I'm A Genius and A Star Student - This is Why I Think Going To School Was The Worst Thing To Happen To My Life

in informationwar •  6 years ago 

I think I am reasonably qualified to talk about education. I'm not a person with bunch of licences or certification given by some arbitrary entity to say that I'm good. I'm a person who has been to places and have gotten to learn things in the practical hands on way. I'm also one of those academically gifted ones who was a start student at school. I've explored all forms of education except for college (Even on that I've learned by helping my friends with their higher education even though I myself haven't set foot on a college. I'm just really good at academic stuff). The reason I suddenly got into making this personal post was a YouTube video I came across today.

I'm fully on board with Steve Jobs here. I can swear this video to be true, accurate and genuine on my life's experiences.

Going To School Was The Greatest Tragedy Of My Life

I'm not making any sort of exaggeration here. This whole post is going to be very raw and personal for me. If I had to make a list of worst moments of my life I'd say about 80% of them were directly related to school. I haven't lost an immediate family member and I've always had a home and 3 meals for me. So saying that school was the greatest tragedy of my life is purely subjective. A lot worse things could happen to a human being.

I Love Education

As a kid before reaching the age where I had to attend school my parents actually ended up giving me some of the school textbooks of grade 1 and 2. I self studied them for FUN. By the time I went to school I already knew half of the curriculum and that was while having nobody to teach me. My parents simply provided me the material I asked for and I was reading Jules Verne at 2nd or 3rd grade and I was reading about the basics of Quantum Mechanics while I was at middle school. Even these days after quitting highschool out of resentment I spend half my day learning random subjects purely as a hobby.

What's Wrong With School - According to a Genius

My parents would throw a fit saying how my education was going down a drain when they see an A- in my report card and for some subjects, I get lightly scolded for not having a perfect score. I can't even call this a burden I had because my peers actually studied several times harder than I did. So I'd say I'm qualified enough to proclaim myself as a genius on the internet. So what are my complains.

It is Age Based

I've had private tutoring and I've also taken part in academic competitions. The age wasn't never much of a factor. There were some kids slightly younger than me and most of the participants were older than me. The real measurement was a person's intelligence and capabilities. But in school I was actually told that I would loose marks if I use more advanced methods or simply skip some steps by doing calculations in my head. Basically I was given the choice to bow down and act like an idiot or get lower marks in the tests.

I was also told by many individuals including many teachers that school is for the average student and the curriculum is set to help them. I was told that I had to learn whatever that is being taught for kids at my school and prove that I've learnt something on a test. Sometimes the test was score by a teacher who was actually dumber than I was.

The Teachers Are Not Qualified

This might even come across as a rant but it is the honest truth. I was simply better than most of the teachers who were assigned by my school to teach me. It was practically an intellectual humiliation for me. It's like getting educated by a child but you'd also have to be punished if the child deems it.

I've had about 15 teachers who were truly intelligent and I still love them. I learnt from them and they understood my talents. I genuinely respect them and majority of them were not a part of the school system. They were private tutors who I worked 1 on 1 or with a group of fairly intelligent peers who I'd actually call friends.

Too Many Lies

Some times the teacher starts the lesson by telling that you'll have to forget all this when you are in highschool/college. But for now you have to learn these stuff. There were disgusing lies like the food pyramid whcih actually make people fatter and give them heart attacks.

There were other things like teaching kids that protons and neutrons are indivisible and matter was told to only possess 3 stages. Health and PE was full of other blunders and they even got some of the basic astronomy wrong. These were not even the bad parts. If you do point out that something is wrong, a private tutor would take things more seriously (especially 1 on 1) and actually look into it. 95% of the schoolteachers would actually ridicule you and I was actually smart enough to listen like a dumb kid. Some of my intelligent peers were not so lucky. Some teachers harbor genuine grudges against kids who show off to be smarter than them.

Parents- Teachers Meetings had their on problems too. Sometimes teachers elaborate excessively on tiny flaws and some troublesome kids are actually favored for various reasons. It was quasi-political. Teachers even let their favorites to cheat in exams as they wish. 99% of the kids actually cheat at school and if you are a parent, please do not trust those ranks in the report cards. I was too good to be completely beaten by cheater in all subjects. But it is a terrible thing to be beaten by a cheating sucker at a test who'd only get a C or even less on their own.

Do not judge your kid's classroom ranks. They are a scam. Unless you kid is super smart, he/she will either have to learn to become a cheater like the rest or simply be ranked lower. Also don't put too much faith in the teachers. In my personal experiences a quarter of them are not even decent human beings. Another half of them are not even intelligent enough for the job.

The above piece of Steve Jobs Wisdom can help you far more than college ever will. I can prove this i so many different ways. But I like Occam's Razor. So I'll keep it simple and sharp. How many professors do you know that completely changed the world humanity live on this planet. Don't forget that Steve Jobs was at the forefront of smart phones and tablets. He gave us the first AI assistant before his death. How many professors have done 1/100th of that.

Watching a YouTube clip or just reading a used book you bought for 5 bucks may look cheap and even a waste of time. But ask yourself does, 50 Shades of Grey make a better book than an old Bible with few pages lost because one is in finer print? So here is another video:

Collective Responsibility

One of the worst parts about school is punishing the group. This is the anti-thesis of personal responsibility. The school systems have this fetish on teamwork that it would rather hurt everyone instead of taking care of the bad apples. I was actually one of the most disciplined students. Sometimes when a a large portion of the kids make a mess while I'm minding my own business reading a book (generally Sci-fi or thriller), some jackass teacher drops by and do something like giving everyone detention. Sometimes we were asked to stand outside the class or out of the building as punishment. Sometimes we were given physical work etc.

When complained about being punished while having nothing done, me and some good kids were told that it is the responsibility of the class members to keep bad apples in check. So basically the nerds and geeks have to take care of the jocks. I don't know about colleges. But out of every other place you go to learn stuff, schools are the only place where this happens. (Religious schools also have these things to some extent. Bu at least you are not legally required to attend them)

It's safe to say that this idea of collective responsibility is one of the reasons so many young groups have got the commie sickness where everybody else have to pay for everybody's needs. These ideas aren't completely new either. I wrote about some of the early incarnations of communism in my post A Brief History of Taxes, Fiat money and The Chinese Proto-Socialist Emperor Who Ruined his Country

I think I'll have to write a second part. So until then here is a video to think about:

This video barely touches anything (especially regarding education). I'm just asking all the parents in the world to not take school education seriously. It has barely any importance. I'm telling this as a kid who everyone considered as someone who is bound to get a PhD. Many people didn't believe I quit school and I believe school has more cons to offer than pros. It's not all bad. If you eat at McDonald/KFC everyday, it's going to taste good and have base amount of quality. But the harms far exceed the gains and I honestly believe that the world would be a better place if public education was eradicated.

So please don't push your kids to perform well at school. No matter the good intentions it is 99% guaranteed to break your child in one way or the other. Trust me. I'm a genius.

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I must say that I agree with a large part of what you say in this publication, in fact, I already made a few months ago my personal rant against this institutional educational model.

The Educational System: When the student stops being the Consumer, it becomes a product.

I think my impact with the education system was not so much as considering myself a genius, but rather something like "Hey, everyone here is an idiot or what?"

I remember thinking that my teachers did not know anything since my first grade, later I realized that adults did not know anything, and that's how I ended up getting rid of the myth of authority, from there I started to investigate and read only about what I found it interesting, and I forgot the school, my grades began to descend, but that had me without the least care, unfortunately I fell into the mouth of the wolf, I formed several wrong ideas in my head, for trusting in dubious sources, but this process of experimentation ended up helping me a lot by looking at it in retrospect.

But in school I was actually told that I would loose marks if I use more advanced methods or simply skip some steps by doing calculations in my head. Basically I was given the choice to bow down and act like an idiot or get lower marks in the tests.

Literally this happened to me too.

I remember once, my first day seeing the subject of economic calculation, and the first thing the instructor did was pose a problem, I remember that it took me no more than 10 seconds to solve it mentally, then she asked me to go to the blackboard and explain to all my answer, which had been correct, my method was unorthodox, so he asked me to formulate it, which I did not do, she said that I had a disordered mind. Then, when it was time for the first exam, it was a Catholic institution, so she left the room and left all the students alone, to prove our honesty. At the request of all my colleagues, I explained how to solve the problem using the instructor's method, but I still decided to use my personal method in my test, except for me, everyone approved. The instructor said that I had failed because I performed calculations in my mind, instead of writing them, and she also said that I had not followed her method. Later, that same instructor was in charge of teaching the accounting subject, at that time, I decided to do things her own way, which led me to be her favorite student, in such a way that I was exempt from presenting test, instead of that gave me the task of placing a score to the test of my classmates. As you can see, the instructor ended up bending my behavior, which was really her job, so that I understood that if I do things as the authority demands, I will succeed.

Actually, my whole conception of education is based on the fact that we must learn to read, and then, based on a purely critical thought, we must acquire the rest of knowledge, but not obeying an authority, but our individual search and desire.

However, it's like Jobs said:

“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

Even though I had already developed an adverse thought towards the education system, I decided to study law at the university, after a year, I left it, somehow I had to prove it to be sure that I did not miss anything, I wanted to know if the university education It would be different from the rest, and it really was more of the same, you could learn more on your own than by going to that place.

oops, I'm sorry I've extended the comment so much.

it must be understood that private education as it is conceived at present does not change the paradigm previously established in the previous example, since under the system of private education, the educational program, that is, what is to be taught to the students, is not decided by the students, but is decided by the State, which greatly limits the power of choice that may have the student.

Very well said. I've had private tuition and the only times I was properly satisfied were the parts of the curriculum that I enjoyed or completely private institution created curriculum (generally in IT).

I remember that it took me no more than 10 seconds to solve it mentally, then she asked me to go to the blackboard and explain to all my answer, which had been correct, my method was unorthodox, so he asked me to formulate it

Add physics, chemistry and mathematics to the list. Sometimes I've solved problems in few lines or just in my head while other write more than a page. I had some smart teachers who smile past me and simply cut my marks at the tests and tell my parents that I'm a really smart kid, but not fit for the system.

Even though I had already developed an adverse thought towards the education system, I decided to study law at the university

I had some of my AFK friends do similar things. They say they learnt many important things but burred under what is mostly just drivel. Even when it comes to areas that seem impossible to fill with fluff and drivel, these educational sucker manage to expand 1-1.5 year course into 3 years (based on what my programmer friends say)

oops, I'm sorry I've extended the comment so much.

I'm cool with extended comments :-)

This brought back for me all the reasons I quit high school in 1999. I did end up going to college later, even up to Master's level, but college was a much better experience than high school and primary school were.

Thanks to @ecoinstant, this post was resteemed and highlighted in today's edition of The Daily Sneak.

Thank you for your efforts to create quality content!

Personally I had a great time in primary school. Things eventually got worse and I quit before things could go any lower.

I was a difficult child socially. At the very edge of the spectrum, but highly functioning enough that we had no idea (and even more highly functioning now). Primary school was a nightmare for me.

I was more of an odd kid than socially difficult. You could say I was bit of the Doctor Who/Sherlock type as a kid (not saying I've grown out of it) I managed to stay out of most trouble. But sometimes there were moments where somebody should have given me a bunch of cards:

That's an exaggeration, but I had those kind of moments in my life. I also found some parts of these videos to be relatable:

https://steemit.com/psychology/@vimukthi/the-truth-about-asperger-s-syndrome-first-hand-accounts-and-analysis-from-someone-who-found-success-while-having-asperger-s

love those personal post of yours ,Now I get why you dropped out,'
some of those point that you mentioned I really could relate.In the end a diploma is just a piece op paper ,only you can help yourself to achieve success

And a lot of people are going to realize that practically everyone has got a diploma or degree or some form of certificate which they worked for several years. When everyone has got one, it doesn't matter much whether you have that piece of paper or not. Getting a job is going to be tough.

I understand you friend, and how old are you now? Did you decide on your own not to go to college? although it is really understandable considering the rat's nest in which these institutions have become.

I'm in my early 20s. The decision was pretty easy. I was never a fan of the place due to many reasons including but not limited to above stated and the mathematics and economics were pretty conclusive on the fact that school (not just college) was a waste of time and practically a scam. Dealing with parents was the hard part. I'm currently living with my parents and my only income stream is STEEM and some crypto trading. It's small. But when I hear the life details of my class mates who are in college or doing jobs, I can look at my life and smile.

Arōgyā paramā lābhā
santutthi paramam dhanan
vissāsa paramā nāthi
Nibbānan paramam sukhan

(Dhammapada verse 204)

Rough Translation: “Health is the ultimate profit, happiness is the ultimate wealth, a trusted friend is the best relative, Nibbana is the ultimate bliss”

An in depth explanation can be found here: https://puredhamma.net/dhammapada/arogya-parama-labha

Hands down best post seen in awhile.
Absolutely agree with this! System is broken, messed up and not fit to develop individuals, rather bunch of sheep and those who understand that from very early days, are labeled as poisonous and forced being isolated.

Thanks for the compliment.

Love this....performance outside the norm, often comes from getting the right mentors who know the alternate path. Great read.

Most of my mentors were the one I accessed through books or the internet.

Smart...there are many lessons to be learned...and many paths. Even if one isn't a genius...their path is still varied.

college is a great place to meet girls.

From what I've come to know from friends and the internet college seems like a statistically bad place for anything long term. The best way to meet girls I know is bit of a catch-22. Get to know some girls with above average intelligence and average to hot looks and network from their. Even if things don't get "romantic", you'd at least have some quality human beings in your social circles. Colleges and parties are mostly fit for pump & dumps and I personally don't like that. Quality>>>>>Quantity

you have to slay a few dragons before you can get to the princess ;)

Thanks for sharing. It's was good to hear.
Now here is something from me: https://www.caseyresearch.com/doug-casey-education/

Happy Steeming!

Put it this way. The quality of a person can be determined by how he relates to three critical verbs: Be, Do, and Have. The classical liberal arts show you how to “be” – they help form your essence, your character, your will. The mechanical arts show you how to “do”; they are important, but really are just acquired skills. As a consequence of what you are, and what you can do, you “have” – acquire goods and money and reputation.

But it seems pretty clear that most people have the sequence totally backward. They want the “have” part, the material goods, but they don’t understand it flows as a consequence of being something and having the ability to do something. Having things is trivial. It’s why trailer park trash will win a million-dollar lottery and wind up back on the dole a year later.

I fear that most of what kids get today, whether in grade school, high school, college, or post-grad, is not education. It’s training.

That interview was very good. Thanks for the recommendation.

The website had many great interviews like that. Check it out.

Surely I'll take a look.

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