Protesting & Missing the Lessons

Were you the kid in school that protested with arms folded that you’re “never going to use Geometry in my real life”? I get it. Memorizing the US Presidents and dialing in the Krebs Cycle seems both tedious and unimportant considering the reality of life that is barring down on you as a young adult. Here’s the thing, though.

School is a game. 

The archaic structure and sometimes-misguided content is worthy of critique, but (as of current) it’s the game that kids are forced to play and I’m here to tell you that it pays to play it well. What’s the alternative? You adamantly make your point about the silly irrelevance of flashcard memorization and learning cursive, abstain from working hard, get poor grades, and really stick it to the man by making your future more difficult for yourself? That seems like an odd approach. 

School isn’t the only game. 

There are plenty of other examples of imperfect organized games that we’re exposed to that are worth playing. Keep in mind that playing the schooling game isn’t mistakenly thinking that because you know how to write Andrew Jackson’s vice-president’s name in perfect cursive that you’re owed something for that. Rather, being gritty, following through with work when you don’t always love it, and finding a way to win are all characteristics that you can’t learn theoretically. You need a context (or a game) to present the icky, annoying, mundane work for you to learn the aforementioned lessons. For this reason, I’m glad that while I don’t use nearly any of the specific details of what I learned in math class as a kid that I committed to playing the game nonetheless and found a way to win back then putting my preferences aside. 

Where are the eye roll worthy games in your life that might be worth considering engaging with?

 

Logan Gelbrich   

@functionalcoach