Create Your Own Future.
Would you let Mark Zuckerberg teach a class on Online Content Marketing?
Let me just preface this blog by saying this: The majority of the thoughts in this blog deal specifically with the creative people in this world. Artists, photographers, videographers, designers, inventors, etc. Please for the love of all that is good. If you want to be a doctor, or nurse, or dentist, or lawyer, or whatever… go to school. Pay attention. Also, yes: there are some amazing teachers in this world and I know several, but sadly their drive and passion for teaching is not something that you see in the majority, and even they will tell you that. Ok. Now we begin.
The world we currently are living in is constantly telling us no. No you shouldn’t do that. No you can’t say that. No you have to do this. No you aren’t good enough for that. No stop wasting your time that’s dumb.
The problem with this is that nobody seems to want to tell people yes. Yes that’s a great idea. Yes you are good enough to do that. Yes you can say that. Yes you should try to accomplish your goals.
First a story. So for those of you that don’t know I have two very successful sisters. One is two years older than I, and she is a Sonographer at Children’s Memorial Hospital of Milwaukee (yah. Children. Like adorable little kids). The other is a freshman in college and is a pitcher for the University of Wisconsin Madison (D1, Big Ten, the whole schabang). They both have worked incredibly hard their entire lives in their own respective fields and are both now finding themselves loving life, and enjoying the spoils of all that hard work. I could not have done what either one of them did. First off, science scares me, its too many words, and I have no desire to know what the one part of my body does the thing with the muscles and the nerves... yah I have no idea. Secondly, I was an athlete for 13 years, and I could not take it anymore and I didn’t have the drive to through so many more years of that to become a college athlete, even though I was always told I was good enough. I on the other hand am very passionate about the media industry that I work in. But the biggest difference between me and them? School.
In my experience of school it seems that teachers and educators alike are only really in it to get through the class period. They aren’t very concerned with letting students adapt to their own situations and do things that best suit them. They are in it for students to read a book, take a test, and move on to the next group of students. I personally have dealt with theses sorts of problems since I was in middle school. I distinctly remember 7th grade math. We were studying Pre-Algebra, and I had found something somewhere that explained the proper algebraic way to do something, (it was a long time ago forgive me) and that method was so much easier, so I started to use it. Well on the next test I used my method, and got the correct answer. My teacher marked my answer wrong. I went up to him after the class and asked him why I had gotten the answer incorrect. He told me that because I didn’t do it in the same steps and in the same way that everyone else did, that I got it incorrect, enough though my answer was the same.
This 100% is the majority of modern day education. Actually, education is a bad word to use. Let’s say that this is 100% the majority of modern schooling. I will cover this in another blog post but what I mean by that is the schooling system is flawed, but education is not. Education includes an endless amount of things. Teaching kids how to walk, learning a new skill, practice for sports, are all education. I don’t have any problems with education. I have a problem with school. Education is an amazing thing. Moving on.
The biggest problem that I see is from the years of 6-21 respectively, everyone is locked. There is a way that your teachers tell you to do something and if you do it in a way that is better for you, you are in trouble. I don’t know who’s idea this was. I don’t know who thought this would make sense. But it doesn’t work. At least it doesn’t work for those who are on the upper half of the programs. The kids who really care about their future and what they are learning. Schooling is catered to the lower level of kids.
Note: “I define lower as the kids who don’t try but yet still seem to barely pass classes because the teachers don’t want to deal with them. The lower half are kids who start bad/illegal habits in middle school and high school and scream at their parents and are pissed off at the world for no reason. The lower half are kids who really just don’t care. The lower half is NOT the kids who try hard and get “bad” grades. The lower half is NOT kids who have learning problems and can’t do more than expected. The lower half is LAZY, NOT UNABLE.
I have a few friends just like me. We tried in school, and it seemed very easy. There was never really any challenge. Because it didn’t matter if we were bored. It didn’t matter that 40 kids in my class didn’t even have to pay attention in class and we all still got A’s. No. What mattered was that Slouchy McGee was getting a bad grade and the entire class had to teach at that level. This is slightly understandable before 5th grade, but once you get into middle school you should be able to handle school. I have an amazing team of 13 and 14 year old girls that work their buts off to be great students, and great softball players. But you can’t even try to do decent in school? For me, now out of the drama of middle school and high school, and that does is make me angry that my hardworking team is theoretically getting held back by the laziness of the rest of their class. My team deserves better, on and off the field.
College has been no better. With the exception of one great teacher I have had, Julie V., I have yet to have a teacher that teaches the class at a level that excites me, and whether you succeed or not is your problem. The world has enough Power Points. Seriously. It does. Not to mention that most of these classes are basically just learning by reading a book. BUT I COULD DO THAT ON MY OWN. Maybe it is me being harsh. Maybe it is me expecting more out of society. Or maybe I am just different. But to me, there should be guidelines for a class and if you can’t handle it then you aren’t going to get a perfect grade. But guess what… grades. do. not. matter. All a grade tells somebody is that you are CAPABLE of doing something. It does not mean that you can actually DO IT. I know people who have gotten A’s in a design class that should never be hired in a field anywhere remotely associated with design. But they got the grade because even though their work was terrible, they did exactly what the teacher asked so they got the right grade.
For those of you that don’t believe me, that’s okay. What I want everyone to get out of this is that if you really love to do something, and you are confident in your ability to work hard, it’s not going to matter. If you look at the story of my two sisters it sums this all up perfectly. I could never have done what either one of them did. But they knew they could. That’s all that matters. There truly is nothing stopping you. If you love school and you need it. Go for it. If you don't think that you need school that's fine too. But you have to know what you need to succeed. None of this applies if you are going to complain because you didn't go to school, but you want to be a surgeon. That's just creating excuses to cause drama. That doesn't make you any better than the kids who brought you down in school. Most of this blog applies to the college aspect of life. The fact that I am 20 years old, and the world believes that I need a teacher to guide me through reading a book is... disturbing to say the least. But, I digress.
If you want to do something do it. Don’t wait for Mr. Man to collect his teaching paycheck. Don’t let Old Man Executive tell you that because you didn’t get a master’s degree that somebody else is better than you. It doesn’t matter. I will leave you this question.
Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of college:
Would you let him teach a college course on Online Content Marketing?
If your answer is yes, but you felt yourself disagreeing with me. Think about your answer and then go re-read the blog.
Till Next Time,
Jake Matthew Morrow
@jmorrow020