[One word for this speech - wow.]
http://www.infowarhorse.com/valedictorian-speaks-out-against-schooling.html
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years.”
The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?” Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.” “But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” replied the Master. “But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”
Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”
This is the dilemma I’ve faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn’t you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don’t do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. … Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim … is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. (Gatto)
To illustrate this idea, doesn’t it perturb you to learn about the idea of “critical thinking.” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn’t for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren’t we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don’t have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can’t run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, “You have to learn this for the test” is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn’t have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a “see you later” when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let’s go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we’re smart enough to do so!
RT says:
this is one 18 yr old who’s far ahead of his/her time. wow. i’d love to be that “awake” at that age. i hope there’s more youngsters like this person but honestly i don’t see it. on any day. ever.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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27th June 2011 at 8:37 am
drtypierat says:
Great speech, she is a real free thinker, too bad the world doesnt care for those very much. This speech and the one referencing the fourth turning give some hope though.
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27th June 2011 at 8:47 am
major mocambo says:
Very insightful, but also very idealistic. Kids in high school have plenty of time for free thinking. In fact the stuff they are learning should help that process. Unsupervised learning leads to many mistakes that evolution takes into consideration. You can’t just “free think” yourself into the world. There’s a societal context you have to live in, and lets not forget you have to have water to drink, food to eat, and shelter over head. Don’t get me wrong, I hate with a passion corporations, government, etc, but this is not a wow for me. In fact it feels contrived.
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27th June 2011 at 9:44 am
eugend66 says:
Yojimbo, +1 !! .
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27th June 2011 at 10:15 am
VinnieTheShark says:
Wise beyond her years, this one is. I only feel I have become aware enough to start asking the right questions in the last 2 years or so. Pretty sad, really. This country was once a great nation that allowed and encouraged people to think, dream, and do whatever their heart desired. Now the system is designed to dumb down everyone to accept the established doctrine as the gospel and to marginalize those who see the world through a different perspective. We can’t have dissent, you see.
BTW – I was valedictorian, but with a class of 33, it was about like holding a contest to see who was the tallest midget!!
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27th June 2011 at 11:04 am
Thinker says:
“We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.”
Millennial if I’ve ever seen one. Hope she goes on to do great things… mainly break down the institution that is education today and reform it into something better… like her ideal.
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27th June 2011 at 3:11 pm
Shadows says:
Don’t despair, RT! I’m part of the same high school class as this girl. (2010)
This speech is pretty amazing, I have to say. It must have taken great bravery to deliver, and is remarkably well written, given what I remember of my high school classmates relative ability. (Hint: Not as good as me)
She is a bit overly idealistic, and unlike her I still believe in the class and credits based method of instruction, as well as the usefulness of tests as a means of measuring knowledge gained (and to force lazy individuals to make sure they learn, who otherwise might not have.)
Nevertheless I totally related to her comment about others not being valedictorian perhaps because they were busy pursuing intellectual interests outside the curriculum. I was a pretty good high school student (well, excepting my C+ average freshman year) but I was never outstanding, and I finished about 20th out of 70 in my tiny small-town public school. They way our one-size-fits-all, yale-or-jail high school system works, (or rather doesn’t) your grade is more or less contingent on just jumping through all the hoops: turn this in by X day, participate during class discussions, make sure to format this correctly, fill out something on your math homework by the due date, put the right color scheme on this PowerPoint, etc. College is a bit better, in that the grade is more heavily weighted towards tests, (i.e. KNOWLEDGE) and individuals have more choices about how to complete their credits, but it still could be rationalized. The lack of options in high school has become stifling, as many kids would be better suited to a less academic curriculum, or in a few cases just dropping out. My gubmint high school was so tiny we only offered one option for English credit, so, for instance, I would be stuck in English Grade 11 with every 16-17 year old in the school, all attempting to learn the same Beowulf, and not all succeeding.
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27th June 2011 at 4:15 pm
Muck About says:
More power to the young lady. I’d be willing to bet that no one from the school vetted the speach before she gave it!
I was unlucky to start – spent the first 8 1/2 years in a Mississippi Catholic parochial school with at least three teachers who eventually were committed to where ever they commit crazy nuns. They all beat on me a lot, not to mention the verbal abuse because I was not, by any means, a conformer.
But the bastards never beat me down.
When transferred to a public high school in another state (Florida), I lucked out and 70% of the teachers I had from 9th to 12th grade were superb. They would assign class work and unless it was history or a rote fact absorption class, almost always allowed us to pick something else if it was more interesting to us.
We had to provide a summary outline of what we wanted to do – sometimes two or three of us could get together and make it a project – get it approved and, when approved, do that instead of what the course outline said to do. Pure magic for creative thinking and cooperative work.
Loose a few, win a few… I was lucky that the winners outnumbered the losers.
MA
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27th June 2011 at 5:19 pm
Muck About says:
Speech — sorry about that..
MA
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27th June 2011 at 5:20 pm
ragman says:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with “learning how to take a test”. Taking tests is certainly part of “higher edumucation”, whatever that is in ’11. She is deluded in thinking she will change anything. Nobody gives a shit what she thinks. At best, she will study something that will earn her a real living, something in engineering or maybe physics. Best of luck to her and all other grads. Since this was from 2010, I’d like to see an update to see what she’s up to in 2011.
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27th June 2011 at 6:07 pm
Thinker says:
Rags, you cynical Xer, you.
Here’s an interview with her about her plans for the future.
And a vid of her speaking to the 2011 MAAP conference in Minneapolis.
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27th June 2011 at 6:19 pm
howard in nyc says:
she went to college for a semester. and spent the last six months traveling around the usa.
you are deluded, ragman, to think she will not change anything.
she has already changed the most important thing.
herself.
changed herself away from the narrow mold of social control this stupid educational system crams us into. changed herself into an abnormal person. who thinks independently.
bravo for this young woman. it is difficult as hell to keep your mind free of the norm, the indoctrination, especially in this day and age.
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27th June 2011 at 7:47 pm
crazyivan says:
Sounds to me that she had her first orgasman last week.
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27th June 2011 at 8:21 pm
Shadows says:
Spent six months traveling around the USA? I’m a bit disappointed to hear that.
I suppose if you want to spend a while goofing off, all power to you, but it’s not like you can claim that’s blazing a practicable new trail for young adulthood. Most of us have to find ways to do something useful with those years following high school, while the specifics may vary from person to person.
I’m more impressed with the kids in Peter Thiel’s 20 under 20, where he is giving a small group (24) of very bright, ambitious young people up to 100000 to start technology companies. THOSE kids, if they’re ideas turn out alright (I’ve read about a few of them, they are very serious people) will show the world that not everybody needs to get a bachelors degree.
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27th June 2011 at 8:21 pm
Shadows says:
No, I take that back. After thinking about it for a few minutes, one is likely to learn more, develop a lot more as a person, and spend far less money traveling the world then spending a semester at a typical freshman undergrad these days. What does one learn from English 101, or College Algebra? I finished them just in the past year, and the truth is that I didn’t learn much that I didn’t already know from high school.
Its sad that thanks to things like anti-discrimination laws, and the offshoring of our industrial base, young Americans feel a need to slog through four years of unnecessary (for most) academic “education” just to prove that they have a decent IQ and level of responsibility. That’s what American education has devolved into: not really education so much as an extremely long and expensive psychometric exam, used for social class sorting.
I want a to be a pharmacist, and so I must complete six years of college, no exceptions. And it’s understandable that a pharmacist MUST have that level of knowledge, even if I bet it could be conveyed with less time. But you know, it really doesn’t make any sense that it should get more expensive from year to year relative to inflation, when every other industry in the world becomes more efficient over time. Until you realize the value of a college degree isn’t so much in the education now, so much as the social cachet, the scarcity of it.
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27th June 2011 at 8:55 pm
howard in nyc says:
don’t get me wrong. it sounds like she was speaking, meeting like-minded people, she traveled for a while with a family that home-schools their kids and use a bus for educational-travel. not like she was bumming around and partying, judging from her blog and facebook.
not that there is anything wrong with bumming around and partying, for a 19yo kid, for a few months.
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27th June 2011 at 9:15 pm
AnyD says:
Yes, she makes many good points. I am afraid though that the teacher she mentions is a hater of corporations. Maybe a little Marxism there too. Oh well, she is young and idealistic. She has a great start and a good head on her shoulders.
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27th June 2011 at 10:59 pm