The pizza theory, a critique on education and learning.

During my first year of business school, I had a teacher who was very peculiar.

He told us about a profound idea which would go on to shape my perspectives in my professional life. In school, I’ve always been skeptical of teachers who only taught out of textbooks and didn’t really have real life experience or understanding of these topics and ideas beyond the textbooks. Over time, I’ve noticed there are two types of people: those who see the world through only books and have accumulated knowledge from only what was passed down to them and those who prefer to understand and accumulate knowledge through experiencing things first-hand and then derive their own unique understanding and interpretation of things from those experiences. Our education system mostly favors the former, preferring that students would just memorize and regurgitate information from books with knowledge that have been passed down and do little to encourage students to understand things on their own through exploration and experimentation.

I strongly urge that schools emphasize more on the quality and diversity of education and encourage teachers to give students the opportunity to learn through first hand and real life experience as well as hire teachers who are able to give them real life insight (from their own experiences) rather than rely on textbook methodologies. Sure, theories and methodologies can help to a certain degree, but knowledge from first-hand experience and practice ultimately yields true knowledge, skills and success.

The teacher I encountered at my business school told us a unique idea that gave me insight to what would be beneficial to my personal and professional development beyond school. This teacher had a background in finance and hence, he taught finance relating to the stock market. Not only was he our teacher, but he was also a financial manager of major clients in Monaco and in the past, he also worked as a stock trader on Wall Street in New York City. His experience working in the financial industry allowed him to gain valuable insight which he shared with his students. One interesting thing I remember him telling us is that money can be compared to a double-edged sword; on one side, it could make us feel richer and more successful, but on the other side, which is more commonly felt, it could also enslave us and lead us to self-destruct. During his time as a stock trader on Wall Street, he was able to experience, learn and understand how addictive money was. Money is like a drug; once we get a taste of it, we want more and more of it and this urge becomes hard to let go. In his experience, he felt money consumed him and drove him away from his family, his partner, his friends and ultimately, himself. After a few months as a stock trader on Wall Street, he didn’t have anyone in his life anymore and the only friend he had was his bank account. It’s a good thing that he came into the realization of how destructive the fast life and the chase for more and more money was so he decided to quit the destructive life he was living in and take on a new professional path toward something that would allow him to be a more moral driven person who can help and contribute back to society, so he pursued to become a teacher so he can share and pass on the knowledge and experience he accumulated in the real world to his students.

The classes he taught were three hours long with a 15-minute break. During these breaks, most students would opt to relax and unwind, but I took advantage of this break and saw them as opportunities to talk with him about philosophical topics. He was an inspiring character with unique opinions and insights. He was also really open to discuss anything, even he taboo topics that are almost never mentioned in school. One of these topics we discussed about that was considered taboo was the structure of the current education system (in France), which I am highly critical of. I mentioned to him that I loved learning and was hungry to explore, discover and learn new things, but school sucks this desire out of me and I am unable to truly learn as most classes made me feel like I had to just listen and obey to authority and there wasn’t a lot of room for critical thinking, discussion and debates on differing views. I also felt like I was pushed to learn all these things that won’t really help me in life beyond school, to help me grow, thrive and succeed in the real world. For example, one thing schools emphasize a lot is learning math, a very disputable topic. Is it useful to learn math? But up to a certain limit. To learn the fundamentals of mathematics is crucial, but it is not useful for everyone to learn advanced mathematics for years if their profession doesn’t require the use of it and they do not need to use it in their daily lives. I suggest that students are given the opportunity to learn the fundamentals, but they should also be able to be more selective with what they choose to learn after the fundamental years as we live in a world where we are constantly overwhelmed by too much information. It is also important to allow students to learn and gain insight through experiencing things on their own as well as be exposed to learning about things that are relevant to their everyday lives as well as help them develop their personal and professional lives.

I discussed this issue with my teacher and to my surprise, he actually agreed with me. He told me that although school is seen and enforced as something mandatory in life and promises to “educate” students, it is not designed to help students pursue success in their personal and professional life. Although schools market themselves to be beneficial to students in this way, it is just an illusion. How to succeed in life and work is not taught and broadly discussed in school. Schools just create these different career paths for students to take on blindly in which they proceed through series of examinations and tasks in order to get jobs, kind like the process that things go through in factories in order to be made for purchase.

My teacher went on to explain something profound, which goes beyond what school has taught me. That is known as the?“pizza theory.”?The pizza theory suggests that we can look at our school education like pizza dough. When you are done with school and receive a degree, you get plain pizza dough. Millions of other students will all get the same plain pizza dough upon graduating with their respective degrees. Pizza dough doesn’t really sound appealing at this point but it’s something that can be built upon to create value. However, what is going to make your pizza dough different from other people’s pizza dough is what you put on top of the pizza, and this is why we all love pizza. Think of these pizza toppings as different experiences, projects, knowledge, insights, networks you gain in your life that you can put on top of your pizza dough that creates value for you and essentially these are the things that will help you grow and allow you to achieve your personal goals and success. It is important to keep in mind that school only brings you the basics; it only provides you with the pizza dough and it’s up to you to dress it up with different toppings which make the pizza complete and satisfying in the end. Graduating school is only the beginning of a long journey and the rest of the journey is up to that person to embark upon as they are the masters of their own pizza.

The pizza theory was the most profound and interesting metaphor I encounter during my time in business school, and it has definitely helped me understand how I can evolve personally and professionally as well as achieve the goals that I set out for myself in my personal and professional life which define success for me. After sharing the pizza theory with 50 students that I have mentored in the past, they have told me that it has had a deep impact on their way of thinking about their education and their personal and professional lives. I am sure students will think about this metaphor every time they eat a pizza. And without a doubt, with extra toppings! Life is a pizza, make sure to add all the toppings so it can be savored.