Why I love learning but hate school

I love learning but hate school. Why?

In school, you’re forced to put in effort into something which has no direct meaning apart from words on a piece of paper. Learning is much more purpose-driven, you learn something because it drives success. You learn because you need that knowledge or experience.

There are no classes on how to learn to walk. You just try it once, fall over, and get back up to try again. You don’t get a multiple-choice test on how to swim. The most long-lasting learning does not come from a classroom. It comes from putting in effort, failing almost all the time, and finally making a breakthrough to burn that experience into your head.

When someone asks me how I “got so good at computers” I think of every time I wiped all the data off my hard drive. All the times my program crashed or gave an error. All the times software didn’t install as documented. Trial and error may not be the most efficient method of learning, but it is effective.

So stop calling me “smart” because that doesn’t help. Reward people for their efforts, not for their intelligence.

Thanks for reading. I will be learning until the day I die. Click to follow along.

The title of this post was inspired by Suli Breaks’ spoken word video, “Why I Hate School But Love Education”. I encourage you to watch it.