I don't remember where I was; I realized life was a game. The more seriously I took things, the harder the rules became.
I had no idea what it'd cost: my life flashed before my eyes. I found out how little I accomplished; all my plans denied. -- David Mustaine
By proclaiming myself a philosopher, I set myself as a target for what is perhaps the most infamous question of all: what is the meaning of life? The more I pondered this, the more thought it demanded. And, after all my thinking, the only answer I arrived at wasn't even for my initial question; but, at least I know why philosophy is such a dwindling profession.
Life sucks; to that, there can be no contest. When you think about it, you realize that the whole point of life is to die:
We are born
We go to school, to get a good education, so we can be accepted into college
We go to college, so we can get a good job, later in life
We get a job, then work ceaselessly until our retirement
We retire, where we are too old to truly enjoy the freedom
What tiny sparks of enjoyment dare to flare in our life are nothing compared to the infinitesimally massive amount of devastating inferiority that must follow. The purpose of life has been corrupted by the demons of modernization.
Darwin would be ashamed. We live in an era where survival of the fittest has been mutated into survival of the fattest. Those talentless fools that seem to flock like sheep towards the pointless precinct of pseudodirection are raised up on high, flaunted and hailed as a leader for their ability to snatch the attentions and compassion of those who would otherwise crush them for their inferiority. Perhaps the best example I can offer is the tag on every hairblower made; the one that says, "CAUTION: Do not take in tub." I don't know what's worse: the fact that people don't know this already, or the fact that enough people do it to make a warning label necessary?
Life has become nothing more than a job, where thousands of mindless people migrate everyday, not knowing why, only that they need to to continue. You, I, and the rest that understand are samurai, enlightened cowboys, and all those people out there that don't know what the hell is going on are the cattle. Moo. Help someone earn their spurs; explain.
I'm sorry, but I couldn't complete this page as of yet... Thinking of life on a grander scale is too depressing, even if that's all I see, now that I'm a philosopher.
Until that time, read this, it'll be good for you anyways:
At first, I was hesitant to create this document: everything contained in it is true for myself, but years of unintentional observation have taught me that no matter how much maintenance is applied, you can never restore anything to more than its original state. Sadly enough, this statement can easily be focused on students, with little adaptation. Looking back, however, I am grateful for the insistence of my fellows, because it was this essay that allowed me to put my views in perspective, and examine them with more accurate scrutiny. Without that precise viewpoint, I doubt I could have ever realized just how deeply our school system was buried under the layers of severe corruption.
It is difficult to decide on a starting point, but logic dictates that it is best to begin at the root of the problem. Therefore, I will present you with this declaration: school is designed with the needs of underachievers in mind. For some, this can be a very good thing indeed, but for others, those with more that the usual amount of intelligence allotted to their name, or even the average, the level education offered by public schools is sorely lacking. There is, of course, private schools, but with this scheme, I cannot help but be reminded of two distinct court cases: Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Brown vs. The Board of Topeka Education. The same basic events are being played out today, in an era where equality is stressed nearly to the point of breaking. Why then, are those of us blessed (or cursed) with the gift of knowledge forced to endure to the punishment that is public education?
In the freshman year of my high school experience, I read several short stories; one of them, in particular, sticks out in my mind; Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut.
The content is my cause to reminisce, however: it spoke of a time in the near future, when equality will have reached its limit. One would expect things to be perfect; the result is the exact retrospect: people are forced to wear weights around their neck, so that there are no strength advantages; to balance out appearance, people must wear masks, disguising their beauty. The most prominent, and horrifying topic, however, is the equilibrium established between varying status in intelligence: people must wear headphones, which play random noises, designed to shatter concentration, at regular intervals, based on the measure of their mind power: the smarter they are, the more often the sounds. In particular, it spoke of one person, a genius, who was so smart that the noises never ceased. In addition, he had to wear thick glasses, with wavy lines in them, to give him tremendous headaches. Still, he overcame these obstacles, and in the end, the reward awaiting him was death.
Is this where we are heading? The result will surely be the same, unless our academic leashes are removed, allowing us to roam the full field of our intellectual aptitude. Like the character in Vonnegut�s story, we, too, are brought down, to make the world equal. Unfortunately, like communism, this plan can only work in theory. The saying, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," comes to mind; it�s just too bad that our weakest link happens to be some outstandingly stupid child who should probably receive a more specialized education that our inadequate public schools can offer.
There are three distinct inhibitors that I can think of, and these must be abolished to grant out freedom: homework, required classes, and subordination. With these practices still in place, there can be no true acquisition of knowledge, only a semi-reasonable, though still incredibly fraudulent facsimile of learning.
There is a quote, given to me by a friend, that I am quite fond of, "School�s fun, it�s just the homework that comes with it that overbalances its worth." There are several ways to interpret this, and I intend to touch on all of them.
The first rendition includes the fact that, while most students enjoy learning, there are very few of them that will admit to liking school. This is due to the simple fact that there is very little true learning to be done in school; most of the time is spent reviewing materials already covered, or waiting, in idle, while the teacher bring someone else up to speed in the understanding of a topic that, to most, was relatively easy. There is an equally simple remedy to this, and, unfortunately, it has been ignored since the beginning of public education, save for in select colleges and universities: give the students the information, but make it their responsibility to come to an understanding of it.
-- Work In Progress; Robert Larson
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