Wisdom for Those Concerned

I’ve always disdained modern values or the lack thereof.  The absence of originality and disregard for relevance to individuals.

I’ve always understood when something didn’t add up but lacked the discipline to pursue what I felt was right.

If I was forced to engage in something I deemed stupid, I’d just turn off.  I’d sit and wait until I could leave.  My adult self is painfully conscious of this today.  This obstinance wasted everyone’s time, including my own.  Instead of focusing on behaviors to invest my time wisely.

I’ve always hated school.  I’ve always had the dream of being rich.  Not to be a superhero, police officer or fireman.  I just wanted to be rich.  Not to be greedy, but to have the power to do whatever I want, whenever I want.  I’ve always had obvious interests and never had the recognition or discipline to translate those crafts into a foreseeable future.  Nor did I have anyone to encourage me to develop those interests and strengths.  I was always encouraged to focus on academics as that was the only measurable success.  Ever hear, “When are we ever going to use this?”  Why not explain how it is not necessarily the subject matter but the implementation of behaviors and discipline to retain information?

I also realize some people go their entire lives without fulfillment.  Just listen to the parting songs of hospice care patients.  You want to know what’s important?  Listen to a person on the verge of perish.

I blame education.  I blame education and governing entities posing as the wise.  How can you tell children, go to school, get good grades and get a good job?  No other option is offered or mentioned.  This is because the teachers also don’t know and the system is made to create drones.  Just check the box.

How much of this should be self-discovery?  When is the individual at fault or responsible for the accountability of their actions?  Should their inherent failure only be their fault, regardless of a system present to set them on the right path?  When is the blame game too much?  These are all questions that plague my mind as I expand my horizons and ponder what the future holds.  I strive for the wisdom to expand into the areas that will benefit myself and others around me.

The term “well-rounded” is absurd.  How many “well-rounded” people have you met?  I find they lack the pragmatic common sense required for critical thinking.  No real skills or experience.  The term “well-rounded” is an excuse for not knowing the real answer to the question.  Does our education system really create “well-rounded” individuals?  Or are you just regurgitating statements from generations of thoughtlessness.

Why am I only learning about what really matters in life outside of school?

Without getting fanatical and sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I’ll get to the point.  School is merely a pool of random curriculum that is acceptable to the current times and culture.  Don’t think so?  Look up the 10 most recent banned books.  You’ll find books you’ve read in class that may have been considered staples for the young developing mind.  Now they’re banned.  Someone said they don’t belong in a classroom.  Really?  Who’s to say what belongs and doesn’t belong in a classroom?  Wouldn’t you consider the parents the only people fit for that responsibility?

School should be a place to teach a wide variety of skills and behaviors to develop critical thinking, discipline, and interests.  Linked with history lessons related to current events repeated throughout time.  School is not a place for standardized testing and statistics.  Statistics are important, but rarely used properly or positively.  Studying to pass tests is a completely useless process soon forgotten immediately after the effort.

Nobody should be automatically fit into the cookie cutter prototype of “career student”.  Higher education shouldn’t be taken lightly.  Nobody should be told to do what everyone else is doing purely because you’re too lazy to help uncover their underlying strengths.  Why is it that so many people can count the “best” teachers they’ve had on one hand?  Teachers have a greater responsibility than what is valued and taught today.  True wisdom is knowing and having the courage to say when you don’t.  It is a sobering experience to realize “grown-ups” are just as clueless as the kids.  Don’t you remember growing up and thinking, “Man, they just know everything.  When I grow up, I want to be just like them.”  Only to realize when you become an adult, everyone is just at different levels of stupidity.  Nobody sees the world for what it is.  They only see the world for what they are and that isn’t considered.

A schoolteacher will see academics as most important.  A business owner will see school loans and identify the disparity in their profit and loss.  That kid that hates academics might be an absolute prodigy in the trade school world.  Why has society placed the failure label on the most valuable skills of all?  Why are cop outs like “Attention Deficit Disorder” acceptable when you’re just a struggling creative mind on sensory overload?  Why isn’t money taught in schools?  Kids can’t even sign their name anymore, never mind write a check or balance a checkbook.  Register?  What’s that?

The answer is simple.  The decision makers and teachers also don’t know.  The difference is their lack of accountability.  The system failed them also.  If education was so valuable, it wouldn’t be so expensive.  The term “prerequisite” would only exist in a structured field.  Not just a conglomerate of nonsense required before getting to the meat and potatoes of what matters.  That’s clearly just a moneymaker.  You also wouldn’t be told to mindlessly pursue a degree when you have no interest in anything.  At the very least, have the courage to say what it is.  Call it the employee academy and offer the best-in-class options for life skills and discipline.  But no, just do it and don’t ask questions.  Maybe you’ll get a good education, who knows.

If the system and governing entities really wanted to help society, it wouldn’t be run the way it is.  School is a business, an expensive one.  A business designed to train and groom followers.  You know who should be teaching your children?  People who have worked in their field for a decade or more with a story to tell.  The wise, that took a risk, put their knowledge to the test, and learned about what really mattered.  Not teachers that just graduate school only to stay and never experience the real world.

Teachers aren’t paid enough?  What about using all that financial knowledge to create the stability needed to not be dependent on a job?  Oh wait, that’s not taught either.  I read one book that put money into perspective easily.  I was also a bank manager.  The truth?  Everyone is broke.  Everyone except for the guy that shows up on a Tuesday morning at 10am wearing a stained tank top, shorts, flip flops, and holding a coffee.  “How’s my money today?” says the wise investor.  That guy in the suit?  Yeah, he’s broke too.  If money was taught in school, there would be a lot less of that situation.  Period.

Shame on you.  Shame on those who don’t educate the young properly and prepare them for reality.  Emphasize that your dream job may not always be there for you.  It also may not be all it’s chalked up to be.  Prepare for a possible layoff.  Explain how the business moves on regardless of your existence.  Discuss other options such as business ownership or other freelance ventures.  The pride in handmade widgets as you sculpt creations from an unassuming piece of material.  The option of working a job and building a side hustle at the same time.  The fact that failure is better than the reluctance to embark on a new adventure for the fear of disaster.

I acknowledge the fact that teaching is an extremely hard job.  This is why only a select few skilled individuals should be chosen for such an important position.  Those with a true passion for teaching, youth, values, wisdom, experience, and support.  Teachers are not the focus for the struggles of education today.  Bad teachers, bad teaching practices, a broken system, lacking support system, and foundation are the issues.  How can you expect results from someone with their hands tied behind their back?

The hunger for knowledge, values, discipline, and life skills should be the sole focus of today’s curriculum.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Every day it isn’t, is a day wasted.  Don’t follow just to follow.  Follow success and wisdom.

Seek wisdom and education in the game of life.  Learn from those who seek constant improvement and renewal.  For it is a harrowing experience, watching all the eggs in your single basket break.

Also, as tempting as it is to rely on the crutch of blame, don’t.  Realize the shortfalls of the journey it took to arrive at your current whereabouts.  Be the difference.  A life stuck in the prison of hate will only hinder your ability to progress.  Embrace the reality of your individual situation and use this wisdom to your advantage.  You may just be interested in a field that requires school and doesn’t offer an alternative entry.  Design failure doesn’t also need to be your failure.

Wisdom is the goal, not hate, not blame.