A phrase that I have run into recently is “Experience is so much more important than a piece of paper from a university.” I would tend to agree with that, with one huge caveat: Higher Education is yet another form of experience.

There is no substitute for experiential learning. This is very basis of apprenticeship programs. This is also the reason why many colleges and universities require their students to take internships: To learn hands on.

The idea that experience alone is required to make it in the 21 century is archaic. Today’s jobs require theoretical underpinnings as well as experience. People that work with traumatized kids (like me) need more than just a developed sense of empathy to work with clients. We need to learn about brain development, the development of attitudes and behaviors and we need to know how to write. We need to write up detailed, lucid reports quickly in order to document how our kids’ progress on their treatment.

I’m sure there are other fields that flat out require education and experience. My professors at CDM make it clear the IT field prefers education and experience. Lawyers fall into the same category. This begs the question, why the hate on education? Seriously, why the hate on education? I want to hear a few ideas before I post mine.