5 Life Changing Things School Didn’t Teach Me
From the innocent age of 3 to the adult age of 23, I have been quite intimate with the school system. Only taking a year off between then (you know, to travel across Canada and all), my life was built around fake marbled desks, four walls, and a lot of awkwardness.
My journey through school was nothing glamorous or exciting. In fact I kept to myself and took pride in that I was a B and C student. But what is interesting is the stuff that I learned in school and how it butted heads with what I’m doing today: running a business.
There were many things I had to unlearn. And I can imagine that there might be even more I may not realize.
The biggest revelation is the fact school doesn’t in fact prepare you for the world ahead. As much as teachers and advisors will say, it actually doesn’t.
So here are some of my revelations I’ve had in the “real world” and how they contradict what school teaches us.
Success Is Not Defined
In our school system, success follows those who are high achievers, those with higher grades than everyone else.
But what exactly is success?
Because school defines it as those who have achieved high grades. They are the hard workers and cram as much useless information into their heads as possible. If you’ve stepped into any office and worked there you’ll realize how unimportant school is in the grand scheme of things.
Success is more than high grades and a fancy piece of paper.
Success can be the level of progress you’ve made, or the lessons you’ve realized. I’ve said in the past I do consider myself successful as I’ve been able to earn more money than last year. By all means I’m still paid below minimum wage, but it’s a big step up from where I was before.
Success isn’t defined by our ability to memorize and reiterate the exact same thing. By all means it is to our school system, but that’s not the only way to be successful.
There are many roads that can lead to success.
There Are Many Solutions
We all have different learning abilities. This is no surprise to many people. But if there are many ways for us to learn, then there must be more than one solution? Right?
Robert Kiyosaki outlined in his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad that there are many pathways. All you need to do is think. He is a hard pusher for when we exercise our brain there will always be other solutions.
Even though in our school system we are taught what is right and wrong, those aren’t the only elements. There are many pathways that are right just as the same there are many wrong pathways.
I’d even go as far as saying things aren’t always distinct between what’s right and wrong.
There Are No Limits And No Rules
“The sky is the limit” is a bullshit quote.
Yes I get it’s meant to be inspiring, but if we’ve travelled into space and beyond. I think we are past the sky.
But our school system insists on limitations underneath. After all you can only only get so high of a grade. There is supposedly a peak to your success, but there honestly isn’t.
Furthermore the rules that are set for us are by people that prefer restriction and order. This doesn’t help the creative mind expand and learn or try different experiments. Those who have created some truly amazing things are the rebels here.
Creativity shines when we think in possibilities and not limitations.
Titles And Achievements Matter Little, Focus On Actions
With the need for higher education being crammed down our throats, many people feel it best to pursue for higher learning. Whether that’s getting a Masters degree or a Ph. D., these are documents that people strive for now.
Schools teach us the importance of these documents, however I don’t believe they are all that important as they are drummed up to be. By all means it shows your dedication and devotion to learning, but a person isn’t defined by the titles they have. They are defined by their actions.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, and Gary Vaynerchuk are a textbook definition of failure — according to our school system — yet hundreds of thousands if not millions and billions of people know those names. They know who they are and what they represent.
These men are defined not by the grades they received, the degrees they don’t have or whether they dropped out of school or not. They are symbols of success because we look at what they’ve done. And I don’t think I need to tell you what it is they’ve done since so many people know who they are.
Seriously if you’ve never heard those names, go and google them.
We Are Born To Walk Our Own Paths
As much as school would like to fit us into a box, the truth is that all of our paths vary. Not necessarily in what sort of occupation we want to pursue, but also who we hang out with and how we respond to situations.
Again we all learn differently and many people have different responses to situations and events. Those in turn lead us down different paths and school is simply a medium of discovering that. It kind of does a bad job at times, but through school, we can realize that we need to walk our own paths.
This is driven even more once you get out into the real world. School doesn’t prepare that for you and serves more as a guide. It’s why it’s so important now to learn that we need to choose our own path and have a clear direction.
School Is Interesting
In the end, I find school to be interesting and a good place to grow and find what your passion is. This is where teachers play a role and I know several who do fantastic work despite this system being a little odd. Perhaps this view is what determined my grades, but as I said before, what matters most is the actions as opposed to the grades.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
To your growth!
Eric S Burdon
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