Osler's Razor

My high school, like most, had a group of kids who referred to themselves as "Theater People." They had all grown up doing children's theater and tried out for all the school plays. A big part of their life was that group of friends who tended to have complex relationships with one another.

Every once in a while, though, someone from out of nowhere would try out for a play and get a lead role. This was completely vexing to the theater people-- that was their territory! And then when we went to see the musical with the new person, all anyone talked about was "Who knew that football player/stoner girl/math brain could sing? That drove the theater people bananas. They had run into a disrupter-- someone who discovered a talent or passion (or had it discovered by others) a little later than most.

I think that disrupters (at least of this merit-based type) are a great thing. They challenge us, bring new talents and ideas, and give people broader perspectives. They shake things up without destroying them.

Unfortunately, my field of work is particularly walled off from disrupters. In most fields of the academy, you need a Ph.D., and from a top program, to get a good job. Work experience in the outside world is often a negative, not a positive, even in professional schools. We are protected against disrupters, because we guarantee that everyone is just like us. There is a cost to that.

People develop skills at different times, and disrupter-resistant fields don't take that into account. There are many people who gained their focus later in life and didn't get into Harvard or Yale law-- yet are excellent teachers and scholars. If you doubt this, contrast the legal professorate with those who succeed in a meritocracy like pro football, where results are easily observed and evaluated. Some of the best quarterbacks (ie, RGIII) were great college players in BCS leagues, but many others bloomed later and went to schools that aren't exactly football powerhouses. Kurt Warner went to Northern Iowa, Tony Romo qb'd at Eastern Illinois and wasn't drafted, Joe Flacco emerged from the University of Delaware, and Ben Roethlisberger played at Miami-- the one in Oxford, Ohio, not Florida.

In the academy, we sweep up the early bloomers with strong pedigrees (the Peyton Mannings and Tim Tebows) but miss too many of the people who develop later, and that is a loss for us all.