Do you learn more on the job or in the classroom?

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Do you learn more on the job or in the classroom?
Divya and Jennis

Published: Fri 29 Nov 2019, 12:49 PM

Last updated: Fri 6 Dec 2019, 8:55 AM

There is only so much a classroom can teach a student. It cannot educate anyone about the resilience from several deadlines, handling your finances and staying strong when the boss bites your head off. Indeed, you take your baby steps at classroom learning definitions, and you are lucky if you got a prompt professor. However, a job exposes the reality of what you will be doing because no one tells you what you possibly won't love at your job. I am currently 20, and so far, I have worked with five companies! Every job was a unique experience. I shifted from PR to content creation, as PR was not my cup of tea. You can't judge a burger by its look until you taste it, and that's exactly why a job or internship is necessary.
And it explains why companies pay more heed to internships than  to a college degree. A college degree isn't enough in the 21st century. There is always more to learn and expected from an employee. I still remember the first day at my first job at the age of 17 when I was stressed out about the amount of work I had to do. Reality hit me hard that day. It was nothing like what I experienced at school. I am glad I experienced that at the age of 17 and not at 22 when I have to pay my bills.
It does not mean classrooms have nothing to provide. Skills like public speaking and presentations have honed my expertise. You also get opportunities to network and make connections with experts in your preferred fields.  So, classrooms are warm-up sessions for your job, without them, you might end up with cramps.
Divya Premchand is an advertising and PR student and makeup blogger. ?Follow her on Instagram: @divsglam
 
Practice makes a man perfect. Sitting inside the classroom and learning was helpful and it is the skills that I learnt in the classroom that I have been putting to use. And that's when I started learning more from the experience, feedback, improvements and mistakes. Most of my learning became effective when I started drilling more outside the four walls of my classroom. I know the classroom has learning boundaries in comparison to real life. In the classroom, you only learn to tackle limited problems and develop certain skills, whereas on the job, there is a whole new  situation to handle each time and you will learn to tackle those, as well. And I put everything that I learnt from paper to work. I started freelance photography and video shooting, which, of course, I learnt on my own by experimenting with my phone first and with then the camera in different ways on different subjects. These skills that I learnt outside the four walls of the classroom got me into doing part-time photo and video shoots for bloggers and events, and enhanced my skills even further.
Earlier this summer, I did my internship at an e-gaming company. My job was to handle social media, look into the insights, create posts, write articles, event photography and make videos, most of which I learnt on the job. I consider the classroom a comfort zone learning while the workspace is a whole new experience. It's real-life learning, and we get to see and experience a lot more than what we were taught. Sometimes discomfort becomes the new comfort zone and when you start getting acquainted with your discomfort, that's when you know that learning has taken place.  
Jennis Amber Is a graphic design student and food blogger. Follow her on Instagram: @theteenhub_

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