We Don't Need No Thought Control

I wrote this essay on my other blog and I thought I would share it with my readers on here since most of you don't use Tumblr.
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The topic of formal education has crossed my mind a few times within the past couple of weeks and I thought I would do it some justice by stating my thoughts on it. I have a lot of friends who, after high school, didn’t decide to go to college right off the bat. I think this is a good decision for some people, because it helps them figure out who they are and what they want to do. Many of them, however, lose sight of their aspirations for the future. These people are in their early to mid-twenties and are on the road to becoming burnouts. A burnout is someone who does nothing for the advancement of mankind. They’re lazy, they mooch, and they’re cynical. Some people have formal education and they’re still burnouts. They claim, “A degree is just a piece of paper.” I understand why this argument has developed, but I argue that it’s entirely invalid.

I go to one of the top research universities in the entire world. It’s rigorous and it’s extremely competitive. On top of finishing my readings before class every day, never missing a single lecture, taking avid notes in class and actively participating in discussions, all of this plus studying at least 15 hours for every exam, I still have a 3.3 GPA. I am told by my advisor that I do not have the chance of getting into a PhD program simply because my GPA isn’t high enough. How motivating is it to hear when someone tells you that you’re not good enough? This is what my dad, who is a k-12 teacher counting down the days to retirement, likes to call “Factory-style education.” Get ‘em in, get ‘em out. So, what do I do? What do I suggest we all do do? We must play along.

Here’s what I mean: There are some real imbeciles who attend my university. There are probably even worse humans who go to Harvard. What they don’t tell you in school, but you must always remember, is that there are people who are book-smart, and there are people who are real-world smart, and then there’s people who are both and people who are in-between. I struggle with Scantron exams and filling in bubbles, which is the crux upon which this “factory-style” education thrives. However, if you ask me to explain my reasoning through formal logic, I’ve got a more lucid answer than any of those people who can fill in bubbles. Now, tell me. Which form of knowledge helps you in the real world? Which form ofknowledge gets you into higher education?

What we need to do is to continue asking questions. Never blindly accept information as true unless you’ve thought about it critically. So many of my classmates are walking into this meat grinder. They are never taught to think for themselves. People are never going to change the world if they don’t think for themselves, that’s why movers and shakers like Gandhi, MLK Jr, and Eleanor Roosevelt were able to make such an impact! They played along with the system and then they broke free. 

Through much internal struggle, my college experience has made me the most confident and free, logical and analytical, self-expressed person who I feel that I can be. I have retained my sanity by staying within realistic means, and accepting the fact that sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail. It requires a great amount of effort to find your niche in life. If it is your goal to feel great self-worth through personal accomplishment and uniqueness, then let me advise you that you are not going to find yourself nor your purpose in life by blending in and becoming part of the crowd. Being the underdog requires courage and persistence. Sometimes through public embarrassment. You can’t be afraid of that.

My mom always told me, “if there’s one thing in life that’s worth going in debt for, it’s your education.” Not a car, not a house, nor a wedding. I see why that is. When you’re in school, you have the ability to break the status quo. You are literally handed the resources you need to make change. This is why a degree is more than just a piece of paper. It says, I was given this opportunity, this is what I gained, now I know that this is what I want to do to serve humanity.

“How many times have you encountered the saying, ‘When the student is ready, the Master appears?’ Do you know why that is true? The door opens inward. The Master is everywhere, but the student has to open his mind to hear the Master’s voice.”

-Robert Anton Wilson