I have never let my schooling interfere with my education – Grant Allen
never let schooling interfere with education
This quote, as with many, is often attributed to Mark Twain, but was actually said by his contemporary, novelist Grant Allen. I was reminded of this by my voraciously curious friend Bruce Peters (see our past. #WhatComesNextLive conversation here). I am in my mid-50s and sat my last formal examination aged 23, yet am constantly learning. Bruce has a good number of additional years on me and I would say he is even more committed to learning than I am.
For me, learning is a key driver in life, and the older I get, the more that it so. I now learn primarily through listening and talking with people, through reading, and also through writing, something I do daily in order to both share what I learn and to develop my thoughts.
One thought, focussing back on the quote above, is that schooling is “necessary but not sufficient” for learning. Grant Allen himself went to Oxford University and then started his career as a Professor, so he certainly had many years of schooling as a foundational base for future learning.
As for me, at the age of 16, I knew I loved business and wanted to build a career in business. I asked around and it became clear to me that studying and completing the Chartered Accountancy qualification would be the absolute best way to build my own “schooling” foundation for that career, having learned that more CEOs are CAs than any other educational background, and by a long distance from other educational backgrounds. I completed my degree and then the three years of CA apprenticeship and sat my final examination for CA at, yes, the age of 23.
It was then that my schooling stopped and my learning accelerated in different ways. I naturally learned much “on the job” in my 20s and 30s, then as my moved into my 40s and 50s my sources of learning I consciously made more and more diverse, as there was only then going to be marginal gain from looking to focus on further enhancing skills around, say, finance, but massive benefits from learning from diverse sources and methods.
How focussed are you on learning and where do you seek to gain your education at your own stage of life and career?