vrijdag, december 01, 2006
The oldest profession
According to conventional wisdom, the women that sit in their underwear before the window under red lighting have the oldest profession in the world. I would disagree. I would argue education is the oldest profession in the world. We have been teaching our children how to feed, walk and talk since day one.
The education industry doesn't only have the oldest profession in the world, also one of the biggest ones around. Just count all people that make a living out of it: school teachers, almost all university staff, corporate learning, etc. I have no idea how much of the working force that is, but it's enormeous! That explains why there are so many web sites, networking sites, communities, conferences and other events or clubs around learning. That explains why there are so many researchers, theories and different opinions on the subject. It doesn't explain however why after thousands of years of education, we still have a hard time valuing it.
Anyway, education is the oldest profession in the world. It´s not the other one. (You can quote me on that.)
The education industry doesn't only have the oldest profession in the world, also one of the biggest ones around. Just count all people that make a living out of it: school teachers, almost all university staff, corporate learning, etc. I have no idea how much of the working force that is, but it's enormeous! That explains why there are so many web sites, networking sites, communities, conferences and other events or clubs around learning. That explains why there are so many researchers, theories and different opinions on the subject. It doesn't explain however why after thousands of years of education, we still have a hard time valuing it.
Anyway, education is the oldest profession in the world. It´s not the other one. (You can quote me on that.)
