WARNING: This post goes against social conditioning and is particularly lengthy: read if you dare.
As my high school career is slowly coming to an end (I graduate June 11th) I have found myself particularly reflective on the value I have received from high-school.
I end my high school career with a sub-par 2.5 G.P.A ,having never received a prestigious academic award, and a quick glance at my attendance record would reveal numerous absences (OK 32 days just this year.)
If I listen to what I have been socially conditioned to believe:
Sub-par grades + no awards + poor attendance = the end of my life
Right?
I beg to differ.
Chasing The A
For most of my life (along with millions of other students) I have been taught to believe that the secret to a successful life is to get outstanding grades. Slowly over the years however, I have discovered this premise to be completely false.
Luckily, over the past few years, I have been fortunate enough to immerse myself in a variety of empowering perspectives and thus have come to understand that we are 100 percent responsible for our life.
We can be as happy and as successful as we choose to be. Our attitude, not our grades, determines our success.
I have been fortunate enough to recognize that education goes beyond just the classroom. Life is our greatest mentor. Unfortunately, I’m one of the lucky ones.
Myself, along with millions of other students, have failed to apply ourselves, not because we’re not smart enough, not because we don’t care about our future, but because we are tired of being dictated by a system of letters.
Continually brain-washing students into believing good grades are essential in living a successful life, has had some disastrous consequences:
Students are more stressed then ever. Cheating has become increasingly rampant. Students spend an excessive amount of time obsessing over getting perfect scores (after all they’ve been told they won’t have a job if they don’t.)
In fact, a classmate of mine routinely stays up past 2 A.M in order to stay a float. Excessive? I think so.
What’s even more depressing about our current education system, is that it leaves millions of “average” students behind. Millions of kids with incredible potential are left to die (educationally speaking) never realizing their true potential.
Many of my current classmates, each of whom could literally change the world, are paralyzed by fear, and are instead choosing the path of security: That is get good grades. Get a job. Be happy. Unfortunately that’s rarely how it unfolds.
We can live our purpose today.
I’m not suggesting that our current education system doesn’t do any good. It does teach us the basic necessities. However, much of what we learn in school is not practical in the real world.
Where are the courses on blogging? Where are the money management courses? Where are the classes dedicated to eradicate poverty? Where are the classes that help us find our purpose?
Our current education system places too much emphasis on the A and not enough emphasis on unleashing the promise that lies in each and every one of us.
Education Through Reading And Experience
One of the most startling shortcomings of our current education system, is the lack of relevant reading. We are forced to read (A.K.A sparknote) ancient text that we often find difficult to understand.
All this does is encourage a distaste for reading.
I’m not suggesting that ancient texts such as Shakespeare don’t have any value, however what the students read should be up to them.
“But wait! Then they will just be reading the latest trash.”
To which I reply ” Yes, but at least they will be reading.”
Our top priority must be to instill a passion for reading. The progress of humanity depends on it.
A number of my friends routinely say ” I hate reading”
And I always reply, ” You just haven’t found the right book.”
For reading to complement education like it needs to, the books we read must be relevant to us. Not our teachers, not our parents, but us. Each book should be likened to a puzzle piece completing our soul.
Our current education system is putting too much effort into things that don’t matter. Busy work. Perfect grammar. Memorization. All of which does nothing for us 10 years down the road.
Over the past 4 years I have read close to 100 books. Only 15 of those books being school related.
Those 75 books (OK I’m rounding here) I read outside of school completely transformed me. My philosophy, my attitude, who I am today, all stem from the numerous books I devoured.
Education is about unleashing one’s confidence. Education is learning from failure. Education is growing from experience. Education is discovering your passions then pursuing them.
Education is not rote memorization. Education is not analyzing books that have no meaning to you. Education is not wasting your time on subjects you hate. Education is not being paralyzed because your afraid to fail.
Having attended an international school in Shanghai China, I can honestly say I have learned more from bringing running water to a rural village in China, traveling to Russia, and making friends from around the world, then I ever have in a classroom.
Education is meant to be enlightening. Reading and experience are the key.
Finding Your Purpose
Education is meant to help us find our passion, our purpose in life. Unfortunately, our current education system fails miserably.
We’ve been told:
You have to go to college to be successful. After that you have to go to grad-school. Make sure you get all A’s or you will fail.
Instead of embracing education many students (including myself) have adopted a mindset to just survive.
We’re so used to being told who we can or cannot be, many us don’t even know who we actually want to be.
All the education in the world is worthless if you never unlock what makes your heart beat.
Again, I have nothing against college or even grad-school for that matter. In fact I believe both can offer tremendous benefit to our being.
The problem lies in the fact that we’ve been told that you have to do this, you have to do that, in order to become successful.
Who says life has to be a linear line?
The traditional life time line:
High School: College: Grad-School: Job ( you most likely hate): Retire: Die
Why not:
High School: Find Your Purpose: Love Your Job: Live your life. Die Happy?
The latter sounds more enticing to me.
Education is all about growth, it’s about experience, it’s about creating authentic relationships. It’s about being human. It’s about connecting with humanity.
Our current education system is inherently flawed. Times are changing. We must stop obsessing over becoming “book smart” and instead focus on unleashing our passions.
Without living out our passions we just add to the clutter of the world.
When we choose security, we sacrifice our passions, killing part of us in the process.
I have tremendous faith that the answers to today’s problems of the world: poverty, war, and disease, will be solved by the youth of today not because they are smart but because they follow their passions.
Enough Is Enough
I know I speak for millions of students around the world when I say:
We’re tired of being told we’re not good enough. We’re tired of doing mindless work that only adds stress to our lives. We’re tired of feeling unworthy just because we fail to meet the expectations of the A+ poster child.
We’re tired of being told who we can or can not be. Shouldn’t we decide that for ourselves?
We need to be inspired. We need to be encouraged. We need to spend time doing things we love. We want to change the world.
Is that too much to ask?
So many students fail to realize their potential because a simple grade tells them they have none. They receive a D and thus feel they are worthless and have nothing to contribute to this world. This defeats the whole purpose of education. Education is meant to build not destroy.
In no way am I suggesting getting good grades is a bad thing; that would be foolish. Getting good grades is not the problem. Allowing grades to dictate one’s life is.
Grades don’t guarantee success.
Passion + Determination + Positive Attitude = Success
I’ll give you an A if you transform the world 
What are your thoughts on our current education system? What do you think must be done? I encourage you to share your comments in the comment section below.
It’s obvious our current education system needs major reform, until then however, it can proudly boast a fat D- on its fridge.
Editors Note: In no way is this post attempting to bash the educators of our world (whom I am eternally grateful for) but rather the education system as a whole.
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Hello Bud, I was inspired to put part of your letter to video. Maybe you’ll have time to watch, either way, thankyou.
Cheers,
Cathy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GSI-EzRFS0
Bud,
As a recent high school graduate I am in complete agreement with this post. Our education system here in the United States certainly needs to be reformed. I suggest that we base our classes on principles such as Truth, Oneness, Love, Peace, Change, and Creation. Our classes should lead students to find their own answers to questions they deem important. I have much more to say on this topic. Feel free to contact me. I am an 18 year old student and personal development blogger.
What does it mean to be educated for you
YES!
I am so glad I found your site. I am sixteen years old and left school last November based on this premise. I created a blog around Youth Liberation; empowering youth to develop their passions, follow their dreams, and, if school got in the way, to quit it, and start living. I let it drop after a couple months because of certain circumstances, but I am now picking it back up again with the help of Jonathan mead’s Paid to Exist Program. For some reason I think you’re in it too, but I can’t be sure.
Anyway, I felt totally validated when I read this post, especially from such a young, inspiring person (I like your goal about being financially independent by the age of 21)
Keep rocking the boat!
Cheers,
Sage
It is great that you are questioning the system. So did I when i was a student and I have done quite a bit of teaching “out of the box”. (you can see it on my web site). Alas, those were small experiments which wanished into nothing because they were too brief.
It seems to me that what has to transmitted today is not mere information (internet is full of it), but enthusiastic,loving attitude.Very few people have it, actually.
I would love to organize a school together with a group of young people where students will be creativelly challenged in a variety of unexpected ways, and where each person will be looked upon as a human being above all. If anyone is interested, check up my web site and contact me, please.
Lada
Hi, I really liked whatever is written in the post as i have always myself believed that grades are the most important thing in a students life without realising that this will one day leave me unsatisfied about what i am doing in lfe. today i feel i wish i had some one to tell me the real aim of education in life.If so,i am sure i would have been in a better position. but today i feel we should guide the students to help them realise the true potential in them.
Although I agree that the system is failing, your grasp of what the core causes are, is loose at best. I’m certain that in the years since you wrote this you’ve changed your premises while still drawing the same general conclusion. Nevertheless, this was most interesting, however very flawed. My perspective on this, is that I earn straight A’s without much effort and still study various philosophies and read on my spare time. I would argue that if one is not able to understand ancient texts and is unable to do well in school they should strive to be at peace with being average or less-than-average. You obvious did not develop a “yearning for learning” while in high school, regarding its curriculum, and so I can understand your situation. However, I must point out that what you perceive as the problem only appears that way from your stand point (being average or less-than-average), and isn’t actually the fundamental factor that is causing our school system to crash. The factor is more along the lines of evolutionary theory (or at least, evolutionary theory is where we will resurrect our system). The fundamental problem with our schools is that they don’t teach along the same parameters we evolved to learn by. Our system is plagued by ignorance, not a faulty esteem-building assessment system such as grades.
In addition, I just graduated from high school three months ago, so I am a long way away from grad school, but even I can tell you that grad school isn’t a place to go to if you think you are going to get a job you hate. Go to grad school to get a job you love.
YES YES YES!!!
Ray Bradbury said, “I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it’s better than college. People should educate themselves – you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I’d written a thousand stories. ”
He also said, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”
Too true today. People skim through the summaries to pass the test, and never understand the delight of literature. I hope to change that habit, one student at a time.
Schools are failing because students are starting to realize just how worthless and corrupt it is. Take my high school for example. We cannot afford busses anymore, all students have to either walk (no sidewalks, rural) or have a parent take them. However our peice of Shite supperintendent (spelling) gave himself a 300,000 dollar raise, then scolds parents for not donating enough money during fund raisers. Not only this but NOTHING that we learn in elementary or high school actually applies to real life. I say that college is the only system that works. Schools are worthless and a waste of reasources. Lets end this nightmare of forcing innocent kids to endure PRISON. That is essenctially all schools are and nothing more.
I’m anti-school, not anti-learning. I enjoy learning but the system makes it impossible to learn in school.
Oh god . . . I agree with you completely.
I just finished ranting about how terrible my professor is, and the lack of enthusiasm in his method of teaching the class. We meet once a week and he lets us out an hour and a half early every time.
At the end of the day I realized: we are in control of our grade; what we learn from the class and how; and not to depend on a professor who doesn’t care as much as the students care.
It’s sad that professors like this are allowed to teach on a college level — especially to those who are interested and enrolled into a particular major.
The school system is a joke, regardless of what town or state you’re from.
It’s our job to educate ourselves, to better ourselves, and to create our own opportunities. No more relying on the professors who I thought were living up to their title.
Thanks for this post i more than agree with this right now im in high school and they dont have the class that would make me a better mechanic i want to be a mechanic and all there is, is like woodshop or something i think this would help me but not make me more than average of it. Again thank you for this post it helped me with my school project.
I would have thought that I wrote this article because it is 100% true, and I am absolutely against the way the education system is set up.
I always thought grades were important, so I always kept them high, but while doing so I learned they are basically a load of garbage, and having two parents that work in education I learned to hate the system even more, because they have become robots, controlled entirely by it, not understanding what life is like outside the world of school.
Grades do not mean anything, they never will, if for some crazy reason I end up in a position where I’m hiring I won’t give the S*** about someones GPA, I’ll personally interview the candidates.
Another thing I would like to add, that may have been slightly touched upon in the article is the fact that school is not about learning, it is abot placing kids in a group- either smart or dumb, and basing this off of regurgitated information that is immediately forgotten, and is useless outside of the school walls.
Teachers need to teach, not grade.
Homework is meant to blackmail those who don’t want to live a life dominated by school, and to “reward” those who fall into the social norm. Society is becoming robotic, and that ruins the unique life experience of the INDIVIDUAL.
I love this post, i told my Dad i wanted to change the world…..he told me i lazy and crazy lol…..people now a days think no one can do anythin but get a job and die….
It’s almost like you took the words straight out of my head
I completely agree with you. I think people should be hired for their true potential and their desire to achieve success, not based on a list of grades and tests. Education now has become more of a status than knowledge. ie. I can get into a certain college because I took certain classes, but learned little to nothing from them. It’s just information being crammed into our heads for a short period of time, quickly tested on, and then thrown away.
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