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Educating is not Schooling

1 min

So many kids hate school. I don’t blame them. Society pressures status and forces us to check the box. It’s an implicit belief that school is parallel to success.

Do you ever hear anyone gloating about how book smart they are in their 20s or 30s?

It’s not relevant after school. It only matters when you’re in the thick of it. When it consumes your world. It reveals compliance. That you knew how to play by the rules— for the most part. Alternatively you could’ve got innovative asking for extra credit or finding other shortcuts. Rewriting the rules is what I would call street smarts. They are far more important in navigating life.

School is only a sliver of your life. I always surrounded myself with people who were book smart. They received glowing grades and I wanted to figure out how.

Those same students tend to pursue even more higher education. They acquired a strength within the system of school. Those who figured out the game want to stay. They are comfortable in their confines rather than entering the real world. Schools are a magical place where attention is expected. It’s unrealistic because everywhere else, it is fleeting.

Though, educating is different than schooling. In school, students live by someone else’s rule book. During education, students live by their own scorecard. It’s the default option to let others manage you. That is lazy though. Students of life need to claim their autonomy back. Choose to navigate the world their way.

Ryan Holiday ends all his emails saying that we need to treat our education like it’s our job. I agree. Never stop learning.

Next

A letter to 10-year-old me

A Letter to Boredom

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