Bloggers are better than teachers.
And you know what? I mean it. I truly believe bloggers are better than teachers. Just think about it. Bloggers continually teach others through their blog posts for free. We don’t ask them to do it, we don’t pay them to do it, they just do.
Bloggers can’t go around holding a strike here and there whenever they think they’re not getting paid enough (what’s below $0.00/hour?… joking), they can’t go whining to their spouse that someone is not matching their 401(k) or 403(b), they don’t have compensation plans, or health plans. They continue to provide new information for free out of pure passion. Something a lot of teachers are missing.
I’m not saying all bloggers are better than teachers though. 99.9% of blogger suck, including me. But luckily there’s that 0.01% of great bloggers. Most bloggers, in general, can’t compete with a teacher. Not at all. But check the title again, I didn’t say all bloggers are better than teachers. I said great bloggers are better than teachers.
This all has to do with passion. Most bloggers are either blogging for money, for other ulterior means, or have lost the passion for what they’re talking about. And this comes across to the reader (whether they know it or not). When a blogger is fervent about what they’re talking about, they seek the right information, they know what other people should know but don’t, and they usually write long heated posts about it hoping that others will share in their enthusiasm. Hoping. They is no certainty as to whether anyone will read their blog. Yet they keep blogging. Shouldn’t this speak volumes?
Think about it, who’s going to teach you more about how the real world works? The teacher who spends most of their time teaching from outdated school books, or bloggers who outside of blogging are actually practicing what they’re preaching? Who’s going to give you the most current and relevant information? The teacher who’s a retired marketing executive or the blogger who’s still an actual marketing executive?
And the fact that bloggers continue to do this driven only by passion has to speak volumes upon volumes. How many teachers would continue to teach if they weren’t getting paid at all?
Of course you can argue against me and tell me there is that one amazing teacher in Harvard or Stanford for example. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Truthfully ask yourself, who can the “regular” person anywhere in the world easily turn to for information? The Harvard/Stanford teacher? Unless they have a blog (thereby putting them in the blogger category), all the regular person can do is hear about how great they are. They have no possible chance of learning from them.
I’ve also realized that great teachers become great because they do things different. They know very well that bright young minds require something different. But sadly, they almost always get punished for straying from the ‘curriculum’. What were they thinking?! Making education fun, enjoyable, and a one of a kind experience?! Students are meant to be cogs in a machine, not self thinkers! … At least that’s what the smart student sees of the school system. One big cog factory.
Let’s get back to blogs. Like TED for example. How many of the people teaching at TED are actual teachers? Few. Now how many of them have blogs where they regularly convey their ideas outside of TED to the general public? Many.
Through the internet, we are able to search for great people in every branch of education offered in every school (philosophy, business, art, science, technology, etc.) and a lot that you can’t even find in schools nowadays (social media, personal improvement, etc.). Through the internet we are able to gather the 0.01% of great bloggers’ blogs (via RSS or online communities) and, relatively speaking, create out own perfect, highly effective, university (minus the diplomas).
And, since we chose to go to this ‘University’ ourselves, since we don’t have to sell every single one of our possessions just to acquire the information (like going to a top tier University would require), and since these bloggers are in the 0.01% of great bloggers we will do far better by listening and learning from them than we would by learning from a community college (what most people can afford).
Seth Godin said it best, if you are not going to attend one of the top three schools for your subject (especially business) then don’t go. You’ll do far better to search the internet for these great bloggers, and save yourself 150,000$ in the process.
Seth Godin is not a teacher, Chris Brogan is not a teacher, Tim Ferriss is not a teacher, Ramit Sethi is not a teacher, Skellie is not a teacher, Jonathan Fields is not a teacher, yet I rank them better than teachers, and I constantly learn new things from them everyday. And since they’re each clearly active in the area in which they ‘preach’ I know that the information they’re providing is either up to date or in some cases ahead of it’s time. And do believe me when I say the bloggers I just mentioned are not but a few of the great bloggers out there.
Hmm… maybe great bloggers aren’t better than teachers, maybe great bloggers are great teachers… Hmm. Anyways, let me end my rant there.
Who’s part of your 0.01% of great bloggers?
photo credit: amishsteve