School...HUH ... what is it good for?... Absolutely Nothing!

Marshall Brain's Blog: Do you have anything to say?

That is a very interesting question. I haven't had as many problems with that question, but it did come up in college for a bit. Its hard to work on school with low morale. It ends up spiraling out of control, because low grades make you care less, and then you work less, which lead to lower grades, which make you care less, which .... etc. It seems to me, that the biggest thing that comes out of going to school, is that people know that you went through the same shit, and you made it. Frats have hazing for the same reason. The ordeal bonds you to people that went through the same thing. You don't learn that much in school that is directly applicable.  Like, at most, if I went to work right now, I would have had 2 or 3 classes on the subject that I would directly use everyday. It is hard to tell someone that they have to spend 4 years in college (5-6 at Gatech) for 2-3 classes worth of material. I am not saying that you don't learn anything, but most of the time it won't be a pop quiz.

You learn how to learn, and how to solve problems, but they often pretend that you are supposed to be learning specific knowledge (which you are, just not all the time, most problem solving methods can and should be generalized to all problems). School shows that you can met deadlines and normally can interact with other human beings. You can start and finish projects. A slight bit of time management stills  is necessary. Instead of having to directly test you, another person or employer can estimate the lower end of your abilities by putting faith in the agent of the government or a school that they trust because of the consistent quality. Once you prove yourself useful to some aspect of society, the schooling that you had becomes less important.

I have a lot to say about this topic, just don't think I have time here to fully develop them.

What would you tell this teenager?

What would you tell your kids? (ha, its coming up sooner than you think!)