I was bored out of my mind

I just finished listening to a very good podcast of Michael Enright's program "The Sunday Edition."  He was discussing university education and whether students today are forced into university degrees so they can get the credential and move on to professional schools or graduate degrees.

At one point Enright is interviewing an English prof from U of T, and asks if the professor was a good student in high school.  The man replies: "I was a great student in elementary school." In high school he became pre-occupied with illicit substances, girls, and furthermore, he says he was 'bored out of his mind.' 

The prof also stated that he dropped out of high school, later went back to complete a few credits, and went on to university, eventually getting his Ph.D., and was now rated one of the best professors in Canada.  The prof also said that he knew Michael Enright was a high school dropout.  So, then I got thinking - how many people who couldn't stand high school went on to lead very successful lives? Google, google, on the wall, who's the most successful droput of them all?

Here's a good sampling of names, if this list is to be believed:  Shakespeare, Einstein, William Faulkner, John D. Rockefeller, Oscar Peterson, Peter Jennings, Bobby Orr, Sarah Polley, Henry Ford, etc. etc.
 
I think it's a real shame we have an education system that legally mandates that kids be in school until they're 18 years old (you can thank McKenna for that), and that these kids are lumped together into classrooms without any regard for common interests.  Most of the teenagers I know are real obsessive types - whether it's bands, sports teams, staying in touch with their friends, acting, decorating their rooms, cars, whatever.

So why are we making them wait until they're young adults before they have the opportunity to develop their skills and passions?  By then, their brains are not as keen and they have learned to be complacent and 'just get by.'  Is it any wonder we have so many problems with bullying when we have a bunch of kids cooped up together without any positive outlets?

Kids self-identify their interests very early in life.  If we would let them take the lead, they would be learning night and day.

I would go out on a limb and say that I think our present education system probably wastes as much human potential as it develops, because it is so focused on a narrow definition of 'knowledge,' to the utter exclusion of everything else.  What a shame, especially for a place like New Brunswick, where we have so much unrealized potential.

The other thing I would like to point out is that we have loads of educational research that shows people learn best when they are fully engaged (ie. brains + hands working together on real situations).  And yet we have classrooms that immobilize people and beauraucrats positively obsessed with standardized testing.  No wonder our kids are bored out of their minds.  I know I was.