It Took Me 18 Years To Realize This
Schools do a terrible job at preparing you to handle life
I’m the product of an Indian education system. From kindergarten to grade 12, I went to an Indian school whose motto was — ‘Knowledge is Power.’ It was drilled into our heads that the more books you read, the smarter you will become.
In Indian education, there is an over-emphasis on rote learning. We were expected to memorize all the trigonometric formulas, identify the structure of mitochondria, recite quotes from Shakespeare’s works, and explain the Indian Constitution, among many other weirdly specific things that I’m still waiting for someone to ask me about in real life LOL. Yet being able to remember precise definitions and regurgitate them word for word were considered signs of intelligence.
The key to success at school? Success meant scoring in the 90th percentile or above (equivalent to getting an A grade). Showing off our grades was the ticket to earning social approval from teachers, peers, and parents. If a student didn’t score in the 90s they were considered idiots and their futures written off.
Teachers would tell us cautionary tales of students who had failed exams because they didn’t write according to the examiner’s standards. Creativity? What’s that? We don’t need that here. The focus was on operating like a well-oiled machine to crack one competitive exam after another.
Belittling students for not knowing an answer the exact way it was written in the textbook or challenging authority (read asking genuine questions which were interpreted as disobedience) was the norm.
The fear of ridicule in front of your peers and the fear of punishment were enough to push most students to study. And by study, I mean memorizing. Mind you, there was no true learning happening at these schools. It was fear-based indoctrination through and through.
Most students didn’t understand why we needed the Pythagoras theorem. They knew how to solve cookie-cutter problems, but why are we learning this? What is the real-life application of this theorem?
To be fair, there were exceptions — some teachers went the extra mile, and some students were brilliant problem-solvers. I certainly was not one of them. On paper, I had perfect grades, but in reality, I had a very limited understanding of the concepts we were being taught. I’d had learned how to use the ‘right’ language (read jargon) to sound smart and credible, but I didn’t understand the nuances or the why behind what I knew.
Making mistakes and failing were looked down upon. To avoid average or bad grades, teachers would strongly encourage us to devour academic jargon-heavy books even if they didn’t make sense. You’re only prepared if you review 100 different mock exams and read 1000 books on this topic. I’m exaggerating a little, but you get the point.
Imagine my shock when at the age of 18, I went to North America for my undergrad and quickly realized no one gives a damn about my grades or the fact that I could memorize large bodies of text.
The focus here was on experiential learning. A fancy way of saying learning by doing. Our assignments were to practice what we learned by coming up with a project that had real-world relevance. We were encouraged to work in groups and solve hard problems. It didn’t matter what your previous grades or credentials were, we were all treated as equal with perspectives worth sharing.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. What’s my point, and how does it help you?
The lesson that took me 18 years to learn is — Knowledge is NOT power until it is applied.
Knowledge + Action = Power
For the first 2 decades of my life, I was obsessed with reading, planning, and soaking up all sorts of advice.
Why? Because it felt good. I felt like I was being smart by avoiding common mistakes. It felt like I was making progress since I’m doing research right? I thought if I know all the roadblocks, I can meticulously map out my life plan. I can avoid failing. I can avoid looking like an idiot. I can avoid embarrassment.
WRONG
I was no smarter and no more successful after reading 10 books. Sure I could impress people with my knowledge. But what’s the point if I couldn’t implement any of my knowledge? If I couldn’t measurably improve my life or the lives of those around me?
I also realized knowing too much about a topic is more of a negative than a positive. When you have too much knowledge, it can hinder you from taking action. You get stuck in analysis paralysis and end up not doing anything. In cases like this, ignorance is bliss because if you don’t know something, it can’t hurt you to try and find out what happens.
There are vanity metrics like
- # of books read
- # of degrees you have
- # of letters behind your name aka your credentials
- The brand value of the school you went to — if your school isn’t in the top 10 [insert any arbitrary ranking system], did you even go to school?
And then there are the real metrics that move the needle on things that matter. The clearest way to assess progress in life:
Doing > Learning
Outputs > Inputs
Creating > Consuming
My biggest obstacle to taking action? I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to create and share only ‘high-quality’ information. If it wasn’t perfect, I would abandon the project midway. I was afraid of judgment and potentially negative consequences.
I used to hide behind the maxim — quality over quantity. Until I realized, how can you create good quality if you don’t first create a high volume of work? Even if it is shitty quality, a large quantity of work shows evidence. It contains data points that you can use to see what works and what doesn’t.
High quantity inevitably leads to high quality but the opposite is not true. In other words, do something enough times and it becomes almost impossible to keep failing at it. Provided you pay attention to the data and course correct accordingly.
My point is that you can spend time learning new knowledge but you don’t need to be an expert. You just need to get started with what you have and what you know. Play the long-term game of consistency and you can outshine more intelligent and more skilled people simply because you chose to put yourself out there every day.
With everything said and done, I still sometimes struggle to apply what I’ve learned but it is my hope that sharing it publicly will make me more accountable and potentially help someone too.
