School Sucks Then and Now and Here is Why

Morning Folks!!


I was not a very good student in school until the last
semester of High School. Until then I was a “D” student. 1.75 GPA going into that last semester! I graduated
with exactly enough credits to make it. In that last semester I had something
to prove. I can’t even count the number of schools I went to. Three in just the last 3 semesters of
high school. I did not get in trouble, but I was bored. Plain and simple. School did little more than grade
you on how well you memorize things. That’s about it. What are the chances a
kid wants to remember something they are not even interested in? Other than
Math and some points of history, I
was just bored. So do they still
do it this way? Is memory as important if you have access to all the info in the
world in the palm of your hands? Is that the #1 thing anymore?


I look at it differently. I believe you only need to teach a
child one thing. One thing! If you can unlock this little lynch pin, just do it
and get the hell out of the way. The only thing worth spending time on is to
teach a child to embrace learning. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Once
he has a burning desire to learn, all they need is some guidance. The majority
of the other stuff is no longer useful. Math, English, History, may still have
to be taught. But not by boring teachers!


If you want to teach me about the history of computers, let
Steve Jobs do a documentary and distribute it. He just may be a little more
compelling than 5 million teachers spread out all teaching something different
and in many cases not even true or accurate. This is a new era. We still teach
like it was 200 years ago. (Atleast in the USA and the education scores prove it)


Math to me is the cornerstone of it all. It’s why I write
about numbers. If kids are only taught using a calculator, they will never be
able to have the logic that one needs in life. Logic is based on numbers. Good
decision making is largely based on numbers. So many parts of life are based on
numbers and without a strong understanding of numbers and the impact of them it
is a true handicap in so many situations.


In that last semester of High School I got straight “A’s”
and made the Dean’s list for the first time. I proved I could do it. I proved many things in that semester some 40 years ago.But my education really never even began until I left school and started
working. Getting jobs. Working in different industries. Traveling. Having an
enormous amount of time to think about life and what I wanted out of it and
what life wanted out of me.


I still have teachers. But the teachers I have used are not
found in a classroom today. They are figures of the past and present. From the
guy pumping gas to the maid, to the watron, to anyone my life’s path intersects
with.


But there are also 2 or 3 guys from history whose wisdom and
advice I use and ask for on a continuing basis. Whose quotes are a guiding
light. Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Albert Einstein. Those are the best 3 teachers
I ever had and they continue to teach me to this very day.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz