Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity posted up a great link to an article that is framed as a letter To Those Born After 1982.
I don’t know much about this blog, it’s brand new to me…but after reading Jim’s post and the original, I had to write about it. A little off topic, but I think it’s interesting…I hope you do too.
Beyond what Jim says, which I think is the best part of the post over at chartreuse (BETA), I’d like to add more commentary to the original post, chartreuse says:
The Tests Don’t Matter
In school they bombarded you with a bunch of tests.
Made sure you did well on them.
Complete.Waste.Of.Time.
Tests don’t mean sh*t. There is nobody keeping score in the real world, except you.
The only ability you need after middle school is the ability to learn. Quickly.
Things are changing too fast for you to remember them.
We have computers and Google for that.
Although I agree with the ability to learn (which I’m taking to be similar to resourcefulness) is VERY important, I have to disagree with saying that’s the ONLY thing that’s important. Unfortunately, tests do mean something in this society. Whether we like it or not, the fact is that people look at tests to determine intelligence. To the individual, tests might not mean anything, but whether we like it or not, to society it does. I also disagree with, “The only ability you need after middle school is the ability to learn. Quickly.” Although ONE important skills, there are other abilities/skills that you need to learn from school as well:
- Ability to manage your time.
- Interpersonal skills to communicate your ideas in writing and in speech and to listen.
- With regards to the area of specialization, that’s important to some degree as well. Basic principles and techniques are learned in school that are building blocks to your ability to grasp more complex theories and arguments. These are learned by exchanging ideas with the class and the instructor, and ultimately by yourself. But none of this would be possible without the exposure from school. You may never have known about this in the first place.
Another section from chartreuse:
Corporations Don’t Matter
I’m sure your caregiver wants or wanted you to get a good job at a big corporation with tons of benefits.
Wrong move.
The bigger the company the faster they fail and the harder it is to stop their failure.
You want to go small where you can be important faster and have a say when things need to change. Fast.
Benefits?
If a company is giving great benefits they probably won’t be around too long. I know you’ve been coddled all your life but you gotta take care of yourself.
Don’t take a job for it’s medical plan. Take a job because of your future plan.
The problem with this is that it’s shortsited and typical “rebellious youth” attitude in prose. Big company, small company, it doesn’t matter. Big companies can afford many benefits that small companies cannot, and vice versa. If you simply say, Big Company = BAD, that’s shortsited.
The part I liked is quoted on Jim’s site…check it out.
Read the original post in its entirety at chartreuse (BETA)…
For some reason that post got a lot of attention from folks who don’t usually read my blog. Glad you liked it, but let me defend some of my points.
In order to understand some of them you have to know a little about my blog. I write about new media management. So I spend a lot of time writing about the future and current changes going on in society.
Now (as my regular readers know) I am under the belief that the changes going on now in society are as drastic as the ones that occured when we moved from an agricultural to a manufacturing society.
That change changed everything from family structures to the way people think.
Now take a look at tests. Actually you can look at schools. Schools were made in an industrial age. Kids are taught like it’s an assembly line. Tests are like quality control. My argument is that that kind of thinking is over.
We teach kids to past test, not to think. So what happens when they get out of school? You find that the most successful are those who don’t think in a cookie cutter/ assembly line/ pass the test way. Hence, tests don’t matter.
Now about corporations. If you looked at my bio on my site you’ll see that I have worked at some large corporations. I get them. And they are slow.
This is not the age of the slow. The future is all about speed. Being able to react to your customers faster.
Take for example your blog.
If it was part of a big corporation then everything would have to be run by different channels before you could post anything and nothing relevent would ever get posted.
That’s because that’s how corporations move.
We are living in an age of institutional collapse. It’s why the schools don’t work, the government doesn’t work or any other institution that has been around for a while.
They were built for the 20th Century and it’s a 21st Century universe.
I’ll stop now because I see I have been writing wwayy too much.
But thanks for droping by my blog.
You are always welcomed back!
chartreuse,
Thanks for stopping by! Ah, the context of your post makes things much clearer.
I’ve worked in big and small corporations too, and I know that good big corporations can actually adapt quite quickly…surprising, but true. In fact, I think the shift has been made that they have to or die…So you’re right on there…
Schools too are changing…not so much the public school systems, but private ones…where the shift is from text books to actual hands on learning…that’s good, because it teaches people to actually use info…
Your post is great! It’s an eye opener.
I’ll definitely be back…hope you can stop by here every once in awhile too!
BTW, on “For some reason that post got a lot of attention from folks who don’t usually read my blog.”
Like I said, because it’s a great post!
I would like to share something you both may be interested in reading. I posted this on my blog a while ago, but it is a very informative site about why our schools are set up the way they are and ……go check it out.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
Mr. Gatto is a teacher that disagreed with the way we teach our youth and left his job when he was told he was right, but things could not be changed. He began uncovering somethings that you may or may not know.
Interesting link D…I’ve been reading some of it…Thanks!