Quote from drcha:
Expert and Others,
I hope I may be allowed to respectfully disagree. My education taught me a great deal about trading--but not in the traditional way.
In the process of obtaining a college degree and later two graduate degrees, all in different decades of my life, I have noticed the same thing each time, about other students. They do not know what the teacher is expecting them to learn. They do not know what will be on the test. They study the wrong things. They fail to understand the assignments. They cannot distill, even at the end of an entire semester, the essential principles they have been taught. They get lost in the trees, and do not see the forest. They wander down the wrong paths.
In almost every formal educational situation, the teacher or professor drops numerous hints about what they believe is the most important material. They don't beat you over the head with it, but if you listen between the lines, pay attention to their tone of voice, etc., it is usually obvious what you are going to be asked to do, or to regurgitate, or what you are supposed to get out of an assignment or a course.
You might make the argument that if I had gone to work right off instead of spending time in school, I could have learned what an employer wanted me to do, and thereby developed the same skills. But I do not think so. An employer generally tells you, in no uncertain terms, what is expected from you. A teacher does not, since it is not proper for them to reveal to you exactly how they will evaluate you. They give you many clues, and you have to figure them out for yourself.
I am not sure why I was able to psych out my teachers better than other people do. Possibly it is my natural penchant for the bald truth, no matter how unpleasant--a trait that some find abrasive and unmannered. Or perhaps it's my love of partying--I never wanted to spend all of my time studying, so I tried to economize my studying so that I would have some additional time left over for fun. But having this skill enabled me to consistently perform much better than most students, although I probably would not have scored the highest on an IQ test. And it has turned out to be a useful ability in the workplace as well. I try to do what works: get the end result in mind, then figure out how to make that happen most efficiently.
Trading is not so different. We all have to trade the market that is, not the one we wish for, the one that makes sense to us, or the one that is suggested by the so-called fundamentals.
Therefore, I consider my education a superb training ground for trading.