Scott Adams: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Scott Adams (of Dilbert Fame) has a funny but insightful post on a new TV game show called “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” The basic idea is that the host, Jeff Foxworthy, asks adults questions about facts covered in grade school - most of which are, Adams points out, “useless crap.”
“If it were up to me to add some classes to the grade school curriculum, I think I’d put more emphasis on these skills: public speaking, risk assessment, bullshit detecting, social skills, decision-making, managing your own body, and influencing people.”
This begs the question: what “useless crap” is being taught in business schools right now that’d we’d all be better off skipping to learn the truly valuable stuff?
Catherine Odelbo of Morningstar thinks it’s modern finance theory. I agree with her, and would throw in most of formal management theory and macroeconomics. (In my opinion, I’ve learned more from reading First: Break All The Rules, The Essential Drucker, Economics in One Lesson, and Human Action
As for valuable material, I think many people would be much better off learning how to manage their time and energy, set goals and priorities, communicate effectively with others (by both writing and speaking), read and retain written material quickly, manage team projects, handle stress and information overload, and understand personal finance. All of these subjects are far more valuable and applicable to everyday life than sitting through theoretical discussions of the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model.
What do you think?
Related Posts on the PMBA Blog
Brad Feld on MBA Programs
Seth Godin on Higher Education
[Links] Have Business Schools “Jumped the Shark”?
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Steve Olson
Josh,
You make some great points. May I add one more?
Some experts are predicting that 82% of the future American workforce will never hold a 4-year-degree. Why not?
Two reasons:
1. A degree is too expensive and time consuming for most people
2. Most kids do not understand the value of the crap they are taught in school. In short - they don’t see how it applies to thier lives. For most of them… they’re right. The crap they learn in school doesn’t apply to real life, so why learn the black-sholes pricing model when you can go out and make some money today?
I plan to tap that 82% in the future. For all the myopic business leaders that write off the 82%, I say it’s foolish prejudice that costs businesses billions.
Mar 12th, 2007