Definition of "book learning"

Jiro said:
Like I said - it has its strength and weakness. Bill Gates - a college drop-out lost wars against college-educated Scott McNeely (Java), Sergey Brin & Lawrence Page (Google), and Jerry Yang & David Filo (Yahoo).

So are you telling us that we should drop out of colleges and we'd get rich like Bill Gates (or close to it)? Do you realize that these kind of people represent an extremely extremely extremely tiny percentage of successful people?
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As much as I hate to admit it, Jiro is correct on this one.

You could say that Bill Gates is the Henry Ford of the PC and the Internet.
 
book learning (college educated with/without advanced degrees) - Warren Buffet, Alan Greenspan, David Duchovny, Jennifer Connelly, Natalie Portman, Jerry Bruckheimer (psychology degree *GASP*), Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, David Letterman, and.... many more.

All of them are successful... most likely due to their "book learning" as in college education... and incorporating it along with their god-given talents. Although Steve Jobs was a college drop-out, he frequently attributed his success to course he took at college.

and now..... let's look at Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. Both did not attend or complete colleges. No wonder they're so ill-informed about how things work. Compare them to Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. We both know who is much more informed and coherent. :lol:
 
does this mean college education is superior to self-taught? not at all.

Self-Taught - You can read all the books you want and not apply it.
College-Educated - You can get all the educations you want and not apply it.
Neither one is superior to other. Both are equally lazy and dumbass :)

Bottom line - it's entirely up to you to choose to be self-taught or college-educated. All you have to do is put it to use... for greater good (or nefarious purpose). :cool2:
 
Jiro said:
does this mean college education is superior to self-taught? not at all.

Self-Taught - You can read all the books you want and not apply it.
College-Educated - You can get all the educations you want and not apply it.
Neither one is superior to other. Both are equally lazy and dumbass :)

Bottom line - it's entirely up to you to choose to be self-taught or college-educated. All you have to do is put it to use... for greater good (or nefarious purpose). :cool2:
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:ty: I do try to be widely read on stuff though I haven't done a much reading as in the past and I try to apply what I do know.
 
kokonut said:
Rather pointless to discuss if he should've stayed in school or not. He made his money. Gobs of it.
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My cousin was too smart for college so he dropped out and now he is a CEO of a company that makes visual effects for major studios in Hollywood. Not in Bill Gates' league but a millionaire many times over. He was always disecting computers when we were all kids. While all of us cousins were out playing, he was in his room doing stuff to the computers. I would say that he learned from the books.
 
I was surprised to discover that some ADers here who are highly intelligent and well-educated admitted that they didnt go to college. I admire you all. :)
 
souggy said:
What do you do that is $300 an hour? That means you earn $13,000 per 45-hours week.
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I "work" like two days of the month and I'm good.
I am a professional gambler. When I head out to Vegas it's like christmas for me.
I usually make 2500/hr there. :shock:
I go twice a year. Don't need more.

When I'm out in the field doing interpreting it's usually $75-90 an hour depending on the assignments.

*edit:
I've been gambling since I was 11 year old.
 
shel90 said:
I was surprised to discover that some ADers here who are highly intelligent and well-educated admitted that they didnt go to college. I admire you all. :)
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Admiration for people that who don't go to college?
I find that funny :P

Let me tell you something - you should go to college, everyone should for that matter.
There has been jobs I wanted and failed to get because I don't have a paper that states I have an education.
 
posts from hell said:
I "work" like two days of the month and I'm good.
I am a professional gambler. When I head out to Vegas it's like christmas for me.
I usually make 2500/hr there. :shock:
I go twice a year. Don't need more.

When I'm out in the field doing interpreting it's usually $75-90 an hour depending on the assignments.

*edit:
I've been gambling since I was 11 year old.
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How old are you now?
 
shel90 said:
My cousin was too smart for college so he dropped out and now he is a CEO of a company that makes visual effects for major studios in Hollywood. Not in Bill Gates' league but a millionaire many times over. He was always disecting computers when we were all kids. While all of us cousins were out playing, he was in his room doing stuff to the computers. I would say that he learned from the books.
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I'm curious, what is the name of the company if you don't mind telling me?
 
My old friend is extremely intelligent and dyslexic. He holds 181 IQ, and reads over 200 books every year, maybe more. He has degrees (a bachelor and two master degrees), and is a CEO of his company. He is workaholic, and thinks 8 hours of sleeping is overrated, so he sleeps 5 hours of night daily.

....But his major weakness is writing. He writes at the 8th-grade level. Most think he is delayed with his writing skills, but he's not really delayed. He's just too smart to write it.

One of my older brothers has over 160 IQ, and is obsessed with computers, and math. He did go to college, but did not really finish it. Air Force had no problem hiring him to write secret computer programs for fighter planes. Very high security clearance stuff.
 
Jiro said:
So are you telling us that we should drop out of colleges and we'd get rich like Bill Gates (or close to it)? Do you realize that these kind of people represent an extremely extremely extremely tiny percentage of successful people?
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I've said nothing of the kind. Just that there are examples of those who either never went to college or went to college but never finished college have successful careers or businesses. They had their own "book learning" experiences of their own. They can be some of the most informed people in their line of business.
 
This discussion kind of reminds me of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. Like the Wizard told the Scarecrow, he (the Scarecrow) was just as smart as university grads. The only difference was, the university grads had the sheepskin to document their education. After the Wizard awarded the Lion with his "degree", the Scarecrow felt more confident about his brain power. :P

To me, "book learning", means formal education vs. street smarts or life experience. They each have value in varying degrees depending on the situation. "Book learning" without application or experience is great for playing Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, or expounding on a blog but doesn't do much for improving society or daily life. Does anyone want a surgeon who has read every book on the planet about surgery but has never applied a scalpel to a living patient prior to your operation? You might be better off with a combat medic who hasn't attended med school but knows from experience the best way to patch up a wound. Honestly, the best combination would be formal med school training AND hands-on experience.


This is from dictionary.com:

book learning

–noun
1. knowledge acquired by reading books, as distinguished from that obtained through observation and experience.
2. formal education: She thought that common sense was just as important as book learning.
 
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Barbaro said:
My old friend is extremely intelligent and dyslexic. He holds 181 IQ, and reads over 200 books every year, maybe more. He has degrees (a bachelor and two master degrees), and is a CEO of his company. He is workaholic, and thinks 8 hours of sleeping is overrated, so he sleeps 5 hours of night daily.

....But his major weakness is writing. He writes at the 8th-grade level. Most think he is delayed with his writing skills, but he's not really delayed. He's just too smart to write it.

One of my older brothers has over 160 IQ, and is obsessed with computers, and math. He did go to college, but did not really finish it. Air Force had no problem hiring him to write secret computer programs for fighter planes. Very high security clearance stuff.
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about your last paragraph - yep my college roomie was same. High IQ, genius programming but a major fuck-up in college and life. Flunked a lot of courses (college wasn't "up to par" to his level :lol:). a gaming addict. unhealthy lifestyle. no goal in life. I was sad to see him waste his talent to.... games. He programmed codes to quickly level up his characters automatically 24/7. impressive yes but it serves no purpose for him on big picture.

Even though he's a genius, he got fed up with his lifestyle full of disappointment and failure.... so he left college to join Air Force. He's their programmer. I'd say Air Force fixed him up proper and well. He's doing pretty well - working out, keeping it routine, and prioritizing his life. Now he's working on his ph.d. I'm very happy for him and I'm fortunate to be his good friend. :)
 
Reba said:
This discussion kind of reminds me of the Lion in the Wizard of Oz. Like the Wizard told the Lion, he (the Lion) was just as smart as university grads. The only difference was, the university grads had the sheepskin to document their education. After the Wizard awarded the Lion with his "degree", the Lion felt more confident about his brain power. :P

To me, "book learning", means formal education vs. street smarts or life experience. They each have value in varying degrees depending on the situation. "Book learning" without application or experience is great for playing Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit, or expounding on a blog but doesn't do much for improving society or daily life. Does anyone want a surgeon who has read every book on the planet about surgery but has never applied a scalpel to a living patient prior to your operation? You might be better off with a combat medic who hasn't attended med school but knows from experience the best way to patch up a wound. Honestly, the best combination would be formal med school training AND hands-on experience.


This is from dictionary.com:

book learning

–noun
1. knowledge acquired by reading books, as distinguished from that obtained through observation and experience.
2. formal education: She thought that common sense was just as important as book learning.
Click to expand...

I agree. My friend was a combat medic for Rangers for 3 years. No college education at that time. after army - he finished college and now he's doing med school. No doubt that he has advantage over his peers.

it is good to learn from experience but it is also better to get formal education on what you already know from experience. Together - it makes you a solid, formidable person - the best in your field.
 
Jiro said:
I agree. My friend was a combat medic for Rangers for 3 years. No college education at that time. after army - he finished college and now he's doing med school. No doubt that he has advantage over his peers....
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Yeah, he won't pass out at his first cadaver lab.
 
Jiro said:
about your last paragraph - yep my college roomie was same. High IQ, genius programming but a major fuck-up in college and life. Flunked a lot of courses (college wasn't "up to par" to his level :lol:). a gaming addict. unhealthy lifestyle. no goal in life. I was sad to see him waste his talent to.... games. He programmed codes to quickly level up his characters automatically 24/7. impressive yes but it serves no purpose for him on big picture.

Even though he's a genius, he got fed up with his lifestyle full of disappointment and failure.... so he left college to join Air Force. He's their programmer. I'd say Air Force fixed him up proper and well. He's doing pretty well - working out, keeping it routine, and prioritizing his life. Now he's working on his ph.d. I'm very happy for him and I'm fortunate to be his good friend. :)
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:lol:

The only benefit college/university ever gave me was networking. All of my professors knew that I was bored with classes. One of them even said I shouldn't be an undergrad, and suggested I should go elsewhere.

In fact when I dropped out, he was going to hire me as part of his research them in Mississippi to study Mesoamerican culture. Wish I took him up on the offer, but I was really messed up when I dropped out. Maybe I should ring him up to see if the job offer is still there.

Also, at the same time, a palaeontology doctorate asked me if I needed a job when I told the palaeontology department that I ceased my study at the university. Again... same reason; kicking myself for not taking that one up either.

I am happier now that I am working outside... well worked... since I got laid off recently. :\ I am only considering going back because in order to be a teacher... you need a degree nowadays. :roll:
 
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