Learning as a Climbing Wall

Career discussions inevitably lead to the question, “what should I study at school?” This is an important question that Designing YOU will help answer. 

The problem is most people think about learning as a ladder, where people are all climbing together from a common starting point to a (more of less) common destination. For about 150 years that may have been the case, but today, learning is best viewed as a climbing wall, where you can start anywhere and it never ends. On this climbing all is everything from formal education to sports to arts to books to podcasts to work experience and Ted Talks. What is best about today’s climbing all is you can go up, down or sideways. There is no single route, and it never ends. The climbing all is about stimulating curiosity and exploring. 

If used well, formal education can b one of the greatest tools ever invented to stimulate curiosity. As you learned in Step 1, colleges and universities offer courses on almost anything you can think of. The experts who teach those courses are typically passionate about both the topic and the success of students in their field. 

Some post-secondary programs may narrow your path because you must specialize early on in your education. If you’re certain you want to be an engineer or a nurse, you are fortunate to have clearly defined degree programs. But few students are certain of their destination as they start their post-secondary education. Go explore and don’t feel pressured to commit to a specialized path until you’re ready. Take that political philosophy class, that class on marine biology, the class on comic books or music history. You’ll like some and dislike others, but by “playing the field” you’ll open your world and start to narrow it down at the same time. Remember, exploring different paths and zigzagging is part of designing you. So, take the time to explore.

Taking a variety of courses in your first or second year of post-secondary can save you money in the long run. School is not cheap, so before you invest in a specialization be sure it fits in your plan

The role of formal education in life is evolving. Someone who is 18 today could live to be 120 and have a 60-year career. Do you think the knowledge you acquire when you’re 20 will still be totally relevant when you are 80? Post-secondary education is no longer a single stage early in your life. You will likely return repeatedly to enhance and diversify your competencies over a lifetime. This lifelong engagement could involve taking a single course occasionally, completing a more involved certificate or even taking one or more graduate degrees.

The “what should I study?” question brings us to the heart of the T-shaped YOU: “Should I specialize in an area that provides task-based competencies or one that provides enabling competencies?” The good news is that regardless of your program choice, you will be enhancing your competencies. Some degrees, such as engineering, nursing, and business, may spend more time on task-based competencies while other programs like science, arts, and the humanities may focus more on developing generalist, enabling competencies. 

All education is important to developing the T-shaped YOU. Be conscious of what competencies you are developing, so that you can fill any gaps in your formal education through summer jobs, community activities, sports, or other components of the whole you. If you worry that there’s only one path to a specific career, look at the diversity of real people’s stories in this book as examples of where different degrees could take you.

Heather studied English literature and became a farmer and an author. Jim studied outdoor education and became a project manager. Chris and Stefan studied science and became entrepreneurs. So, the real question to ask is, “what is the goal of your formal education?” As you get further into Designing YOU, you will start to better identify your goals and the role that formal education can play in achieving them.

If you are questioning whether your chosen field of study is still right for you, explore your options to change paths. Your school will be able to help you navigate such a change. You might be surprised at how easy it is to shift to a new program area. And take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. Between 50-70 per cent of students will change their major at least once, and many will change at least three times before they graduate. If you’re worried that it will be hard to change, consider how hard (and costly) it will be to stick to a path you know is wrong for you.