Twisty Little Passages
School presents access to knowledge with something so synthetic and abstract,
that we can't learn, because it is too incomprehensible and can only be temporary memorized.
We each have a unique pathway with which we access knowledge,
it is a cheerful Spring time maze of curiosities and discoveries.
A school does conspire to convince us that we are not smart enough to learn,
it was never meant to be this way.
Schools were meant to set the world free and put an end to wars,
put an end to sending children to wars.
A formula is not something you memorize,
it is tool you look up to make some beautiful graphics for a screen-saver or an art show.
There is only one reason why a student would be abused to memorize formulas,
testing.
It is a test of the teacher,
if the classroom grade point average is above a certain point, then the teacher is working.
From another perspective,
if a teacher can show a good class GPA, then they can demand to get paid and keep their job.
Forcing students into memorizing formulas has nothing to do with teaching them,
it is just a test of the teacher.
Pop quizzes, Quizzes, Tests, take out a piece of paper,
is the teacher making sure they will get to keep their job.
State and national level tests are even worse,
they are little more than crossword puzzles that rely on insider knowledge.
Insider knowledge,
is the network of those miserable facts that fade as soon as we graduate.
The whole is a self serving machine that distributes tax payer money to teachers and higher ups,
there is no real education to be found here.
The test difficulty merely convinces everyone who participates in the charade,
that a lot of work was involved, hard work, that required hard working, oh so hard.
A hard test on a difficult subject, is not that different,
from a Drill Sargent sending a boy to mop up a parking lot in the rain.
Lessons and Tests,
are not an education.
It is an insult,
The worst thing about this is that people become truly convinced they are not smart enough,
the broken school not only insult, but in their haste for paychecks defraud people of knowledge.
If pressed by a competent congress, the principals would state,
that everyone should know that knowledge is free.
If pressed, they will say,
we are not required to teach your children, and present an entire bouquet of reason and evidence.
They will state,
that they are required to pass standardized tests, and that is exactly what they do.
There is no need for teaching real, functional, inspirational knowledge,
the point of a school is tho get the students to past the tests.
Because that is how everyone gets paid,
and that is how parents get a free babysitter.
Pretending to educate,
cannot lead to anything good.
Strange elections, vaccine hesitancy, science denial, nationalism, racism, mind crushing poverty,
are just the more visible symptoms.
Real schools hold such a beautiful promise,
a real curriculum that provides real positive results would spread around the world's nations like wildfire.
It would quickly change how people and their representatives see the world,
issues like pollution, climate, insider trading, and corrupt politics, would fade away.
We have the room for Real Schools, but it is filled with something else,
it is hard to describe until you contrast real schools with the fake ones.
Do not let schools trick you into thinking that you are not smart enough to learn,
build you own unique twisty little passage into the world of knowledge.
Choose Self Education and Entrepreneurship first,
choose the things that you can tell are real.
Protect your curiosities and dreams,
as they are the precious starting points into Arts and Sciences.
Do not sacrifice what is unique about you,
for grades that will rob you of real knowledge and mark you with a score that relies on temporary memorization.
Real education is about passion, creativity, art, vision,
it has nothing to do with text books, tests, grades, and GPA.
Ignore your grades,
they don't mean anything.
Find a happy place,
and begin gathering up happy science books.
Take to all top selling non-fiction audio books,
and go on adventures.
When you are ready,
begin learning business by building many little companies until you figure all out.
Do not let schools trick you into thinking,
that tests are about knowledge, or that that grades mark your level of intelligence.
You are infinitely creative,
and infinitely intelligent.