Isn't it amazing how much a little experience will change your perspective and uncover idiocy you previously did not know existed? This summer, I had the pleasure of doing two internships in ministry. I feel like I learned and matured as much as I have since I arrived at Southeastern nearly two years ago.
Don't get me wrong. I was born a student, and I am a lover of books. Seminary has been challenging and fruitful, and I have grown immensely in my walk with Christ. After two years, I still don't get the "cemetery" joke everyone tells. I have studied under some of the greatest modern Christian thinkers since I stepped out onto the Magnolia grove. And yet, there is something unique about being in the "real" world. Interacting with actual people and actual problems is inculcating. It is invigorating to flee the theoretical and potential and wrap-up with the experiential and actual.
Which is more important: Education or Experience? Is education superior or does experience truly conquer? When the classroom and the workplace go head-to-head for 12-rounds, who wins? This is something that has been rattling around between my left and right ear the last two weeks, but it reached an apex as I began classes.
This is an ongoing, old question that has infected the minds of men (from John Dewey to Donald Trump) and seems to have many shades of answers. The marketplace initially favors education, but later seems to favor experience. Even within academia, tenure is quite valuable. Each has its benefits.
I think we have to recognize both experience and education have a measure of value, but it is improbable that the scales are exactly balanced. Doesn't one outweigh the other, even slightly? Education or experience... that is what I am fighting with right now. If you have an opinion on this, please share it with me.
Don't get me wrong. I was born a student, and I am a lover of books. Seminary has been challenging and fruitful, and I have grown immensely in my walk with Christ. After two years, I still don't get the "cemetery" joke everyone tells. I have studied under some of the greatest modern Christian thinkers since I stepped out onto the Magnolia grove. And yet, there is something unique about being in the "real" world. Interacting with actual people and actual problems is inculcating. It is invigorating to flee the theoretical and potential and wrap-up with the experiential and actual.
Which is more important: Education or Experience? Is education superior or does experience truly conquer? When the classroom and the workplace go head-to-head for 12-rounds, who wins? This is something that has been rattling around between my left and right ear the last two weeks, but it reached an apex as I began classes.
This is an ongoing, old question that has infected the minds of men (from John Dewey to Donald Trump) and seems to have many shades of answers. The marketplace initially favors education, but later seems to favor experience. Even within academia, tenure is quite valuable. Each has its benefits.
I think we have to recognize both experience and education have a measure of value, but it is improbable that the scales are exactly balanced. Doesn't one outweigh the other, even slightly? Education or experience... that is what I am fighting with right now. If you have an opinion on this, please share it with me.
