I was a good student. Only had 1 detention, always followed the rules, did exactly what I was supposed to do. Now I'm realising I spent years optimising for a game that doesn't exist in the real world...How do you actually start unlearning this? Sometimes I still catch myself waiting for someone to tell me what to do
Loved this George! I feel like a huge part of my twenties has been devoted to deprogramming my mind from the lessons I was taught at school. Realising, "holy shit, I can just do things", was a turning point for me.
Strange how someone as high agency as renowned Dutch astronomer Tycho Brahe is known to have died due to his bladder bursting because he felt compelled to hold his urine due to social etiquette at a banquet.
I find the bathroom one to be annoying. I’ve told my daughter that if the teacher ignores her or makes her wait, to just let the teacher know she is going and just leave. It’s especially hard for girls who are at the age of having periods.
Love the hunt like an eagle part. I found this out as soon as i started flight training. I'd use to hate physics in high school, but then all of a sudden it turned practical and real and I started to enjoy it. A few months later I was sat there in the evening going through my old high school books to find out all about how physics work.
I spent 20+ years building a beautiful family in partnership with someone whose vision I did not share…now, I’m striving to execute my own vision for my life. I love your article & appreciate your perspective.
Take a look at the Alpha School model. They took what was outdated with the current school system and flipped it on its head - using the power of AI as well
I grew up in the Netherlands in an extremely conservative elementary school in the Bible belt in the 1990s. Teachers were absolute authority figures.
Yet when I moved to Germany at 12 years old, and my fellow students displayed way less respect to them, there were so many rules to follow. Suddenly in math (and other subjects), procedures mattered more than results.
My experience is not representative for both societies by the way: the principled orderly Germans are way more susceptible to authority than the rebellious pragmatic Dutch (obrigkeitshörigkeit is a word here and while Hitler could happen anywhere, it was certainly easier in Germany)
This really resonates. I’ve spent most of my life following the path of my parents and society. It’s took two whole years of college for me to come to terms with what I actually wanted. Then another 6 months to take a leap. Now that I’m here, it’s like I’m living a different world. Now I don’t ask anyone for permission (much to their chagrin)
This has been one of the most impactful articles that I’ve read this year. Thanks.
We really do have a lot of cognitive scripts from formal education that was meant to make us a good student, but that doesn’t actually make us a good adult.
I was a good student. Only had 1 detention, always followed the rules, did exactly what I was supposed to do. Now I'm realising I spent years optimising for a game that doesn't exist in the real world...How do you actually start unlearning this? Sometimes I still catch myself waiting for someone to tell me what to do
Loved this George! I feel like a huge part of my twenties has been devoted to deprogramming my mind from the lessons I was taught at school. Realising, "holy shit, I can just do things", was a turning point for me.
Recurring lesson.
Feeling like you need to ask for permission to do something is so deeply ingrained man. I still have to shake myself out of this at times.
What a cartoonish picture of school. But what do I know? I'm just a "grown up child."
Right? These kind of posts are always written by people that haven't stepped a foot in a school for three decades.
Very true! What do you know?
Strange how someone as high agency as renowned Dutch astronomer Tycho Brahe is known to have died due to his bladder bursting because he felt compelled to hold his urine due to social etiquette at a banquet.
School might be the worst thing that happened to education!
I find the bathroom one to be annoying. I’ve told my daughter that if the teacher ignores her or makes her wait, to just let the teacher know she is going and just leave. It’s especially hard for girls who are at the age of having periods.
Love the hunt like an eagle part. I found this out as soon as i started flight training. I'd use to hate physics in high school, but then all of a sudden it turned practical and real and I started to enjoy it. A few months later I was sat there in the evening going through my old high school books to find out all about how physics work.
Thank you 🙏🏽
I spent 20+ years building a beautiful family in partnership with someone whose vision I did not share…now, I’m striving to execute my own vision for my life. I love your article & appreciate your perspective.
Amazing tekkers George. Love this.
Lovely piece of thinking and writing George
Take a look at the Alpha School model. They took what was outdated with the current school system and flipped it on its head - using the power of AI as well
How homogeneous is schooling in the US?
I grew up in the Netherlands in an extremely conservative elementary school in the Bible belt in the 1990s. Teachers were absolute authority figures.
Yet when I moved to Germany at 12 years old, and my fellow students displayed way less respect to them, there were so many rules to follow. Suddenly in math (and other subjects), procedures mattered more than results.
My experience is not representative for both societies by the way: the principled orderly Germans are way more susceptible to authority than the rebellious pragmatic Dutch (obrigkeitshörigkeit is a word here and while Hitler could happen anywhere, it was certainly easier in Germany)
I wish my students would quietly stare out the window when they were done with their work. That would be amazing.
This really resonates. I’ve spent most of my life following the path of my parents and society. It’s took two whole years of college for me to come to terms with what I actually wanted. Then another 6 months to take a leap. Now that I’m here, it’s like I’m living a different world. Now I don’t ask anyone for permission (much to their chagrin)
This has been one of the most impactful articles that I’ve read this year. Thanks.
We really do have a lot of cognitive scripts from formal education that was meant to make us a good student, but that doesn’t actually make us a good adult.
Glad you enjoyed Pamela.