Have u read this article on WSJ? How to Get a Real Education – Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert). If not, go ahead and read it before moving on.
Here’s a summary:
- The author proposed that we shouldn’t waste time teaching average B students things like chemistry, physics, etc, instead, we should teach them something more useful, like entrepreneurship.
- Then, he went on to talk about his entrepreneurial experience during college time.
Although the article is really good. There is 1 important thing I have to spot out: What he said in the introduction and what his story is about are completely different. The introduction is really irrelevant.
What he said in the introduction: “don’t teach the average B students maths, physics, literature, etc. Teach them something more useful, like entrepreneurship.”
What his story is about: him sharing his personally-molded experiences about entrepreneurship, and a couple of advices for entrepreneurs-wanna-be.
A quick reader would read through the article, feel really impressed by the story he told, and would inherently told himself: “oh yeah. So teaching entrepreneurship to average B students is the way forward” – which is essentially not the point.
Taking a bigger view from here, I think this sort of writing is dangerous. If readers are not careful enough, they would be impressed by the story he told, and inherently went on to believe the article’s title/abstract.
There should be some psychology trick/theory behind this sort of thing (use impressive A to convince them to believe irrelevant B). Any idea?
Read More