One of the things I tend to get asked by very intelligent young minds every once-in-a-while is “why school?” I come across questions and sentiments such as: “why should children go to school?”, “schools are setup to create employees, not employers”, “I want to be an entrepreneur and make money so why do I need to learn about quadratic equations?”, and so on. I have addressed this mindset in my book Learning How To Learn: Doing well in school, college and beyond and I’d like to touch upon it here, briefly. Many books written by successful entrepreneurs these days seem to promote this very mindset. While there may be some valid observations made by such writers, I don’t think they offer a complete picture especially when critiquing the educational system. It is true that back in the days, the educational system did have many challenges, so much so that Albert Einstein is said to have remarked that the only thing that interfered with his learning was his school! But just as our science, technology and economics have evolved over time, so has our educational system. Pretty much everything we do as humans evolves with time.
A school is meant to be a place where young minds are nurtured and allowed to explore their creativity and talents as well as learn fascinating subjects in fun and interesting ways so they may grow into responsible and contributing citizens of the community. It’s a place of soul searching and self-development, if done right. The truth is we are all born with different abilities and strengths as well as weaknesses. As we grow and mature, we discover what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are. We strive to improve on our weaknesses while manifesting our strengths in all that we do. We all have different callings in our individual lives. Some of us become doctors while others become engineers. Some of us become entrepreneurs while others become artists. School is where we figure ourselves out in what we wish to become and do when we grow up. Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur or has a calling to be a researcher. Furthermore, can we have a world where there are only entrepreneurs? Or only doctors? Or only engineers? Clearly not because reality doesn’t work like that.
It is important for us to also appreciate that to be an expert at something, one needs to dedicate their time and effort in a particular training institution. An aspiring pilot has to undergo training in aviation school to become a pilot. Another has to go to dental school to become a dentist. A person wanting to be a surgeon has to first go to medical school and then onto surgical residency to become a surgeon. Learning institutions, from schools to universities, are fundamentally necessary requirements in meeting the various needs of human existence in this physical reality we call life. Whatever your calling is, just remember that schools are there to nurture it just that. So please go to school.
