Some advice to young students today (but really, it is just advice for myself because I'm only writing it here)
But I also think it is very relevant to students today, because everyone's shouting about creativity and liberalization. Yet for some reason I don't really care if people read this. I have opinions but I don't really care about whether anyone appreciates it.



I love this song. So glad I discovered it.
It reminds me of the time I was a teenager, when all I loved to think of was how school was too regimented for my liking, and too boring. Sure it was intellectually stimulating, but in the end it was all the same because all you really had to do was to be book smart and exam smart. I remember very well all my angst about this, because I was too scared to drop out of school. Because I was the same as everyone else, I wanted to succeed and I didn't think I could succeed on my own without school, because I didn't think I could be a college dropout genius. It does take a tremendous amount of creativity to do that, and honestly I've never had much creativity. Haha. So I sensed we were all being squeezed into little boxes but I didn't know any way around it.

I must sound like an ungrateful Gen Y entitled kid but hold on.

I've emerged quite unscathed from schooling. Maybe I'm understating it: I've benefited from it. It may not be perfect but it is still probably the best way to educate masses of people. There is an age-old bond between society and order. Society can't thrive without order: just look back in history. So it is probably natural that we should learn this order from young. That said, I admire people who make the decision to home-school (just make sure you don't screw the kid up); it's very risky, but I think it can be very rewarding.

Just remember that what they teach in school isn't everything. It may be futile to force your individual, subjective, wildly different ideals on the schooling system, because what one student wants from the schooling system, isn't the same as what another student would want. Everyone (everyone who has the guts to think honestly and sincerely) will have different ideals. It's impractical to say, force schools to have mandatory meditation lessons, painting lessons, etc. So take non-schooling time to think about what you really want from life, what you really want to learn more about, who you really want to be. I think it's really important to know what you stand for.

I would also add that this individual quest would be, well, an individual one. You can't expect your teachers to give it to you, because everyone would think differently. If everyone thought the same, they'd just be sad little boxes that are all the same. So yes, I've realized that I should not have been blaming the system for anything. The real solution would be to look in the mirror and ask myself those same questions. And ask yourself if you agree with what you're learning in school.

One problem is, sometimes you feel too burnt out by the sheer amount of work to even care about these questions. I certainly felt like that. As for that the only solution would be to know your limits; push those limits, but always come back to yourself after that.