School is Uncool: The Good & Bad of a Formal Education

As a parent, it’s been interesting watching my kid go through different types of schools. American public school, private American school in Taiwan, home schooling and now back to public school. Obviously, there are lots of advantages and disadvantages to all of these. 

I remember when my daughter Amber and her classmates were in kindergarten, they were so raw, excited and energetic. They saw joy in almost everything and anything. They said what they thought and felt. Maybe most importantly they had crazy imagination and creativity and everything was possible in their minds. 

But this changes as they get older. They get socialized, they get peer pressured to fit in either by their social circle and by the teachers (and parents) telling them NO. Maybe this is part of the growing up process which accelerates through high school, then university and then the workplace. 

The sad thing is all the “possibilities" disappear in their mind and they become like everyone else. They lose the courage to say what they truly think for fear of sticking out and not fitting in or being laughed at. Being socially ostracized and being a social outcast is so hard wired into all of us, that it is easier to keep quiet so you can fit in. 

I think this definitely happened to me. And I was only able to escape by literally leaving my home country of Canada, traveling and meeting new people and social circles to figure out who I really am. And the irony is in the business world and in the world at large, it’s important to be authentic, to stand out and think for yourself. 

All the most successful people in the world do this. Orthogonal thinking, an overused word in Silicon Valley, which is defined as “thinking that draws from a variety of, and perhaps seemingly unrelated, perspectives to achieve new insights.” (Source: https://interactioninstitute.org/orthogonal-thinking-and-doing)

Is it a surprise that some of the best programmers, entrepreneurs and investors are somewhat autistic or somewhere on the spectrum? An autistic person does not understand social cues and finds it hard to understand how others feel or think. No surprise they are able to think for themselves and do original things. Things that allow them to stand out and win. 

I value education, I encourage kids to go to school. But let’s not kid ourselves, school is indoctrination. David Sack’s calls our Universities “Woke Madrassas.” I’m far from his political stance but I understand his perspective. And for those who don’t know what madrassa is, it’s a Islamic religious school known for preaching an especially austere form of Islam. The parallel to the modern school system is clear. This is why the first thing a foreign power or conqueror does after taking over a place: take direct control of the media and schools. 

This is also why as a parent and concerned relative, it’s important to balance our kid’s formal education with an informal one.  Help them fall in love with learning and realize that education happens both in school and outside of it. Help them travel if you can afford, reading as many different books as possible, encouraging them to explore other interests, and giving them alternative views from the mainstream one being propagated by the media and education system. 

This way they might have a chance to learn how to think for themselves and stand out from all the cookie-cutter sheeple around them.