经验或教育 - 比另一个更好？

在我看来，消防服务与争论的争吵，争论与雾与实体流辩论的许多相似之处。这种辩论更新，但与同样的活力讨论过。它是关于消防服务教育的辩论及其与经验相比的重要性。

As departments continue to increase education requirements for entrance and promotional tests, this debate grows. One side argues the importance of education while the other argues the importance of experience. I get it…I argue both sides of this debate myself.

I joined the fire service for many reasons. One of the less important reasons, but one nonetheless, was that I could have a fulfilling job without attending a bunch of “useless college.” I argued against increasing the entrance requirements in our own department many years ago because it would cut out such a great group of potential firefighters – the carpenters, electricians, mechanics, etc. that are so important to our operations.

说过，我继续教育，因为我对消防服务的兴趣;我想要了解更多关于我所做的事情，这是一种方法。我是“非传统的”学生永远前往大学，因为我一次只服用了一班。我在大学里，我很长时间，我开始在打字机上写作论文时代，并在使用视频会议中邮寄他们的时代，以创建一个来自全国各地的学生和教师的虚拟课堂。

那么，这把我放在哪里？好吧，我仍然争论这场辩论的两面。我已经努力解释为什么我争论经验很重要，有一天和教育是一个像活的Jekyll和海德一样重要。

But, I realized that I was trying to debate what so many other people seemingly try to debate. The feeling is that the debate should decide that one is better than another is. Since that is the feeling, it means one group of people – the experienced or the educated – are going to be a second-class citizen at the end of the debate. That is just not true however. In no way, shape, or form is one better than another is. This is where I think the debate goes off track in the fire service.

A quick note - I'm generalizing to keep this piece shorter. I realize generalizing is imperfect. I'm also using the words strategy and tactics in a comparison to why and how. Again, I realize it's imperfect but it is a generalization that helps illustrate the discussion some.

Experience is essential to effective operations. An experienced person – seniority does not equal experience by the way – is the bedrock of operations. An experienced person is the first to recognize a potential problem, changing conditions, or to provide a “common sense” solution. An experienced person has multiple tools for any given problem in their toolbox. An experienced person knows如何做很多事情。这使得经验丰富的人在战术层面非常适应。这是任何公司，事故指挥官和部门的巨大资产。但是，经验并不总是教whywe do something.

这就是教育的步骤。受过教育的人，只有受过教育，不知道如何。受过教育的人没有多年的经验 - 工具箱中的工具 - 在操作期间绘制。但是，一个受过教育的人可以解释why一定的工具造成了结果。这使得受过教育的人适应战略层面。

In essence, it is simply a different way of looking at the world. One is not better than another; it is just different. Here is an example. An experienced person easily internalizes the department’s mission. Without much thought, an experienced person carries out the department’s mission in day-to-day tactics because it comes naturally. On the other hand, an educated person more easily internalizes the department’s vision. Without much thought, the educated person sees in generalities what may help the department in 5 or 10 years but that person may struggle with the day-to-day execution of the department’s mission.

这并不是说经验丰富的人无法学习战略思维水平，或者受过教育的人无法以任何方式学习战术思维水平。两者都非常能够学习另一个，但它并没有自然而然。

你宁愿在你的部门有哪个人？我希望你能回答，“这取决于，但两者对部门都很重要。”我也希望你可以回答，“两个人都是完美的。”

The reason a person with both is perfect is because one is not more important than another; one will not become a second-class citizen to the other. A firefighter or captain with experience is the cornerstone of our operations; that is the person who is going to see the obvious and bring it forward. An experienced chief is important because it, hopefully, will ground the chief so he or she “remembers where they came from.” However, education does play an increasingly important role in today’s fire service in general but particularly as a person moves up the ranks. The expectation is that an officer, including company officers, can be good at the mission but guide the department and the people who work in that department toward an outcome 1, 5, or 10 years down the road.

我可能是错的，但我认为整个消防服务会受益于得出的结论，即一个不是另一个的。既不是一群二等公民。相反，我们应该追求我们的等级对我们重要的是，我们希望在未来的职业生涯中，同时支持他人的决定。希望，这将为我们提供成功的经验和教育的结合;将来会满足政治家，公众和希望看到消防服务的成员的组合在未来取得成功。

-丹麦克利