Be Average at
Almost Everything Erwin McManus
The American educational system is completely broken . I don ’ t say that as an indictment of public education . I ’ ve traveled the world , and I am very grateful for the effort over the years to make education available to every child in every place across the United States . Still ... how many of us remember the content of what we learned from first through twelfth grades ? How many of us sat through subjects that have since proven to have absolutely no relevance in our chosen professions ? Have you ever secured that promotion or met a longtime goal and thought to yourself , Oh ! That ’ s why I needed to learn the periodic table !
What we need during our school years is one basic skill : We need to learn how to learn . If you learned how to learn , you will have left school prepared for every challenge ahead . The problem is that learning how to do algebra doesn ’ t teach you the kind of learning that you ’ ll do in real life . The system pounds into our subconscious : Repeat after me ; Fill in the blank ; We have the answers , so you just memorize them and write them down . If you live this way as an adult , you will spend your days fulfilling someone else ’ s agenda , never tapping into your unique potential .
Our school system is built on the fusing of two educational philosophies . The first is the British educational system , whose goal is to teach every student the same skills across a wide variety of disciplines . From first through twelfth grades , you are being trained to be an employee .
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