Now, normally my posts are fairly light-hearted and upbeat. But today I’m going to try something different.
The great Dale Carnegie used to say that anyone could become a public speaker if they were angry enough. You see anger can lead to passion and passion makes for great speeches. When it comes to helping people and living your legend, starting with your biggest frustrations can open up a lot of ideas as to the difference you want to make. Think of what consistently makes you mad about the world and what you wish was different.
Ask yourself the question: “What really makes me angry about the world?” Then answer it. Here’s my answer:
The education system.
I HATE the current school system in the United States. Now maybe I’m a bit jaded because I just spent the past 17 years of my life in it from kindergarten to college. I have a couple of nice diplomas to show for it. I also have some lifelong friends and some life-changing experiences, as well as some amazing memories. But by no means was the education system even close to perfect.
The emphasis on tests is just insane. Teachers just tell students what to learn—as opposed to teaching them how to learn—and students just regurgitate these answers come exam time. “Stuff and puke,” as my old history teacher called it. No real learning. Just fact memorization and regurgitation. Then a week after the final, we’d just forget at least 80% of what we learned. No long term gain.
The system was designed to make everyone photocopies of each other. You see, the modern schooling system is the result of a bureaucratic machine. That machine needed cogs to make it run, so that’s why schools were created. To create cogs in a machine. And when one cog broke, we’d need an exact copy to replace it. So we are trained not only to be cogs, but also to be copies of each other.
There’s just one problem: not everyone ends up working in the bureaucracy. Some do. But most don’t. So why in the world are we teaching students as if every last one of them will end up a cog. Doesn’t that seem strange to you? In the old days, only a select few would go to school and it would be those few who would enter the machine. Now everyone goes to school, but the machine doesn’t need that many cogs.
We need to change the whole education system. Start teaching people how to be free thinkers and entrepreneurs. The world has changed immensely, my friends. But education has remained impervious to innovation. Companies have been springing up in recent years to try to make a difference. Their efforts are noble, valiant, and a necessary first step. They are a sign of progress in the right direction. But we’re going to need a whole lot more.
Education is ripe for innovation. And I’m here to do my part. Join me, my friends, and together we can change what’s wrong.