Thoughts on Modern Schooling

One of the saddest parts in a human life is the sometimes obvious wastes in natural talent and passion. Dr. Robinson made valid points on why our education system needs reformation. There are too many cases of people milling through life unhappy, yet afraid to make any radical change to their career. A lot of this has to do with the school systems way of sheltering the youth from experiencing how many different careers are out there, and how there’s more than just being an astronaut or a fry cook. Mentorship’s and other high school career programs have quickly become the leading cause for the drop in the usual “indecisive twenty-something’s” and the increase in confident, experienced, and prepared new-generation workforce.

            What would I study/pursue if I had unlimited time and resources? I would definitely take my musical interests and abilities to the next level. For over 3 years I have been dedicating late nights to learning the guitar. I have recently gotten involved in a “band” with some friends, and I enjoy it immensely. My main problems are lack of time and space to practice. If I had unlimited funds I would build a studio and new equipment and spend my days playing, writing, learning, and producing. This would be something that I would wake up super early everyday to do.

            Which has more influence, Aptitude or Attitude? This is an easy answer and goes back to what I said at the beginning. Attitude makes all the difference. Many people have the aptitude and ability, but don’t have the drive/courage to pursue what they’re good at. It’s easy for someone with aptitude to sit around and achieve nothing, but someone with the right mindset and always accomplish their goals.

             What is the purpose of someone who is going to start a massage school to annotate a book? This is the fundamental problem of school nowadays. Too much emphasis is put on learning the standard that years of schooling has brought forth and not enough of tailoring each individual student at achieving what they were born to do, even if that means being a farmer. Kids drop and flunk out of school not because they are lazy and apathetic, but because they don’t understand how what they are doing will ever help them achieve what they want to be doing. The school system needs to rid itself of the “standard”, and divulge in discovering the secret talents its pupils possess, even if this means no books get annotated.

            My mentorship has helped me tremendously on allotting my time and effort and figuring out how to compact a booked schedule to keep me from being bald from stress. I’ve learned how to communicate with professionals and schedule my time in a way that is efficient for school, work, mentorship, and of course my thriving high school social life. While some weeks are hectic, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, and I’ve definitely seen myself mature in the three plus months I’ve been in the program. Hopefully at the end of the year I will have a much better grasp on my future, and walk into it with confidence and appreciation.