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well-lit path, it highlights those who leave it, making it pretty easy to find those willing to speak
up and connect and lead. They’re noticeable at first primarily for the fact that they refuse to be
sheep.
Rebecca Chapman, literary editor of a new online journal called The New Inquiry, was quoted in
the New York Times. “My whole life, I had been doing everything everybody told me. I went to
the right school. I got really good grades. I got all the internships. Then, I couldn’t do
anything.”
The only surprising thing about this statement is that some consider it surprising.
Rebecca trained to be competent, excelling at completing the tasks set in front of her. She spent
more than sixteen years at the top of the system, at the best schools, with the best resources,
doing what she was told to do.
Unfortunately, no one is willing to pay her to do tasks. Without a defined agenda, it’s difficult
for her to find the gig she was trained for.
Too many competent workers, not enough tasks.
Peter Thiel made headlines when he offered to pay students not to attend college—to start
something instead. The reason this program works, though, has nothing to do with avoiding
college and everything to do with attracting those bold enough to put themselves on the hook.
Education isn’t a problem until it serves as a buffer from the world and a refuge from the risk of
failure.
36. Instead of amplifying dreams, school destroys them
Every day, beginning the first day and continuing until the last day, our teachers and our
administrators and yes, most parents, seeking to do the right thing, end up doing the wrong
one.
We mean well.
We let our kids down easy.
We tell ourselves that we are realistic.
We demand that students have a trade to fall back on, an assembly-line job available just in case
the silly dreams don’t come true. And then, fearing heartbreak, we push them to bury the dream
and focus on just the job.
The job with a boss and an office and air conditioning and a map of what to do next. A job with
security and co-workers and instructions and deniability.
And when the job doesn’t come?
Stop Stealing Dreams Free Printable Edition 28