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Learning to Work

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I don't know how school was for the vast majority of you out there. Heck I don't know what it was like for the minority.

For me it was fairly easy. I learned what I needed to pass tests and write reports and did so with ease. Schoolwork was stripped down to mini-games of find the answer.

And now I sit in 'real life' staring at 'work' and wondering why 'just finding the answer' doesn't work as well as it used to.

To advance, to make it to the top, you don't 'just find the answer' faster than others. You spend your time finding out why. You spend your time finding the right questions. You delve into how things work, not just which buttons you need to press. You answer your boss' question and then ask insightful ones of your own. You dig and research and develop tools to make digging and researching easier in the future.

Its incredibly frustrating to me. I feel like a backyard dog that is used to simple games of fetch being transplanted into a world where all the other dogs are Lassie. I don't even know who Timmy bloody is! All the ball-throwing-things are the -same- to me! And what is a "well" anyways? Bleh lets just go find new smells and take a nap.

Obviously this isn't going to cut it....
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Anonymous said…
I am a high school teacher, and I've been trying to get this through the heads of my students for my whole career. I'm actually going to print what you wrote and post it in my classroom, if you don't mind.

In reality, nothing prepares you for "real life." It is something you just have to figure out the hard way.
May 12, 2008 at 5:44:00 AM MDT
Anonymous said…
School teaches you rules, most of the time. In Math, you learn that its a rule that when you see a + sign, you add the things on both sides together. In English, you learn the rules of forming a proper sentence and such.

Now in RL, we need to use these rules to do what school doesn't teach enough of... real life problem solving.

My dad and my friends dad told me something so many times that its burned into my head. "If you're going to do something, don't half-a$$ it". This is where your R&D comes in. In RL problem solving it's not enough to find an answer quickly, but to find the BEST answer, which normally isn't the quickest.

There are many ways to build a doghouse, but to build the BEST doghouse that could withstand abuse and such takes a lot more time and know-how. This know-how is through the research, experience, and being patient.

Finding an answer quickly is easy.... it's called Duct Tape. However, if you want to repair that doghouse correctly, we need to learn how this stuff works and what works best.

I could go on, but I'm a lazy typist today :)
May 12, 2008 at 6:30:00 AM MDT
Dammerung said…
@Dinaer-paragraph1 feel free to take whatever you like.

@Dinaer-paragraph2 so true

@klaki-paragraph3 Yeah...that sums it up.
May 12, 2008 at 10:29:00 AM MDT
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