Schooling?

by Dhruv Dharamshi

The difference between breathing and thriving is constant mental growth. It took me 15 years (of breathing) and three years of solitude (thriving) to figure that out.

Going to school is normal. Everyone does it. Even if I knew what I know now, had I mentioned that going to school is against my best interest, my parents would have dismissed that as an excuse to avoid spending 5 hours in lower kindergarten. Maybe it was alright then. But let me tell you something about schools; they are standard institutions meant to mass produce standard civilians.

Every now and then a kid comes by, with extraordinary skills. I know one such guy. He is good at everything that the school could possibly come up with as an extra-curricular activity. Everyone who took part in any sport had to compete with him, because he practised every sport. Not just that, he had remarkable communication skills too. So he also participated in elocution. Needless to say after saying what I already have, he aced academics too. We lived in his shadow. ‘10 B’ was not our class; ‘10 B’ was the class that bagged the prestigious Hamdan Award (by one guy, guess who?). We were just spectators to his awesomeness. At least I felt that way. If you look past the victim speech, you will notice that he was an ideal student. Let’s ponder over that. When I put it that way, it seems as if he was the only normal person around, everyone else – below expectation.

The school of course thrived on him. He was the finest specimen the student-kind had ever known. Then something unexpected happened.

I told my dad I wanted to do something everybody doesn’t do, or everyone can’t do. I want to do something creative, not sit behind a desk all day and call it a career. After much discussion, my father summed up the courage to open the IITs website on his internet browser. The Indian Institute of Technology. One of the best my home nation has to offer. What’s extraordinary about it? It’s not just the institute, it is the entrance exam one has to write to be able to gain admission to one of these universities. One of the most difficult in the world. How difficult? 485,000 candidates appear. A little over 9,000 get in. So it was final. I was to leave for India after 10th grade to train myself for this tough exam for two whole years (Spoiler alert: I fail). Mr All-rounder liked this idea. Apparently he wanted to do this all along but dropped the idea due to some other reasons. So he and I left for India after 10th grade. It was as if someone had pulled a leg off the chair on which the school sat. It was taken for granted that he was to be the Headboy in 12th grade and lead the school. Instead he leaves. And with him, the only leader 10th grade ever had.

We were to be very good friends during the time we spent training there.

Now, why was this guy so awesome? Because he didn’t do just what the school expected of him. Because that was normal. He gave his best in everything he did. And when he made up his mind, he left. Everyone else? Just following orders.

How did it come to this?! I think because at the end of the day, running a school is a business. No matter how dedicated the staff, it is the system that is flawed. Let me explain. A bunch of people with different IQs and different background start off at kindergarten. That’s fine. But in a couple of years, they figure out what and what not they are good at. The things they are good at, they like, and hence excel in. The things that they don’t like end up being nothing but a burden. News is, the school doesn’t give a rat’s ass about all of that. How do you manage these guys if they all want to grow at a different rate? How do you decide the fee? Based on how much the kid learns or based on how fast the kid learns? Different fees for different people? So to make things simpler for them, lets have all kids begin with kindergarten. Then, lets not give a damn about how quickly they learn stuff. If they are too slow, lets teach the dumbasses a lesson by having them repeat one entire year if they lag behind in any of the subjects that we force down their throats.

The goal must not be to complete schooling. It must be to expose yourself to all they have to offer; then choose. Then get the hell out of there. For example, by fifth grade you decide you want to be a Physicist or a military man. First, get out of school, or waste valuable potential trying to master a language you can fluently speak just because it is a compulsory subject. Then find someone who can help you be the best in whatever you want to be. And what if you need to necessarily complete schooling in order to be eligible for the course of your choice? Well, tough luck.

I don’t recall learning a single thing at school that I couldn’t have learnt for much cheaper while also wasting lesser time. Apart from making friends, which you can also do at a picnic, it has been nothing but a big, long, speed bump in my life.

The last two years I spent studying outside a school which taught just what I needed. And this year I am doing it all on my own. More about that and why teaching is the most counterproductive occupation ever later.

Further reading:

http://www.businessinsider.com/8-alternatives-to-college-2011-1

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2010/02/dont-send-your-kids-to-college/