The Modern Education Myth

So, this is something I have been meditating on for a while now and I simply need to put it down and start to develop this line of thought.

Education is a lie.

There, I said it. I know this sounds very odd; especially so when you realize that I am from a family predominately consisting of teachers and I am a person who when to a prestigious private college. But, it is true.

Bear with me, but education especially the modern state of education in America is a lie.

The current generation (the Millenials of which I am a part) were brought up being spoon fed lies around education. Essentially, the line goes: Go to school, do well and graduate high school. You will then go to a great college, do well and graduate. Next, you will find a great job, change the world, and be happy.

This is a f*cking lie. This is where the Millenial generation gets much of its distain for the other generations and where the overwhelming judgements of our lazy, self-serving, etc generation stem from. We grew up with these lies being told to us.

While this may have been true for GenXers and the Baby Boomers, simply put, this is not the case now. With the majority of a generation being told this is what you have to do to get a good life and this is the life you should live we find that we have thousands (if not more) of Millenials living lives where we are buried with student loan debt, as well as even more being underemployed.

Sorry to break it to the world America but not everyone should go to college. Yes, I believe that everyone should have the  opportunity to go to college but not everyone should. Simply but, people should be encouraged to follow their dreams, and whatever path that may take. If you don't want to have a job that requires a college education then DON'T GO TO COLLEGE. Simply, remain educated, constantly challenging yourself and pursue what you want to do.

Until we stop perpetuating this myth of education and happiness, we will NEVER solve neither our education nor our debt issues.

This being said, while I am fine being saddled with the debt that my education has afforded me, I do believe that there needs to be some form of federal intervention to aid the Millenial generation with their debt because simply but, it isn't our fault (at least wholly) that we are in this state.

Once some of these issues begin to be solved, I believe that the Occupy movement and many of our current social issues in general will be solved.

That's my two cents at least.

Holy Crap

I'm like old. Like really old. I just came to the realization that I'm almost 23. While in the scheme of things, this isn't that old, I feel insanely old and young at the same time.

- I'm only a year out off college (like exactly a year as of this point).
- I've been 'on my own' for just about a year now living/working (80% of the time) now.

Yet....

- I love me some cartoons
- And ice cream
- And simply being lazy
- Simply put, I don't quite feel like an adult!

But at the same time...

- I've been hiring people for almost a year now (Something I still have a hard time wrapping my head around)
- I (somehow) have the ability to pay my bills (and on time!)
- People come to me for advice rather than the other way around


I guess now that I have a birthday coming up in just over 2 weeks (I just saw the date and kinda freaked out) I simply need to acknowledge that I'm an adult and that's ok.

Blessed

I am truly blessed. I realized today just how blessed I am right now.

Background: I'm working at an amazing place where I am truly affecting peoples lives in a meaningful way and for the last week I've been reviewing resumes of people I can (hopefully) hire to be my employees and I've realized just how awesome I have things.

- I work in a job I love that gives me the time to actually have a life.
- I have a second job that helps people make ends meet and live their lives better.
- I have an amazing family who loves and supports me.
- (this one is a little bad but...) I have the ability to write a meaningful and succinct cover letter/resume. A skill that many are lacking.
- I have friends who are truly amazing.
- I (will soon) have enough money to live comfortably.
- I have the ability to learn and grow from my failures.
- I am comfortable in myself and my own abilities to live my life how I want.
- I am healthy (although I believe I may have some sort of issue affecting my energy levels as I'm constantly exhausted).
- I am happy.

I think that far too often we find ourselves dwelling on what we don't have. I know at least that this is true of me simply look at my last two posts to see my own inhibitions on that. Nonetheless though, I now that we as people have the ability to move past it.

Personally, I have a horrible habit of listening to that voice in the back of my head telling me that I'm inferior. This is wrong. We are all amazing. We need to embrace our individuality and our strengths while learning to curb our weaknesses. While weakness makes us human, it also allows for us to see our current boundaries and move beyond them to better things.

Can't Sleep...Regret?

I can't sleep, even though every fiber of me is exhausted. I don't quite know why. I heard once that taking an inventory of your life and your to do's when you can't sleep helps.

This is a lie.

It doesn't help that I'm currently obsessed with a song about regret and moving on. I don't really know why either. My life is starting to get back together after months of living in limbo (getting fired from a job I thought I loved).

I'm working with amazing and ridiculously inspiring people in a position which I feel grossly underqualified for though I also feel as if I can do it better than anybody else. My finances will be better than they ever have been in less than a month. I'm moving in with my best friend in the near future (1-2 months we're predicting). Why then am I listening to a song which makes me bawl like I haven't in almost a year with the following lyrics:

And I've been a fool and I've been blind

I can never leave the past behind

I can see no way, I can see no way

I'm always dragging that horse around

I guess that I'm terrified of falling back into the slump I was in for so long...I guess I feel as if I'm overcompensating...that somehow in the next 2 months something will happen and I will be worse off than I was a month ago. My particular brand of neuroses though I KNOW has absolutely no base in fact. 

And yet, for some reason I am sitting here at 3AM unable to sleep, wallowing in my own self-doubt just knowing that I will go back to that despite my reason telling me that that is impossible. (Worst part of the English language depicted right there: "that that" ugh.) 

I guess, I just didn't realize that the real world, whatever that is would be so hard. I guess I thought that things would work out. That adage I grew up being told as self-evident (You will go to college, you will get a good paying job, you will live a good and comfortable life) is a lie. And now I find myself wondering if I'm alone in this struggle. I know I can't be, the unemployment and underemployment rates amongst my peers (21-25 year-old recent graduates) tells me so; yet, I cannot but feel alone in this struggle. 

Ideally, things will get better and I have to believe that they will. Reason tells me it will. Reason tells me that what I am experiencing is simply a sociological concept of called anomie. Wherein a person has reduced ties to society and feels alone despite not being so (an issue that is extremely prevalent in modern urban areas truth be told although many argue it isn't). 

Reason tells me I'm wrong. My heart tells me to brace for the worst. I guess that's why I'm so obsessed with this song... 

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't

So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my rope

And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope

It's a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat

Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me

Looking for heaven, found the devil in me

Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Note: Song lyrics courtesy of "Shake it Out" - Florence and the Machine as performed by the Cast of Glee. 

He lives...somewhere

I'm back. After over 2 years of not blogging here and attempting to blog elsewhere, including trying to force myself to blog on other things I care about, I realize I simply need a space to discuss my life/thoughts/inhibitions/moral dilemmas.

Again, I do not know if you exist readers and I do not know if you care if you do exist. I know that blogging about one's life is quite passe nowadays but nonetheless I feel strangely compelled to. Now, whether this is due to some form of narcissistic quality I invariably posses or something else, I know that I need this...for me.

So, if you (my theoretical reader(s?)) still exist or even still care please bare with me while I attempt to reemerge from the blogging crypt and attempt to bring this dead horse back to life.

In the next few days, I plan on adding a recap of sorts to my life since my last post and hash out my thoughts on where this blog may go from here.

1. Why don't I dream anymore?
2. Why can't I focus anymore?
3. Why won't someone come along and be my fairy job mother?
4. Why can't I think anymore?

The End of a Beginning, and Vice Versa

http://tvspike1.tumblr.com/

New website, hopefully will be updated far more frequently than this blog. Alas, we shall see.

btw, do not consider this me leaving blogger as I do like it and it has its merits for long written word that tumblr is simply not good for but I also know that while I may be long-winded at times I prefer to be short and sweet and the fact that I can easily tumbl thoughts, links, etc on tumblr I know it just fits my oft random and hectic life better.

We'll see how long that lasts. >.<