End Product of the US School System
Students, realize that the US education system is designed primarily to produce worker bees, wage slaves, whatever you want to call it. The “end product” it is designed to produce is an adult who can sit at a desk or at a station on a factory assembly line for at least 8 hours a day; speak, read, and write standard American English; and understand math and science just well enough to be a productive employee. Corporate America needs educated adults who, given a technical manual, can read and understand the instructions well enough to produce widgets, and can conform to discipline and regimentation to keep production flowing. “That’s all, folks” as the old Bugs Bunny cartoons would end with.
The current US school system was originally developed my imitating the Prussian school system. That system was regimented and stratified by students’ ages to allow for a simple, organized system that would produce a consistent graduate who could either serve well in the military or be a good, obedient, reliable factory worker. The goal was never to produce a truly thinking, wise, questioning human being.
Do More to Be More
So if you want to really educate yourself, truly expand your mind, be more than just another cog in the machine, that’s your responsibility. Your education, your career, and your life are ultimately your responsibility. So take action to make things happen. You must work hard and fight to build the life you want, because if you don’t, you will have to settle for the table scraps that life may give you.
For example, if you are taking Chinese class and find the subject very interesting, don’t limit yourself to doing only what is assigned in class. Look for additional resources and opportunities to dive deep and expand your learning in the subject. You could find a native Chinese speaker looking to learn English, and the two of you could take turns practicing Chinese and English together. You could watch Chinese language programming on TV or on YouTube. You could find written material such as books, magazines, or newspapers written in Chinese to read in order to enhance your learning. Plenty of such material can be easily found online, much of it free to access. You like action movies? Search on YouTube for “Chinese language action movies.”
If you are studying electrical circuits in physics class and find the topic interesting, then go further. You could join a local HAM radio (amateur radio) club, a robotics club, or some other similar activity to get hands-on experience working with electronics or electrical circuits. You could buy an electronics kit – there are numerous kits available that walk you through building simple electronics projects. You could build electronic thermometers, crystal radios, and numerous other projects. You could ask an electrical engineer (I am a former electrical engineer, and you are free to contact me to ask questions) to chat about what that profession is like, or shadow them at work for a day to get an up-close view of the profession.
Did you just learn about the stock market in school? Is it interesting? Go further, look for detailed resources online, find some good books about the stock market and investing to read and learn more, perhaps set aside a small amount of money (or ask your parents to set aside some money) to invest in stocks that you have picked based on your studies. Not sure where to start? Ask ChatGPT what books top investors such as Warren Buffett recommend, get one of those books, and start reading and studying.
Are you learning about the human body and disease and injury in biology class? Is this interesting, does it spark your interest in possibly pursuing a medical career? Ask a doctor if you can chat with them over coffee to learn more about the medical profession, or volunteer at your local hospital to get an in-person look at what the medical profession entails. You could take an EMT course at your local community college, or join the Explorer program as a cadet with the local fire department paramedics.
Think Bigger
Don’t let yourself be limited by the constraints of doing only what is prescribed by the school system. That only provides the bare minimum education, a baseline to start from. Build up from there. Think creatively, ask questions, look for opportunities to truly expand your educational horizons. Yes, you are required to attend school from about 8am to 3pm. But there’s no law that says you can’t look for opportunities to educate and improve yourself beyond those hours. Read additional books, look for additional activities, take some outside classes either at a local community college or through another learning resource if there is a topic that truly excites you and inspires your passion. Life will not reward you well for doing only the bare minimum required – so go further and dream bigger.
If you would like my help in going further with your academic and career goals, why not schedule a NO COST one-hour trial lesson?