"The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it."
"The only thing you sometimes have control over is perspective. You don't have control over your situation. But you have a choice about how you view it."
I was working out at the gym this morning and on the TV was some type of spelling bee with children. Now I think being able to spell well is somewhat important, but not that important really. Different cultures spell different words differently and being able to spell something correctly isn't really that big of a deal.
I guess what I'm trying to say is how our planet thrives on memorization and rote tasks. We teach our children to memorize things and be like robots. What we should be teaching our children to do is things that computers CAN'T do, but instead we teach them how to be computers. Now how can that make sense? Why do we want to raise our children to compete with robots? Well, because we, too, are robots. We also don't know HOW to THINK so instead we follow what we are told TO THINK.
Our whole school system teaches children WHAT to think, not HOW to think. This is why people are so stupid. Robots are stupid. Smart people are original, creative, adaptable, sociable and all the other things computers are not. Smart, creative people BUILD robots. Robots don't build smart creative people. People need to understand the order of intelligence and understand that our school systems DO NOT have it right. They just don't.
Now I can understand needing the basics like basic spelling, grammar, math and so on. Grades K-9 pretty much cover what you need for the real world. But after this it really starts to get crazy and the glorification of memorization and stupidity come into play. We glorify people who can memorize pointless BS that can be Googled in 2 seconds. People had better stop competing with memorizing more data than Google because they won't win.
Our whole world is about the glorification of being a robot because being a robot is EASY. That's right. It's easy to be a robot. Memorizing stuff is easy. Doing what you're told is easy. Not thinking is easy. Going to school is easy. Doing your homework is easy. That is why so many people go to school to become employees. It's freaking easy. It is easy to not think. And school is not thinking. It is memorization. You are doing rote, computer tasks that are easy.
The real education is actual creative thinking and applying yourself towards something real and of value. That is real education. But we don't have that. We don't teach people to solve their problems. We teach people to have others do it for them. We don't teach people to be the boss. We teach people to have a boss. We don't teach people to invent things. We teach people to use things others invented.
But there is much more to this. There are huge advantages for the truly educated, creative individuals to raise people to be robots. Robots only know how to think about what they are programmed to think about. If you program robots not to be able to de-program themselves they won't. If you program them not to question the tasks they do they won't. If you program them to serve you they will. And this is how the whole world operates, to varying degrees.
Some people are full robots and some are non-robots. The full robots work for the non-robots. And everything in between falls in between the non-robot, leaders and the full robot, followers. Somebody who has a bit of creativity may be allowed to do a few more things than their full-bred robot counterparts. And somebody with a bit more creativity will be above these people. But at the end of the day, if you can't figure out that you're a robot being used for the sole purpose of enriching a non-robot's life you're a slave to the system.
It's not a big deal I guess. If that's what people want that's what people will get. But I am certain that my children will not be raised to be robots. The people I come in contact with in my life will be taken out of their robot trance. I refuse to promote the transformation of a human into a robot. A robot/computer is a tool and I don't want to be a tool and I don't want to see others become tools. It's just stupid.
Humans are creative beings. Creativity is what brings about all the great things in life. Creativity is something that computers DON'T have. So can we please stop raising our children to be freaking robots? kthx
Filed under: Personal Development, Children, Robots
Basically, what we must stop doing is deriving everything from the book and start thinking way out of the box. Yes, it is not all wrong to understand and learn the basics but we must develop the ability to turn those basics into something extraordinary. And that is simply called - creativity. This is the only way to step up the plate and win your game.
Peyton
You made some excellent points. America definitely needs to get over its idiotic reverence of the spelling bee, and anything else that turns people into robots. I competed heavily in the spelling bee when I was young, but looking back, I realize the whole contest is kind of silly. There are so many more important skills kids could be focusing on. (For example, teach your kids to do fun, real-life things like planting a garden, cooking, taking care of pets or younger children--all of which require problem-solving skills, creativity, etc.) Of course, rote memorization is OK in moderation, but some kids study 8 hours a day for the spelling bee! Imagine how much fun they're missing out on. The problem, of course, is the parents, who are guilty of child abuse IMO. Very few kids would choose to do that kind of thing on their own.
Anyway, excellent article.
Interesting point you bring up about the majority of education being geared toward teaching us to think more like computers, when in fact we should capitalize on the very thing computers are incapable of... creating and feeling.
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