Here's a topic I have been through, that I've learned from personal experience. What's the point of schooling?

Here it goes....

I attended over 8 years of school. I don't recommend it to anyone. Unless you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, school is not necessary. Learning is accomplished through eperience. And damn does that shit end up a waste of fucking time and hella money. After 6-figures in debt, it stops being a meaningful number. It's some ethereal idea of some amount that doesn't seem to be real. I can't say enough how much time is wasted in school.

Maybe, you're one of the people who want a job. Get a college degree and go get a job. For those who want want freedom and wealth, school won't fucking get you there. It hasn't gotten much for anyone. Get some education, but don't waste time being a student. Be a practitioner.

When we waste our time in school, we get soft, we get weak, we get stupid. Go figure that school would make us dumb, but yeah, it does. This is why.

This shit does not train you to run a business, it does not teach you about people, it does not teach you anything about life. The best thing you could get in school is not an "A", the best thing you could get is good friends and an alumni network. These relationships last a lifetime. Can you remember the stuff you learned in history class? Do you remember the person you studied with for the history class?

The majority of my study sessions ended (or started) with sex. And I have no idea what the fuck we learned. Except this one topic, which is indelible in the hippocampus, "compulsory." The young lady that learned this with me got a good grade in that class, as did I. That shit was fun, and humorous. Maybe, I won't get into the aspects of our carnal knowledge obtained that day, or the carnal nature of encounters after the fact.

Some other educational moments in school also resulted in lasting memories. There was the married one that got pregnant, fuck me! That shit was scary for a moment. But I didn't learn about it until after the miscarriage (thank you baby Jesus). There was that one I met at an AA meeting who was 19, and I was 27. This wasn't too long ago. That shit was awesome, and I spent a little bit of time with that young lady. She wasn't in school with me, but we did spend time on a few things she needed help with, things I learned in school, likely with a study partner. I had a lot of fun in school. The drinking and the partying was a big part of my experience, but I graduated with honors, at the top of my class. Now, I don't do that anymore. I'll write another article about "Sex" so I'll let this one wait until then.

Here's what I know... School does not prepare you for life, it does not prepare you to do a job. We come out of school as philosophers and analysts of literature. We do not come out knowing how to write reports at the company we will be working with, we do not learn how to project cashflow and inventory controls at a specific business. Each one has different processes. I can learn about cashflow and inventory, but I don't know how to do it. Specific training programs teach these things, but a college class is less likely do to so. If you did learn this shit, you're in the minority, but can you tell me how Microsoft generates or handles its monthly customer reports, probably not.

I'm a big proponent for learning a trade. Go to HVAC school, go to Solar Installer school, go to Plumber school, go to Construction school, go to Recycling Plant school, learn how to do something. Learning about something is not learning at all. This awareness of concepts is not the practical use of concepts.

If you want to be rich, don't go to school, start a business. Learn a hard skill that translates into providing something people want or need. Going to school and coming out the other side and thinking I could come out and make a million is just stupid. Going to school does not do this. I'll repeat, does not. I will allow for business school, but you don't need it. Read some books.

Self education and practice, that's what does it. Work. Fucking Work. Go and fucking work more. It is not complicated. It is complicated by thoughts, probably not even based in reality, only based in the mind. We stand in our own way. This is one of the reasons Forrest Gump was so successful. That is the movie of the American Dream. Watch that fucking movie and do what he did. Don't think, Just keep running. Run, learners, run! Those kids on bikes, and later in trucks, represent two sources of discouragement: others and self. Forrest did not stand in his own way, and he did not let others discourage him. He didn't know the shrimpin' business was hard. He didn't care, he went with imperfect knowledge, he worked, and it worked. He did it, no fucking excuses. The mental disability had a positive effect for him because he didn't realize any of the potential failure. Failure was not an option because he didn't know it existed, he did not have fear.

Go out and work. Stop thinking that school will get you somewhere. Trust me, I'm living this, and I'm learning.

This is Learning Made Hard.