In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the expert to make important contributions

The passionate interest is needed, also the thinking out of the box. However, it is the expertise in terms of knowledge and experience leading individuals to make great contributions. A beginner in a field of inquiry might be so passionate that sees something beyond the attention of everybody else. Nevertheless, to make that discovery as a contribution to the whole world the beginner must become an expert.

The statement above asserts that in any field of inquiry those who are novice are more likely to make significant contributions rather than the experts. I strongly disagree with such an assertion. A beginner can conceive the Idea of a great contribution. However, the idea only can be shaped as a contribution when the developer gains enough knowledge and experience to do so. Consider Albert Einstein. It was during one of his boring classes. He looked upon the clock and imagined himself looking at the clock and simultaneously taking distance from the clock at the speed of light. “How does the time passes for a person moving at the speed of light?” Einstein asked himself. In the years after he became an expert in mathematical relations and physics, he introduced the theory of relativity about objects’ behavior at the speed of light. It was one of the greatest contributions the world has ever seen.

Now, the point is there is no definite time for one to become an expert. Sometimes the people are wrongly titled as the beginner as they have not long been in a field of inquiry. Many of the talented students doomed by their subordinate level, especially in the education, are marginalized by their superior professors. This happens merely because they are bachelor and have not gained, for example, the master degree. There are bachelors who possess expertise, but since they have not been educating for a significant amount of time, they are not taken seriously.

In parallel, wrongly some people are titled as experts merely because they had a long stint of work in a field of inquiry. From outside, we might admire these people, but when we get more intimate with their works, we come to realize that they are not experts in their field. Many of the “fossil” professors as they are tenured do not allow the other young minds to grow. The main suffering of Iranian education in many of the universities is due to such wrong titles both on experts and the beginners.

In sum, the expertise is needed for individuals to create contributions. In doing that, individuals have to take a path which the path itself makes them experts. However, we should keep in mind that the definition of an expert is not necessarily tied to the passage of time.