EDUCATION, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE: Today, these words seem similar in practice. How about Sex Education, Sex Skill and Sex
Experience; Which of these would you wish your little one benefited from? Clearly it
becomes evident that each of these words represents a specific purpose in the
progress of every individual hence a significant difference in their meanings.
Most often we
tend to associate Education, Skill and Experience with one meaning. This is what
has created a huge deficit in the quality of our human resource today. On one
end you find a lot of starters with so much capability and yet lack the ability
and on the other hand you find another group with so much ability but also lacking
the capability.
Education has been described as the means of acquiring
knowledge in any field. It could be formal or non-formal, whichever way its
baseline represents the transfer of knowledge. The bible makes mention of
knowledge being a key factor in survival and also reiterate its essence by
describing it as the source of stability in our times. Over the years it has
proven itself a worthy partner in championing various courses and also numerous
discoveries but it does not end there.
Skill on the other hand has been the cornerstone
rejected by most contemporary builders. It is defined as the continuous application
of knowledge. Most curricula today focus on “What was” and “What is” Forgetting that, perhaps the most important questions of our time might have to involve a combination of How,
Where, Who, What, Which and When?
Experience is the continuous application of a skill
to obtain precision, perfection and accuracy. How often do people reach this
stage in their careers? Money and Time is always spent on upgrading our
educational status at our various workplaces and yet little is done to upgrade
our knowledge into useful skills. How often do our MBA Thesis affect our Career
Development, the emphasis rather seems to be on the promotion it presents as
well as the benefits it comes with.
Is it not a fallacy that, in these times where the
world is filled with Academic Laureates like never before:
·
We lose 116 square miles of rainforest
or about an acre every second.
·
We also lose another 72 square miles to
encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement.
·
Even as you read this, we will add 2,700
tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon.
·
We experience a recession and a
financial meltdown even in the midst of so many Economist and Administrators.
In Ghana alone over 100,000 graduates are produced annually
in various disciplines. Yet, the problem still remains; Global Warming at its
peak, Hunger and Drought at its best, Wars and Terrorism at its highest peril.
Education can never answer all our questions neither can it solve all our
problems. As said by Wiesel, "It emphasises theories instead of values,
concepts rather than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness,
answers instead of questions, ideology and efficiency rather than
conscience." To fully harness the potentials of our greatest asset which
is the HUMAN RESOURCE, we must create a clear cut between what Education, Skill and
Experience represent at each stage in the life of every human being and apply
it accordingly. Education in all spheres must precede a skill and constant
practice of the skill will produce experience. If education teaches you that
Over-Spending creates scarcity, your constant practice of Effective Money
Management then becomes a skill, regular practise of the acquired skill would
make you an expert in Economics.
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