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Repeating what someone else told you is not thinking, and it’s not learning.

It’s just parroting.

Unfortunately, it’s also what most of school consists of — just memorizing answers.

Most of us graduate thinking that’s what learning is.

School punishes failure. It gives kids bad marks if they get the wrong answer.

This is intended to incentivize effort, but it also makes kids fear failure.

Success in the real world requires lots of failure. To get good at something,you have to fail first.

So much of school is centered around authorities’ opinions — everything from the right answer on a test, to your own “worth” as a student (whether you’re a “smart kid” or an “average kid”).

That default deference is hard to shake, but it’s important to.

Learning is something that happens all the time. You’re learning every time you fight with a friend, make a pitch and are rejected, try a new skill, etc.

It’s not just something that occurs in a classroom.

School teaches us that it’s “cheating” to work together on a test.

And yet, the real world rewards efficiency. Using resources means getting things done faster. Moving faster = moving farther.

It’s a *good* thing to work smart.