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Thursday, December 20, 2012

Imtiaz Majeed- Escape: How to Avoid Being a Product of the System

Imtiaz Majeed- Escape: How to Avoid Being a Product of the System:

The system is a terrible thing. It draws you in by advertising a false sense of security and stability. It hijacks your life and holds you hostage. It hinders your thought process, stifles your creativity, and leaves you feeling frustrated. Consider your imagination murdered.
This is what being a product of our current education system is like. And it hasn’t been getting better. In fact, it’s been getting worse.
But I’m not here today to discuss how to make it better. I want to share how you can escape.
First, remember one fact.
If you had to remember one thing from this article, please let it be this. Regardless of the quality of our educational institutions, we are always in control of our life. We control our destiny. We are what we make ourselves. As students, this is something we never hear. We never hear that we can do whatever we put our minds to. We never hear that we can be the change we want to see in the world. I believe it is the most important realization in our life.
A quote from Steve Jobs exemplifies this fact perfectly:
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people who were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”
No matter how terribly our educational institutions may prepare us for life, we are ultimately in control of our destiny. No, this isn’t on the test — but remember it anyway.
Homework. Testing. Memorization. I just summed up today’s education system in three words. If it isn’t on the test, it doesn’t matter. If it is, you better write it down so you can memorize it. When the test is over, who cares what you do with the meaningless information? It only