In the book he writes “a Google image search for the word [education] results in desks, chalkboards, letter grades, stressed kids, regimentation, classrooms, and kids sleeping or with pained looks on their faces.”
He asks this of people because it’s a good reminder that most of us treat school and education as the same thing.
Picture a world where this wasn’t the case. I like to think Google would show me images of exciting projects people have made, passionate producers, people learning while doing, and people of all ages engaged in the process of self-directed improvement.
When I enrolled in college, I thought it would be like this. Instead, I got a place where students actively tried to avoid learning.
Administrators, parents and the media regularly lob criticism at these students.
Personally, I don’t blame the students at all.
College and school more broadly teach you to hate learning.
It taught you to ask for permission
If you’re in school or you’ve gone through school, you probably remember asking questions like “can I use this source in my essay?” or “is it okay to read this book for the project?”
This is what we at Praxis call the permission based mindset. It’s the mindset that defaults the responsibility of creative thought and action onto some third party authority. “They,” you think, “will tell me what is and isn’t okay.”
It’s easy to see why over time this mindset makes learning into something that is not enjoyable.
By the time a student finishes elementary school, he or she has been told “no” to their interests so many times that they start to see “education” as more about checking off boxes and people pleasing than a process of self-interested improvement.
Instead of asking for permission, start asking “what do I want to learn?” Then do it.
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