Proper Edumacation

Recently I was chatting with a friend of mine about the current job market back in Michigan (shit would be an understatement) and he expressed to me how lucky I was to have a college education backing all of my ridiculous adventures

“You will always have the ability to get a job because you went to college” he says

This statement got me wondering a lot about education and the various twists in turns in the present day education system

Many people see the following pattern the minute anyone starts talking about a proper “edumacation”

1.       Preschool

2.       Kindergarten

3.       Elementary school

4.       Middle School

5.       High School

6.       College (Bachelors)

7.       Master’s Degree

8.       Doctorate

Across the world some of these are mashed together, and some of the categories don’t exist, but the pattern still remains the same

What blows my mind is that many people believe that you must follow this path in order to have success in life

You need to enroll your kid in preschool so they don’t fall behind in kindergarten

You need to go to college to get a good job and make good money

You need a master’s degree in order to really be competitive in the job market

I am sure you have heard all of this before, and it all sounds like the same old bullshit to me

Now here is a radical idea, what if someone was brought up on a completely different education system?

What if you didn’t spend 8 hours a day sitting in a classroom learning about a lot of crap that will only serve a purpose when you finally get that spot on jeopardy

What if the path to “happiness” wasn’t so damn boring?

Imagine for a moment the following education system

1. Taught by parents or guardians the basic skills needed in order to be affluent in today’s society (math, general science, alphabet)

2. Travel the world and learn about different cultures, ideas, and expose a child to a plethora of new ideas and concepts

3. Obtain teaching and training on a variety of subjects and trades from art teachers in America to diving instructors in Australia

4. Have a greater understanding of who you are, what you like, dislike, and strive to be in life because you have so many points of reference from the vast variety of experiences you have encountered (even by as early as the age of 15)

5. Did apprenticeships and internships with a variety of different leaders in a diverse range of fields (until they found a few that stuck)

How do you think that child would fare against the Harvard graduate with a doctorate in English literature?

Many people would cite that the Harvard grad would have way more book smarts and have a far superior understanding of a variety of topics, and likely would have the benefit of a great career

This is likely true

But trying to compare the two is like comparing Apples to Oranges in many ways

Not everyone is going to be a Harvard grad with a doctorate; in fact most will have a high school degree or bachelors from a general university

But still comparing to the Harvard grad, the worldly student without the formal education will be just as well equipped to make it in the “real world” as the Harvard grad, and could be just as successful and happy as they are (maybe even more)

Don’t believe me?

Do a quick Google search for traveling families or home school education vs. institution based

Should everyone pull their kid out of school and travel to Cambodia then?

Of course not

The idea is that you should challenge what is really means to be educated, and understand that whether you value book smarts, street smarts, a traditional or crazy ass educational system, the path to learning the most in life must have an open mind

You know that the smartest, happiness, and most successful people in the world did not get that way form diligently reading the same textbooks for a decade

As long as you spend the time to learn from as many sources as possible and continue to learn until the day you die, you will have success in life

No home schooling or Harvard PhD will change that

Live and learn

Gabriel