Learning from miseducation: Out of the classroom and into the world

For many, high school graduation is just around the bend. It’s hard to believe mine was already 10 years ago. At that time I remember thinking to myself, “This is it, I’ve finally made it,” completely unaware that my journey had scarcely begun, that my life had actually just commenced. 

If there’s something I wish someone told me in high school it’s this: things we’re taught in the classroom are not necessarily true until we go out into the world, encounter them ourselves and make them our own truths in the light of experience. In school, we’re commonly taught systems and tools by which we’re supposed to know the world and there always has to be scientific evidence for everything. But what I’ve learned from life so far is that we ourselves can be the “apparatuses” and the “pieces of evidence” through living. Only by experience do we truly learn and know — and I mean any experience, be it good or bad (or perhaps more so the latter because when you think about it, isn’t it the most difficult episodes of our lives that turn out to be our greatest teachers in the end?) So have courage as you step out into the world. Surely, the unknown can be daunting, but it also holds all of life’s potential. Embrace the infinite possibilities born out of the unknown. Doubting and asking questions are actually good for you. It’s an indication that you’re awake. Doubting leads to inquiry, which results in deeper understanding and new discoveries.

“One who achieves for himself or herself alone actually achieves nothing; one only truly gains for oneself by gaining it for others.” This, someone told me in high school. I just didn’t fully grasp it until much later. In school, most of us are conditioned to believe that life is about getting ahead, attaining, “becoming someone,” being on top, and that the foremost measure of success is financial stability. However, “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” What should we really be working for? I’m a painter and of course I also strive for financial stability (there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s called being practical), but it is not my foremost motive for doing what I do. Throughout the years, I have met various individuals who have taught me that it is indeed possible to work for the love of work, and not really for the external results. Sure, they may not be on the cover of Forbes magazine “smiling next to Oprah and the Queen,” but they are among the happiest, most inspiring and fulfilled people I know.

After high school, some may go straight to work, take a gap year or a sabbatical while college is the next stop for many. Whatever it is you’ll be doing after graduation, one thing’s for sure: it’ll involve a huge deal of wrestling to get to know yourself and alternating episodes of great anguish and pure joy as you find your place in the world. Keep in mind, though: do not develop an idea of who you are based on things that have absolutely nothing to do with who you truly are like your reputation, achievements, possessions, relationships or even your past (be it good or bad). I graduated valedictorian of my class and at that time, it was everything to me. The good thing about it was that it gave me more opportunities, like a university scholarship among others. However, it also caused me to foolishly construct my sense of self based on it. It wasn’t until I started to really live life and meet people engaged in truly valuable and inspiring work that I began to see that titles or achievements (or the lack of them) don’t really make anybody more (or less) of a person. Instead of building an idea of who you are, why not just be who you are? And instead of going on autopilot and merely operating on what already is and what’s already recognized by society, why not strive towards what else is possible, what else could be?

 To the soon-to-be-graduates: This is it, you’ve made it… to the beginning. Believe it or not, you are ready. And life is ready for you. Welcome.