05 PM
Drake Hello world! Industry Role: Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 12,508	Yes it helped indirectly. I couldn't say "they taught me X and I went into the world and did X and became successful as a result", but in general, the critical thinking skills did help. It helps to organize, analyze, and decipher information, and doing that has allowed me to make better informed business decisions. While it's not absolutely necessary for success, because we can all point to people with little or no education who are wealthy. We shouldn't forget that they are still the minority, and many of them came from the generation where there was less competition and anybody could attend college/university without having to pay enormous sums of money. The world is different now than it was then. It's expensive and very competitive. The internet has allowed many young adults and many without formal education to become wealthy, but again, that's the minority and once you step offline, you're judged by those degrees that you have or don't have. I remember being in highschool and disliking English class because I had to struggle in it. I used to think, why do we have to write essays? Why do we have to read so much? Why do we have to give presentations? Now I know. Because in the 'adult' world being able to write clearly (ex. write proposal, job application, website descriptions), to be able to read well (ex. legal documents, industry news), and to be able to speak about topics can and will work in your favor. If you submit a proposal, job application, or article full of spelling errors and grammatical errors, the readers will judge you and think that you're unprofessional (thank goodness for spellcheck and templates lol). Some people can pick these things up as they go along and don't need formal training. I think much of it has to do with the subjects you study as well. Beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, you don't require any more mathematical skills for business. You don't need to know calculus, physics, geometry, algebra, or trig for business. Statistics can give you a better understanding of how numbers can be used to manipulate people (ex. 2 out of every 3 doctors recommends Tylonel - well, what kind of doctors are we talking about?). Philosophy can give you a general perspective on life an you can choose which way you think is best to live. This will effect your decisions in life (ex. if you think all people are scum, you'll likely treat them that way. if you your philosophy is that people are good, but can turn bad thru life experiences, you may give people the benefit of the doubt). Subjects like sociology and psychology can give you insight into how people and populations behave. For instance most people will do what they see others doing a culture because it's the normative behavior. For example, circumsicion is or was the norm in North America and even with imperical evidence showing it is not necessary, most will have their children circumcized. In other societies, it's females that have to endure it. On an individual basis, you'll find that most people will be behave similarly in a given situation depending on a number of factors. Under the instruction of an 'authority figure' such as a doctor, people will do all kinds of bizarre things they wouldn't agree to do on their own or under the instruction of somebody else. History and politics are great subjects. Knowing why we're where we are now can give clues to where we're going or where we can go. What if you don't want to study wars? You can study business history. Find out how men like Rockefeller became wealthy. You'll find that the things that separated men like him from you and me isn't very much. Most business men are geniuses, but rather men who are guided by common sense, and many times they're cutthroat individuals whose morality comes into question. One problem with college/university is that it needs to rely on memorizing work in order to test people's intelligence using tests. What happens is that many if not most students focus on memorizing work rather than being interested in what they're learning. There are probably just as many followers as their are leaders in college/university as their are in the outside world. For many, college is merely a stepping stone to a big paying job, so the process of being engaged in learning never takes place for them. In a business like online adult that gives you hands-on experience, you're engaged because you have to be. You certainly can't learn how to get around in the world by going to any school.