Readers — The Future Leaders of Tomorrow
In the picture above, the children in the yellow are the majority of students who take what they hear or are taught as fact without even questioning the status quo.
The boy in the blue who is reading the book understands that the information taught by the American Education System is not always the best suit for them. Instead, the boy wishes to search and find the answers for themselves. Therefore, the children in the yellow that learn from what society tells them becomes the future of America’s workforce and followers while the one who learns himself becomes a leader. Traditional values of the standard path such as going to college, working for someone else’s dream until retirement, raising a family, paying taxes, and then dying is not the best way to live life fully.
The American education system was heavily developed and funded from the industrial revolution from the power of rich landowners and men during that era. During this time, the rich needed more workers to increase their profit and the country’s overall productivity through massive technological developments. Similarly, grades A, B, C are similar to our “quality work” that old employees back then used to produce in factories. The primary purpose of education was to produce an educated work force of followers and robots.
Students are programmed to not question popular thinking and are discouraged essential life skills such as interdependence teamwork values such as the ranking system. As a result, students are punished when they may retaliate against rules, collaborate with their peers on certain assignments, and are also placed in a ranking system based on the best student who can be the ideal worker.
What the education system fails to take in account is how every single student has their unique gifts, strengths, and weaknesses.
Unfortunately, all of us are put into one single classroom and we are programmed at a very young age to learn material that might not even apply to our future careers. And if we retaliate, we are punished by the expectations of our cultures, parents, and acceptance into colleges so that we can obtain a “degree” to show many employers that we’re the perfect worker: follows rules, dos what he/she is told, and produces quality work. So when we go to college, we’ve spent the majority of our lives listening to others and we end up not knowing what passions we wish to pursue.
In every classroom, there’s an entrepreneur who doesn’t need chemistry marks or there’s an artist who doesn’t need advanced calculus. You would be surprised at how many young adults do not understand finances, taxes, because we’ve spent the majority of our lives learning how to balance a chemical equation. These types of courses should be saved for college classes when it is more applicable to one’s career path. However, we’re all given the same material and classroom so that we can obtain a degree — a certification to many employees on finding the perfect worker: follows rules, does what he/she is told, and produces quality work.
So many people ask me, why do you read? I often get strange looks and concerns when people catch me reading in today’s society that is full of technology and social media. The reason being, I have begun to see that the escape of today’s education system is through self-education on your passions. Nowadays, reading is such a highly underrated practice that seriously damages your ignorance. Self-education, or autodicticism, is a critical aspect for success in business, personal development, and developing acquired intelligence (AQ). When you choose to educate yourself on what your heart and intuition says, you’ll find yourself learning all sorts of things that the education system lacks today. For example, books contain information on essential skills such as fostering good interpersonal relationships, leadership, personal development, and success biographies. The majority of leaders should understand that continuous learning is a key aspect to reaching success in your life. If you choose to break away from society and open a book today, you may find yourself beginning to understand the world around you better.
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” — Harry S. Truman (33rd U.S President)
