You might find this speech interesting:
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/21238 ... ion-Speech
Some quotes:
School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I have successfully shown that I was the best slave... I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.
You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it.
Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech
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jacob
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I think the Gervais principle, which divides people into three categories, is pretty powerful in explaining what's going on in the school system or any institution.
Essentially (don't get too value-attached to the labels):
Losers: People who see the underlying game but don't play.
Managers: People who don't see the underlying game and are played.
Sociopaths: People who see the underlying game and play (other people).
[A natural 4th category would be people who don't see the game and aren't played. I think these would be irrelevant (chronically unemployed?) to the scheme though.]
By that definition, the valedictorian is a loser (as am I). The great majority of people are managers in the above sense.
Essentially (don't get too value-attached to the labels):
Losers: People who see the underlying game but don't play.
Managers: People who don't see the underlying game and are played.
Sociopaths: People who see the underlying game and play (other people).
[A natural 4th category would be people who don't see the game and aren't played. I think these would be irrelevant (chronically unemployed?) to the scheme though.]
By that definition, the valedictorian is a loser (as am I). The great majority of people are managers in the above sense.
I sense that this valedictorian is a bit of a hypocrite. He or she was apparently unwilling to "stand up, ask questions, be critical" earlier in the educational program. Probably having determined that to do so might jeopardize the "rewards" flowing from cooperating with the drive to excellence. Fat lot of good this advice does for his or her classmates on the eve of graduation.
If the critique is aimed at the wholesale effort to induce all high school graduates to attend university as the highest and best aim, then it clings to a core of integrity. If, however, it is the posturing of a bright but inexperienced scholar regarding the content of secondary education, then I smile at the folly. I cannot conceive of any high school student who would be harmed by learing proper English grammar, basic algebra and geometry, biology and chemistry, and the similar fare that is dished out in schools these days. Any student truly motivated by the pursuit of excellence, however conceived by that student, will pursue independent studies that broaden or exceed the basics on offer.
Most students are not taxpayers. In as much as this is the case, they have no right to demand anything from the educational system. Do your time; appropriate what is useful; ignor what is not; use your own time fruifully; then move on.
If the critique is aimed at the wholesale effort to induce all high school graduates to attend university as the highest and best aim, then it clings to a core of integrity. If, however, it is the posturing of a bright but inexperienced scholar regarding the content of secondary education, then I smile at the folly. I cannot conceive of any high school student who would be harmed by learing proper English grammar, basic algebra and geometry, biology and chemistry, and the similar fare that is dished out in schools these days. Any student truly motivated by the pursuit of excellence, however conceived by that student, will pursue independent studies that broaden or exceed the basics on offer.
Most students are not taxpayers. In as much as this is the case, they have no right to demand anything from the educational system. Do your time; appropriate what is useful; ignor what is not; use your own time fruifully; then move on.
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jacob
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Maybe she had an epiphany? Nobody starts out knowing everything. I know, at least from standing on the "production" side of opinion that I don't know everything yet I feel like I should have all the answers "prespectively" rather than retrospectively, lest I come off as a hypocrite (the only sin in a postmodern world) if I change my mind later or do one thing while thinking something else.
Despite how idealistic we may be, committing fully to it may often be too costly ... or more likely, we simply do not know any other way... or we are afraid.
Despite how idealistic we may be, committing fully to it may often be too costly ... or more likely, we simply do not know any other way... or we are afraid.
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Concojones
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AWESOME!! Thanks for sharing, Akratic.
Maus, your attack is unwarranted. At least she's got the guts to give this kind of speech - most of the kind you describe would never do that. And it's beside the point anyway. What she says is so true, and she's only 18! I only started to realize this stuff when in my mid-twenties, with the benefit of hindsight, and thought I thought I had stumbled on a Great Thought.
I'm impressed.
Maus, your attack is unwarranted. At least she's got the guts to give this kind of speech - most of the kind you describe would never do that. And it's beside the point anyway. What she says is so true, and she's only 18! I only started to realize this stuff when in my mid-twenties, with the benefit of hindsight, and thought I thought I had stumbled on a Great Thought.
I'm impressed.