SCHOOL SUCKS: . But Education Rocks!

So why would someone who spent 27 years working in the formal education system say such a thing? Because for 27 years I tried, unsuccessfully, to change the "system" from within. Too much internal politics for it to ever happen!

The Formal Education System has never been relevant to real life and "success and happiness" within a career. The closest it ever comes is through Vocational Education, where accountability for job placement is mandated. However, even here the curriculum lags many years behind Industry Skill Needs because of a general lack of money to keep programs updated. At a minimum, the graduate will have to start a career with on-the-job training to bring their skills up to par. The advantage is that the graduate can usually get a job and earn an income and have very little, if any, debt. Especially if those skills were attained during high school or in the military.

Assuming one took the advice of their "guidance counselor" and followed that college-prep curriculum, they would be joining the other 67% of high school grads into huge debt with a college loan. Why? Because they didn't learn any job skills while in high school and were brain-washed into thinking they had to have a college degree to make it in this world.

The irony of all this is that even after a 4-year degree more than half of these 67% will not be able to get a job "in their field" because less than a third of the jobs even require a 4-year degree. This is only one reason why School Sucks!

Guidance Counselors, who spent all their life within the "educational system" need to be augmented with "Career Counselors" who can better direct students into successful careers. Unless the goal is to become a "professional" that requires special certifications, college just is NOT cost effective for most individuals. Two-year certificate programs maybe; but a better route might be entrepreneurial training and a vocational program related to the specific business aspirations. The money wasted on college tuition would cover start up costs for most businesses related to skills.

Another reason School Sucks is that it does not prepare a person to live in the real world. Beyond the 3-R's and technical/computer literacy, the structured school curriculum is simply designed to keep young people off the streets until they become of age.

This is where the "Education Rocks" part of my statement comes in. No matter how old a person gets they should never quit learning. The more you learn, and the more diversified that learning is, the better chance you will have for a productive and happy life.

So, rather than pushing for those high grades in subjects that will be of no use in life for those who don't intend to go to college, it makes more sense to do the minimum needed to get the minimum GPA that one's self-esteem can handle.

What do you do with all that extra time that it would have taken to get a higher GPA?
Self-Educate! There is so much available to learn on the internet today. Even the basics of many skills can be attained watching YouTube videos. The more diversified a person can become before getting out there in the real world, the better chance for success within that world; no matter what the choice for an income.

You should make use of the school library as much as possible and explore the internet for free and inexpensive courses available. Find your interests before spending a fortune on training you are either not interested in or have no aptitude for. The military will give free ASVAB tests to 11th graders to discover your aptitudes, whether you plan on going into the military or not. You can find “interest” surveys online to help find your true passions.

As I look at the surmounting college debt ($1.73 Trillion at this time) and the solutions by so-called educated persons (politicians) for removing this debt, I can only wish that I had tried harder to fight the system from within. The Federal Loan Forgiveness program only passes that debt on to taxpayers. The Federal Government doesn’t have any money of their own; they simply “print” more debt that costs all of us more in taxes and inflated prices.

Colleges today have become an even bigger Scam and an even bigger threat to our Democracy than they were 50 years ago. They most certainly fall under the category of "School Sucks".

The best thing an individual can learn today, while within the formal education setting, is: Learn to Learn. Then "Rock" their own education by self-motivated and self-directed learning about what they personally need to know to reach their personal goals in life. This requires access to the internet and a basic knowledge of how to surf it; a knowledge that can be learned from the average 10-year-old.

If you are wondering how all this ties in with our advocacy for Self-Reliance, just think about your own past. Perhaps you are where you are today because you fell victim to the "system" that was set up and run by many people who have never had a real job but have been confined to the walls of a "School" all their life.

Wherever you are in life, you can start building your “Bridge” to a better life by committing yourself to the Learn to Learn philosophy.

Wealthy Affiliates is one of the best places you can learn all you need to know for successful online affiliate marketing. The cost is so much less than a college degree and the time needed to master it is much less than 4 years.

So we should see more high school students involved here! If you have teenagers in your life, please counsel them to think about these things. They don't need to fall into the "mold" that society has formed for them; and they will be happier and more successful if they don't!

Give those young adults a "gift" of WA and see how much better off they will be a year from now. You will get 45% of that money back as well!

Archie