BF2S Forums Which is more important?

That seriously depends on your profession. You couldn't survive in mine without reading a shitload of very big books, and you need practical experience to be able to recognise and comprehend the physical aspects of a logical construct.

Last edited by mikkel (2008-03-11 12:07:40)

practical experience > academic. Any person who lets a rookie with brains do the job instead of the experienced man is a fool. 9/10 cases the rookie with brains will be inferior to mr. experience.

Practical. Rank 10 in my highly competitive class of 1372 doesn't know how to make an electrical circuit.

Depends entirely on the situation.  Overall, as in general to your whole life, everything you do, i'd say practical.

SEREMAKER wrote:

practical ............ you can be the smartest person in the world but if you can't cross the street then what fucking good are you

practical.

easy to explain. I will follow the person who has walked the path over the person who merely has a map.

academics are merely credentials, giving a person the privilege to learn.

Practical all the way.

To be honest the people who pride them selfs on their Academics annoy the hell out of me because they are stuck in bubble of thought where only simple logic means anything to them.
It really isn't that simple...

You need both really, but given the choice between academic and practical I'll pick academic.

With academic/theoretical experience and a bit of intelligence its straighforward to deal with most things.

With practical experience but without an academic background there will be colossal holes in your knowledge which you won't even know are there - in my experience thats highly dangerous.
Most people who claim experience have much less than they realise, mix arrogance and ignorance -> best to stand back and watch from a safe distance.

Plus I'm fed up with the 'I've been doing this job 20 years what do you know' narrow-minded dickheads.
Well I know I was learning fracture mechanics and nuclear reactor design while your mates were throwing oily rags at you.

The more you learn the more you realise what you don't know.

Good one.
My personal mantra - The more you learn the more you learn you know nothing.

Furthermore, its essential to understand the theory behind the practice, or you're a technician.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2008-03-12 01:56:10)

sergeriver wrote:

Both.

Practical way to many people who have their degrees actually barely knows shit, they focused so much on studying they lost the concept why  they were doing it in the first place.

There are exceptions but i have seen too many people simply focusing on grades ( they just read up like asses before their exams ) when they are done most information got lost anyway.

There simply is no replacement for academics - none whatsoever. The only problem is people thinking their pursuit of knowledge mimics that of what goes on in a seemingly "purely academic" environment. It usually doesn't. Or there is a persistent assumption that working to make a living is somehow comparable to academics? The necessary attention to detail is utterly lacking often - so the comparison cannot be made (unless you're talking about apprenticeship professionalism in a trade, which is a dying art; a dying form in the modern world/society). No true scientist or academic can ignore minutia, detail, the painstakingly hard fought-for facts, data, etc, else there would be little progress in the task; the problem at hand; before those individuals. Solutions, medical breakthroughs, scientific advancement, technological innovation's, and the like would simply happen at a snails pace or rather in geologic time scales if it were not for academics.

The practical application of academics cannot be dismissed either in favor (as a value judgment call) of "pure academics." What would be the point of the pursuit of knowledge without applying that to reality - the reality of life.

IMO, but, if you think practical knowledge is king - you're an ignorant fellow. You will live your lives, are living your life, whilst standing on the shoulders of genius (academically fought and won - knowledge and practical applications of knowledge). You simply might not realize it or acknowledge it. Genius cultivated in an academic environment. Genius stylized like an academic pursuit (i.e. the pursuit of knowledge) founded on knowing the grave implications that the attention to detail inflicts upon an individual's integrity. The brainiacs that rule you're life are unseen and as they say "out of sight out of mind." Most of modernity, the things you enjoy in life now, medicine, tv, video games, attack helicopters, whatever... is not based upon what the majority does. It is based upon what has been done in the past and present by a minority of humanity. It is based upon human genius which usually gravitates towards academic (or academic like) work.

We are all, figuratively, standing upon the shoulders of academic men and women. So you know how I voted - no?

Last edited by topal63 (2008-03-12 09:19:35)