"The Street Teaches What You Learn at School" - Or Does It?
For some reason, this was one of those little gems that I picked up as a youth.
It was a line from a Russian band called Gorky Park, from a song called "Bang!"( VERY 80's!!) This was my favorite "Pre-rugby-psych-up-song" and anyone who knew me back in the "School Daze" will attest to me having it on a tape (that was the thing that preceded CD's for you younger folks!!) 6 or 7 times, one after another.
I don't know why exactly I remembered THAT line but my guess would be that because I was not very academic at all growing up.
In fact, I had to attend extra studies classes in junior school and was in all the "streamed" (a nice way of saying "slow") classes in high school.
I could spell "F.
E.
E.
F.
E.
E" with my final years results.
So perhaps I had to hold onto that line and keep faith in it to believe that I would still be able to learn the life skills that I needed to be successful.
Straight out of school, I went looking for manual labour work.
Being a "generously built" lad, I had little trouble finding occupation in warehouses, construction sites and nightclubs.
After about 7 year of what could be broadly termed as "manual labour", I started to develop an urge to get a job where I was using my mind more than my body to keep the landlord at bay.
If the truth be told, I believed deep down that I could do a lot more with my mind, personality and passion than perhaps my school results had shown me and after about two and a half years of trying, I eventually managed to get a job as a filing boy for a large Brokerage in the City.
I guess I was still doing manual labour but I kept saying to myself that "at least I was in the environment where people could spot my talent that I believed I had..
" and I was getting to wear a suit which seemed to illicit a better response from people than a hard hat, visibility jacket and safety boots did.
Eight years later, I am very glad I put the effort in to get into a different environment and actually believed that I was able to do more than a piece of paper said I was capable of.
The more I research some of the most successful people in the world, I am coming to the conclusion that perhaps schooling is not the be-all and end-all for success.
If we look at some of the greatest business people in the world, these are not all people who have MBA's or masters degrees from big name universities.
A lot of them are people who didn't complete university or even make it to the lecture hall.
I read recently that over the last 40 years, there has been a significant shift in the background of people who are running big multinational companies.
This shift was basically that previously most of these companies were run by people who tend to think in a very structured fashion such as Accountants, Engineers, Doctors and Professors but as time goes on, more and more "out of the box" thinkers have been given the reigns.
Mainly people from a Sales or Marketing backgrounds.
The reason for this is said to be that as we move into more and more competitive environments, the more creative you can be, the more advantage you will have over your competition.
I am still to find a junior school or high school that teaches Sales or Marketing..
..
Henry Ford said about his Model T: " You can have it in any colour, as long as its black".
Now, Mr Ford was no doubt a great thinker but can you imagine any producer being that inflexible to their clients demands now-a-days? It wouldn't happen - the competition out there is far too great.
In my opinion, a good school education is very important, but not only because of the academics.
I believe that school is also very important to develop more and more of ones social skills, to create friendships, be involved in team play and a greater understanding of what it takes to be successful in a situation - most of which is taught outside of the class room.
I don't believe anyone's success is going to be based on how many numbers they know the square root of, how many historical dates they can remember, or how to find the location of point "X" using a mathematical equation.
I believe that success going forward is going to come to people who have the ability to see a situation for what it is, have a vision to work from, be creative in the achievement of the outcome and the passion to inspire others to follow them.
Therefore, I do believe that, "The street teaches what you learn at school"..
..
and then some To your Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Paul Harrison
It was a line from a Russian band called Gorky Park, from a song called "Bang!"( VERY 80's!!) This was my favorite "Pre-rugby-psych-up-song" and anyone who knew me back in the "School Daze" will attest to me having it on a tape (that was the thing that preceded CD's for you younger folks!!) 6 or 7 times, one after another.
I don't know why exactly I remembered THAT line but my guess would be that because I was not very academic at all growing up.
In fact, I had to attend extra studies classes in junior school and was in all the "streamed" (a nice way of saying "slow") classes in high school.
I could spell "F.
E.
E.
F.
E.
E" with my final years results.
So perhaps I had to hold onto that line and keep faith in it to believe that I would still be able to learn the life skills that I needed to be successful.
Straight out of school, I went looking for manual labour work.
Being a "generously built" lad, I had little trouble finding occupation in warehouses, construction sites and nightclubs.
After about 7 year of what could be broadly termed as "manual labour", I started to develop an urge to get a job where I was using my mind more than my body to keep the landlord at bay.
If the truth be told, I believed deep down that I could do a lot more with my mind, personality and passion than perhaps my school results had shown me and after about two and a half years of trying, I eventually managed to get a job as a filing boy for a large Brokerage in the City.
I guess I was still doing manual labour but I kept saying to myself that "at least I was in the environment where people could spot my talent that I believed I had..
" and I was getting to wear a suit which seemed to illicit a better response from people than a hard hat, visibility jacket and safety boots did.
Eight years later, I am very glad I put the effort in to get into a different environment and actually believed that I was able to do more than a piece of paper said I was capable of.
The more I research some of the most successful people in the world, I am coming to the conclusion that perhaps schooling is not the be-all and end-all for success.
If we look at some of the greatest business people in the world, these are not all people who have MBA's or masters degrees from big name universities.
A lot of them are people who didn't complete university or even make it to the lecture hall.
I read recently that over the last 40 years, there has been a significant shift in the background of people who are running big multinational companies.
This shift was basically that previously most of these companies were run by people who tend to think in a very structured fashion such as Accountants, Engineers, Doctors and Professors but as time goes on, more and more "out of the box" thinkers have been given the reigns.
Mainly people from a Sales or Marketing backgrounds.
The reason for this is said to be that as we move into more and more competitive environments, the more creative you can be, the more advantage you will have over your competition.
I am still to find a junior school or high school that teaches Sales or Marketing..
..
Henry Ford said about his Model T: " You can have it in any colour, as long as its black".
Now, Mr Ford was no doubt a great thinker but can you imagine any producer being that inflexible to their clients demands now-a-days? It wouldn't happen - the competition out there is far too great.
In my opinion, a good school education is very important, but not only because of the academics.
I believe that school is also very important to develop more and more of ones social skills, to create friendships, be involved in team play and a greater understanding of what it takes to be successful in a situation - most of which is taught outside of the class room.
I don't believe anyone's success is going to be based on how many numbers they know the square root of, how many historical dates they can remember, or how to find the location of point "X" using a mathematical equation.
I believe that success going forward is going to come to people who have the ability to see a situation for what it is, have a vision to work from, be creative in the achievement of the outcome and the passion to inspire others to follow them.
Therefore, I do believe that, "The street teaches what you learn at school"..
..
and then some To your Health, Wealth and Happiness.
Paul Harrison