Serge van Dam: Education vs the Educated

TLDR: Formal education is overrated when it comes to changing the world, especially in startups. Actually, startups are the best education.

A Predictable Path

In 1920, H.G. Wells wrote: “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” I have always loved this quote. But what is education?

Do you need that fancy piece of paper, framed lovingly by your proud parents, to launch the next world-changing idea? Or to help someone who is?

Traditional education is brilliant. Honestly. It teaches you discipline (mostly how to meet deadlines you procrastinated on), critical thinking (how to argue why your obscure thesis topic matters), and how to survive on cheap carbohydrates. It gives you frameworks, theories, and historical context. It's like learning the rules of chess. Very important.

But being in a startup? That's not chess. That's like being thrown into a cage with a lion, a unicycle, and a box of lego, and being told to "innovate." While the cage is also on fire. Maybe I exaggerate, but startup life is a contact sport.

It won’t surprise you to read that I am currently not that popular in my family. The least educated of my siblings, I have been discouraging my nieces and nephews from considering university as the best form of education. I tell them that if they want to learn lots, cheaply and fast, they should find a startup that is solving a problem they care about. So far, I am losing; both the argument and the popularity contest.