When you are sitting at your desk, in school,

and the teacher is regurgitating textbooks to get you to pass tests.

And you have no idea what the heck he is taking about, and you are not inclined to understand that everyone else is lost too,

and that the reason they are getting better grades than you, is because they aren't listening to comprehend, but to memorize.

Know, that he teacher can't rely on your comprehension skills,

because they won't risk getting into trouble over your actual understanding.

So what they will do, is look over the test you need to pass,

and then feed you information that will help you pass if you blindly memorize it.

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If you don't understand,

that you are not supposed to understand.

If you don't understand,

that you are only supposed to memorize to pass the tests so that they can put food on the table.

Then you are running the risk,

of becoming convinced that you are unintelligent.

Which you are not,

the world is just not understanding how badly schools are broken.

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You have to pay attention,

to the broken things, and know when to walk.

All the broken things are equally toxic,

and you have to protect your mind.

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Sitting in rows, while being spoon-fed timed lectures, from a one-for-all curriculum that does not see you as a unique human being with a colorful imagination,

and then being graded down for not having temporarily-memorized it for long enough - is not an education, that's just fraud.

You are manipulated into cramming,

so that the teacher can hold up the tests as evidence, that he is not a fraud.

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There are no standardized humans,

there cannot be a standardized assessment.

Even in prestigious universities, and medical schools,

a standardized assessment can only asses the height you are standing on, while cutting out the entire being that you are.

In average schools, a standardized assessment can only asses,

whether or not you have given up who you are, under the stress of being held back, and laughed at.

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There are no bad grades,

you either understand something or not.

A bad grade is a nail in the coffin of a school,

it reveals its own fraud - and blames it on you.

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A school could be built to do you and your classmates justice,

but it would be an unstructured series of games, levels that would require actual study.

And when you fail to progress,

nobody would know about it.

It would not be the final test,

you'd find a better book and get to the bottom of what had you stuck.

Only your progression forward would matter,

you would never be punished for learning what you like at your own pace.

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Do not let broken things trick you into thinking there is something wrong with you,

do not let them hold you back from the real thing.

Graded fantasy education that trick you into unforgivable-debt is an insult with a curse,

the real thing is blooming ecosystem of a thousand pursuits that you track the same way as the streets of a sprawling city.

It is a road that will slowly meander towards wisdom,

fake education may deny you that path.

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Education is one-of-many examples of broken things,

and all the broken tings will obscure your path forward.

Try, try to figure it out ahead of time,

the elder you may look back and see that you didn't have all the necessary ideas, but also appreciate that you fought for truth.

Scientists are taught to question everything,

to search for evidence, avoid common mistakes, and to reproduce results.

Next time you get a bad grade in school,

don't feel bad, instead question how you were taught and whether or not that adds up to create any real and lasting results.

Do not let the broken things and the actors that line their pockets with them trick you,

and blame it all on you.

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Finally, if you want to learn Biology

build a computer game that simulates everything we know.

If you want to learn chemistry,

build a virtual world that helps everyone visualize how everything works beneath the reaction.

If you want to learn Physics

build a game that simulates Humans taking to the stars.

To learn Mathematics,

create generative art, games, and visualizations of all that we know.

If you really want to learn for real,

then you will have to be the first one to build a real school.

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Whatever you do, pay attention to the broken things,

do not let anybody trick you and blame it all on you.