Unconscious Education
Most of us go to school for at least 12 years. An increasing number of us go to school for at least 16 years. It is almost two decades of continuous studying. We all should be pretty darn educated by the time we graduate, right?
Yes, we all should. Of course, it varies case by case, but let us take a close look at this picture. Ever since the age of six or seven we had the next 12, 16 or more years of our lives planned out for us. Pretty cool stuff, eh? You do not have to think or worry about what you are going to do for a very long time.
You just go about your business every year, going from class to class learning a predetermined set of knowledge that you should understand in order to be a good citizen of the world.We just sit in those classrooms absorbing all of that awesome knowledge. We learn from out teachers, from our friends and our experiences at school. You graduate from middle school, high school and finally from college.
More or less you had about 16 years of your life that were, for better or worse, out of your control. You had some choice of what you wanted to do or study, but, nevertheless, you were going along the same path as everybody else was. You did not have to worry about of what to study as everything was laid out for you since the age of six.
And one day it all stops. You graduate from college or high school. All of the sudden the structure is gone. You are all alone. The world is in your hands! You are free to do whatever you want. Or are you?
Are you just going to continue down the path of getting a job, creating a family, buying a house, buying insurance, raising your kids, paying for their college, retiring and then traveling until you die? I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that path, but it’s just what most people do.
Graduation is the time in your life when you are truly free to make a radical life-changing choice instead of mindlessly jumping into getting a job and triggering the unfortunate series of events.
Slow Down
After you graduate, the pressure is gone. You have done what you were scheduled to do ever since your were six years old! Now it is the perfect time to slow down and think about yourself and your life and where you are going. You just escaped 16 years of structure of others telling you what to do! Enjoy the freedom and think of your next steps carefully. Do not just carelessly jump into the next structured and comfortable life that everybody else lives!
Easier said that done? Yes. Slowing down and becoming aware of what you are doing and why you are doing can be scary. Why? Simple. You will realize how much more there is to life and how you were just sleeping for last 16 years! You will realize, just like I did, how much more there is to learn in life and how much little you actually know.
Even thought you were going through formal schooling for 16 years, did you ever consciously learn exactly what you wanted? I know I did not. For the most part I took classes I could care less about, I learned about things that I had no interest in. I was just too busy with studying to study what really mattered to me.
I was slowed down against my will: I am unemployed. Yet, I am grateful for it. Now, I have to time to regain consciousness after 16 years and truly make a conscious decisions of what to do next. I can create my structure of life. I can study what I choose to. I can study with a purpose. I realized that I am student of life and that I can consciously choose the lessons that I want to learn instead of being forced to study what others tell me.
Slow down before you form new no value adding habits and start creating habits that really matter to you. I am done with school, but I know that I am just starting to learn the real lessons of life. Are you done with school and did you stop learning? Are you living the life that you want? Slow down and you will gain clarity. Let others run their race. You are competing against nobody but yourself. You will win when you win.
6 Comments
Thank you – I enjoyed this post.
On a more humorous note, I’m not surprised your arms are the same length as the Alma mater.
Hey Caesar:
Thanks for reading! Yea, maybe I should become the new alma matter, what do you think?
Best,
Tomas
Hey Tom,
This cuts through like a knife to our college generation. We got so used to knowing that next year we had summer vacation + job, then another 2 semesters of college (groan), and we were so tired from all the studying that we wanted to unwind and not study what we actually want to know.
Unemployment after college is a blessing in disguise. It snaps you out of that routine you’ve gotten comfortable in.
All of a sudden, each day because unique – anything can happen. Sure, it’s scary, but so is anything new. But growth only happens when we step outside our comfort zone (or in this case, being pushed out). And growth results in new experiences, new opportunities, and a more exciting and fulfilling life of doing what you really want to, rather than simply taking the pre-determined path that best fits you (and it doesn’t fit well for most people, even if they delude themselves into thinking so).
Well put regarding slowing down. This slowing down makes you assess what you want out of life, and you most likely come to realize that you weren’t living your own genuine life, but rather trying to fit yourself into a life of a checked-off box that’s not truly fulfilling.
Best,
Oleg
Hey Oleg:
Thoughtful comment as always. Very much appreciated! I think this correlated very well with the article that you wrote about freerunning and how people should choose their own path or way of doing things.
Become unique by doing the things that you like instead of trying to fit somebody else shoes!
Best,
Tomas
I could speak for hours and maybe even days about my opinions of the education system, but I will leave that for a public debate in the future. The words you displayed in this message are unfortunately true because even though we spend at least 16 years of our lives in school, most people learn more the year that they entered the “real world,” than all of the prior years. We are throw into a system, SIMILAR TO HEALTHCARE, where everything is predetermined and our choices are few and far between. We are told to think a certain way, follow a particular path, and live a “comfortable” lifestyle. In essence, we are TRAINED to be ordinary. But I am here to proclaim that the world is overpopulated with ordinary people and we must now make the CHOICE to separate ourselves from what the educational system has brainwashed us to think and begin living on our own terms, by our own rules, and thinking the way we want to think so that we can become EXTRAORDINARY and change the landscape for generations to come!
WOAHH…I could go on and on, but this will suffice for the purpose of your blog.
Hey Jared!
Love to see you back! I love the energy and passion that I saw in your writing! Amazing!
I agree that we need more people to wake up and look around and see what is going on around us! It’s up to us to create our own structure our own path in life. No wonder there are so many self help books out there. I feel like the topic of self-development should be thought in schools along with many other subjects instead of making more working class bees!
But the best thing we can do is change our selves and lead by example!
Best,
Toma