I think I am reasonably qualified to talk about education. I'm not a person with bunch of licences or certification given by some arbitrary entity to say that I'm good. I'm a person who has been to places and have gotten to learn things in the practical hands on way. I'm also one of those academically gifted ones who was a start student at school. I've explored all forms of education except for college (Even on that I've learned by helping my friends with their higher education even though I myself haven't set foot on a college. I'm just really good at academic stuff). The reason I suddenly got into making this personal post was a YouTube video I came across today.
I'm fully on board with Steve Jobs here. I can swear this video to be true, accurate and genuine on my life's experiences.
Going To School Was The Greatest Tragedy Of My Life
I'm not making any sort of exaggeration here. This whole post is going to be very raw and personal for me. If I had to make a list of worst moments of my life I'd say about 80% of them were directly related to school. I haven't lost an immediate family member and I've always had a home and 3 meals for me. So saying that school was the greatest tragedy of my life is purely subjective. A lot worse things could happen to a human being.
I Love Education
As a kid before reaching the age where I had to attend school my parents actually ended up giving me some of the school textbooks of grade 1 and 2. I self studied them for FUN. By the time I went to school I already knew half of the curriculum and that was while having nobody to teach me. My parents simply provided me the material I asked for and I was reading Jules Verne at 2nd or 3rd grade and I was reading about the basics of Quantum Mechanics while I was at middle school. Even these days after quitting highschool out of resentment I spend half my day learning random subjects purely as a hobby.
What's Wrong With School - According to a Genius
My parents would throw a fit saying how my education was going down a drain when they see an A- in my report card and for some subjects, I get lightly scolded for not having a perfect score. I can't even call this a burden I had because my peers actually studied several times harder than I did. So I'd say I'm qualified enough to proclaim myself as a genius on the internet. So what are my complains.
It is Age Based
I've had private tutoring and I've also taken part in academic competitions. The age wasn't never much of a factor. There were some kids slightly younger than me and most of the participants were older than me. The real measurement was a person's intelligence and capabilities. But in school I was actually told that I would loose marks if I use more advanced methods or simply skip some steps by doing calculations in my head. Basically I was given the choice to bow down and act like an idiot or get lower marks in the tests.
I was also told by many individuals including many teachers that school is for the average student and the curriculum is set to help them. I was told that I had to learn whatever that is being taught for kids at my school and prove that I've learnt something on a test. Sometimes the test was score by a teacher who was actually dumber than I was.
The Teachers Are Not Qualified
This might even come across as a rant but it is the honest truth. I was simply better than most of the teachers who were assigned by my school to teach me. It was practically an intellectual humiliation for me. It's like getting educated by a child but you'd also have to be punished if the child deems it.
I've had about 15 teachers who were truly intelligent and I still love them. I learnt from them and they understood my talents. I genuinely respect them and majority of them were not a part of the school system. They were private tutors who I worked 1 on 1 or with a group of fairly intelligent peers who I'd actually call friends.
Too Many Lies
Some times the teacher starts the lesson by telling that you'll have to forget all this when you are in highschool/college. But for now you have to learn these stuff. There were disgusing lies like the food pyramid whcih actually make people fatter and give them heart attacks.
There were other things like teaching kids that protons and neutrons are indivisible and matter was told to only possess 3 stages. Health and PE was full of other blunders and they even got some of the basic astronomy wrong. These were not even the bad parts. If you do point out that something is wrong, a private tutor would take things more seriously (especially 1 on 1) and actually look into it. 95% of the schoolteachers would actually ridicule you and I was actually smart enough to listen like a dumb kid. Some of my intelligent peers were not so lucky. Some teachers harbor genuine grudges against kids who show off to be smarter than them.
Parents- Teachers Meetings had their on problems too. Sometimes teachers elaborate excessively on tiny flaws and some troublesome kids are actually favored for various reasons. It was quasi-political. Teachers even let their favorites to cheat in exams as they wish. 99% of the kids actually cheat at school and if you are a parent, please do not trust those ranks in the report cards. I was too good to be completely beaten by cheater in all subjects. But it is a terrible thing to be beaten by a cheating sucker at a test who'd only get a C or even less on their own.
Do not judge your kid's classroom ranks. They are a scam. Unless you kid is super smart, he/she will either have to learn to become a cheater like the rest or simply be ranked lower. Also don't put too much faith in the teachers. In my personal experiences a quarter of them are not even decent human beings. Another half of them are not even intelligent enough for the job.
The above piece of Steve Jobs Wisdom can help you far more than college ever will. I can prove this i so many different ways. But I like Occam's Razor. So I'll keep it simple and sharp. How many professors do you know that completely changed the world humanity live on this planet. Don't forget that Steve Jobs was at the forefront of smart phones and tablets. He gave us the first AI assistant before his death. How many professors have done 1/100th of that.
Watching a YouTube clip or just reading a used book you bought for 5 bucks may look cheap and even a waste of time. But ask yourself does, 50 Shades of Grey make a better book than an old Bible with few pages lost because one is in finer print? So here is another video:
Collective Responsibility
One of the worst parts about school is punishing the group. This is the anti-thesis of personal responsibility. The school systems have this fetish on teamwork that it would rather hurt everyone instead of taking care of the bad apples. I was actually one of the most disciplined students. Sometimes when a a large portion of the kids make a mess while I'm minding my own business reading a book (generally Sci-fi or thriller), some jackass teacher drops by and do something like giving everyone detention. Sometimes we were asked to stand outside the class or out of the building as punishment. Sometimes we were given physical work etc.
When complained about being punished while having nothing done, me and some good kids were told that it is the responsibility of the class members to keep bad apples in check. So basically the nerds and geeks have to take care of the jocks. I don't know about colleges. But out of every other place you go to learn stuff, schools are the only place where this happens. (Religious schools also have these things to some extent. Bu at least you are not legally required to attend them)
It's safe to say that this idea of collective responsibility is one of the reasons so many young groups have got the commie sickness where everybody else have to pay for everybody's needs. These ideas aren't completely new either. I wrote about some of the early incarnations of communism in my post A Brief History of Taxes, Fiat money and The Chinese Proto-Socialist Emperor Who Ruined his Country
I think I'll have to write a second part. So until then here is a video to think about:
This video barely touches anything (especially regarding education). I'm just asking all the parents in the world to not take school education seriously. It has barely any importance. I'm telling this as a kid who everyone considered as someone who is bound to get a PhD. Many people didn't believe I quit school and I believe school has more cons to offer than pros. It's not all bad. If you eat at McDonald/KFC everyday, it's going to taste good and have base amount of quality. But the harms far exceed the gains and I honestly believe that the world would be a better place if public education was eradicated.
So please don't push your kids to perform well at school. No matter the good intentions it is 99% guaranteed to break your child in one way or the other. Trust me. I'm a genius.