most learning that matters is immeasurable

I liked this chart and thought it was right along the lines of the learning going on here at permies

I am being helped by a Government Program for Disabled Farmers, and they had me take a pretty exhaustive test so they could see where the best fit was for me as I transition from farming back into having a real job. The test had 36 categories; not questions, there was hundreds of those...but of the 36 categories, I did really well on 30 of them...like in the 'excelled" side of things.

My career Advisor said I was an "anomaly" because I did well on so many categories.

I told him, I did not see it that way at all. I was a farmer, I know a lot about a lot of stuff because I was a farmer!

Vet
Mechanic
Agronomist
Genetics
Welder/Fabricator
Heavy equipment Operator
Carpenter
Financial Planning
Safety

The list goes on. But because I scored so well, I am qualified to go to any college I want. I am looking at maybe a Alternative Energy Degree...if that happens, it really is directly related to the vast knowledge I have had to pick up just so I could be a full-time farmer.

Travis: those tests are amusing if you are a multi-skilled type, aren't they?
I have always had puzzled responses "Well, you'd be good at all of the above." No, I wouldn't, they are too limiting, and I get bored with limited jobs very quickly. Most places I have worked I'm training other people within my second week of being there, it's not complex work, not hard to learn or teach. Been refused work (when I really needed it) due to this, had one guy at the interview say "this is how we do it, like this, practice a couple, then I'll time you." I practice a couple Ok, I'm ready, time me. I do it. He says "i won't hire you." Why not? I was good and quick! "You just scored better than my best workers, you won't last here, you will get bored too quick, it's not worth it to me to do the paperwork it would take to hire you."

Having many skills makes for either a really complex or really useless resume.

I also get people when I tell them an idea "Wow, you could sell that!" Ugh, spend years doing just that one little idea? No thank you. I have hundreds better than that in my head.

Back to the immeasurable topic, I have little certification for anything I do, because it's just hoop jumping, and I don't care enough about having bits of paper to do it, I saw a term I LOVE and am using now "Qualified but not certified."  Works for your skills, your gardening that is organic but hasn't had all the expensive certification, it's a useful phrase.

Also on the immeasurable topic, that graphic doesn't show how different skills interact, and that gets even more complex. Of that chart, I fail at music and interpersonal, the rest I'm very good at. When you mix things like Body, Logic and Nature smart, and add Word smart, you get my complex posts on Permies about how I cope with things I can't physically do. Try to put THAT skill on a resume "Able to assess bodily health function issues, complex outdoor tasks, physics, and logistics to enable a disabled worker to be able to perform tasks well above what would be expected of their ability. And then write about it. " Really complex resume... :D

I have always ended up training people too. My job as a welder was skill-based, but I never forgot where I started from, so as I helped people, I reverted back to my learning days. It really helped people get better, and that is what I liked.

I am fortunate now in that the agency that is helping me, realizes that I am like you too, in that I get bored, I do fine at a job at first, then conquer it, and then start thinking I would be better off somewhere else. I like learning new things. They realize that and are trying to help me find something that is career-long in learning. That is why we have rejected a simple 12 week training course for HVAC and going for the longer 2 year course. I do not want to just go in and clean oil and propane furnaces, I want to put alternative energy systems together. But it is more than that. When my father put his system in, the guy wanted $7000 just to do it because only (2) people here were licensed too. That is nonsense. I am not going to scam anyone, I want to live responsibly so I can work for others at a modest price so they can afford to do the right thing, not be gouged for it!

As for my failures on that test, it was actually in repetition. I suck at that stuff. I made wooden models because it was one-off-stuff; no making 15 of them in mass production. And I do not do well with plans. If Katie sees a cabinet she wants me to build, I just look at the picture, figure out a few things, then go and make it. To try and follow a cut list, with instructions, and dimensions...NO THANK YOU. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is just not me. Unfortunately that comprises of welding 99% of the time. I see now that is why I struggled; I was doing a job that really was not based on how I function.

I agree with the title of this topic.
So my opinion is: the system of schooling / education needs to change!

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:I agree with the title of this topic.
So my opinion is: the system of schooling / education needs to change!

And certification. I CLEP'd a bunch of credits in college (got credit for based on testing) (and was pissed that it didn't get me out of English comp 101, but could have been used for elective credits, I WANT to take my electives, I didn't want the nonsense class.) I'd love to be able to get certified by testing out of it. Bet I could get a pile of certifications real fast.

When I was at school (long ago) there were two kinds of tests: written and spoken (oral). I was very shy (or in fact I am introvert, or even a little autistic), speaking was hard for me. So I had high grades for the written tests and low grades for the spoken tests. Back then they only did the math (adding both test outcomes together and find the average). I hope nowadays the schools do more to help students with problems ... Still I think the whole schooling & education system needs to change.

I think a lot has changed Inge to be honest with you.

I know years ago it seemed like college was looking for ways to disqualify students from attending, but now it seems they are looking for ways of inclusion. I talked with a college admissions director the other day and we had a diverging conversation. I was thinking old school, and she was thinking new, to the point where she finally realized my situation and was like, "I am asking these questions, not to keep you out of this collage, but to see what credits I can give you for your work experience."

This to me is both good and bad. It is good to give credit where credit is due, but in the long run it is almost making college so watered down that it has no academic meaning.

But isn't that where college is indeed heading? As I have always said, "No one person here is smarter than all of us put together." That is so true, that now with the internet, a forum is going to have volumes more information then just a select collage, with a few professors trying to state that they pretty much know it all in their field. Sorry, that is not the case. I realize that the internet is filled with some blarney, and certainly this forum is too, and without question I have made some posts that were wrong, BUT a person can get a well-rounded set of answers, and then pick from those answers what best fits their situation. Or, they will immediately see a set of complementary answers, cast aside the conflicting ones, and move on.

With the high price of college, and a diminishing education that is being obtained from it, it seems to me it is in a death spiral. Why should I have to pay $100 a linear foot for a college educated surveyor, when a person who spends enough time on a surveying forum could most likely pass the Maine surveyor license examination test as is. If both meet the testing qualifications, what does it really matter if the person has spent 4 years learning about such off-topic subjects as Shakespeare Plays?

Even the most noble of professions...doctors...seem to be having trouble. I see the doctor this week, I see her every few months and yet in the (3) years since I was diagnosed with cancer, they cannot seem to get my medication right...3 years!! It seems to me that spending $300 for blood work, and then $600 for each visit, is bankrupting this country when I can get my medication off the black market, do some internet checking, and then fuss with my dosage until I feel right. That seems kind of stupid until you realize in 3 years my medical insurance has been paying to do the same thing without working results. Obviously the health care industry is in failure mode, and must change soon. We just cannot keep going in the direction we are; it is not sutainable.