How to screw the system in 10 easy steps

There's a funny thing about school. The smart people always end up being marginalized because school caters to the lowest common denominator (more on that in the next post). The funny thing, though, is that the smart people find ways around this and use it to their advantage. Not to sound completely arrogant (though I am, and will), but I'm going to take myself as an example.

My spare time is kind of like school is for most people. I enjoy reading as much as I can, and all that kind of stuff. My school time is a bit of a refresher on topics I tend to know a good deal about already (or enough to easily build on without too much effort). Words cannot explain how easy this makes things.

For example, my Canadian Politics class. I got my mid-course (it's two semesters) exam back, to a surprising 96%. Now, I thought I'd do well, but 96% is outstanding considering that this guy is a tough grader (so I hear). The funny thing for me is that I barely did any of my readings, missed several lectures, didn't take very good notes, and missed a lot of discussion groups. Obviously, I should have been completely fucked over, and it's what I deserve for not following the system.

On the contrary, time and time again, I am rewarded for this type of behaviour. In high school it was the same. I wouldn't do half the work, and I'd get away with it. Had I done more, I could have gotten over a 90 average, for sure, but 80s were good for me, considering I put in no effort. I would study for tests the night before, quickly reading over my notes, and move on to something more interesting. I realized that the smartest ones were those who put in the least effort to get the desired results. If I could get into university with an 80-something average, why strive for 90s? I would end up exactly in the same situation as all those who had worked harder than me, and to little gain.

One example that I will always remember was a book report we had to do. I didn't even open the book because the topic didn't interest me in the least bit. One of the other classes had to read another book which I had, incidentally, been forced to read the year earlier in another class. I had read about 50% of that book, so I decided that I would do my report on that, even though it was completely the wrong thing to be doing. I included a note explaining that I hadn't read the assigned book but read the other one during my "summer holidays". I ended up getting a great mark, mostly because of my creativity and craftiness. I guess the fact that I ate out the teacher's MILF cunt might have helped, too. Oh wait...

Another example was that, in Sec. 5 (11th grade), I actually managed to get my Physics class removed from my schedule. I had started off the year by making an effort, as it wasn't really the most complicated stuff in the world. I quickly realized that I hated it, however, and slacked off. I would spend the whole class time goofing off and doing all kinds of random crap. At the end of the year, I was no longer even forced to attend, and the grade didn't appear on my transcript. The same year, in Chemistry, I ended up failing, for lack of effort and interest, and I still ended up in exactly the same spot I wanted to. Time and time again, I was rewarded for this type of behaviour.

In CEGEP, I found the subject matter to be more interesting, but it was always the same thing. I'd tell myself each year, and at each step of my educational career, "This year, it will be different!". Of course, old habits die hard. I did the bare minimum of work, again, but the work that I did do was good. I always handed in all my assignments on time, and they tended to be good. The thought was that students would be working on this in bits and pieces over several days or weeks. That implies, however, that most students still don't know how to write proper essays or research a topic. I tended to approach the assignment the night before it was due, finishing the work in a few hours. It's far more efficient to do a block of work like that as opposed to spreading it out. And hey, why not? I always got rewarded for this type of work. A reward that was disproportionate to the effort put in.

Moving on to University, I actually ended up getting a fucking scholarship for academic performance. Well, performance is a really loose term, isn't it? For me, performance is isolating what they want out of students, and giving them exactly what they want in the most efficient and least time-consuming way possible. As I said, I'm doing really well so far, and putting in only about the same effort I did in CEGEP. I only do half my readings, at most (I have hundreds of pages each week). I am rewarded with 96%s and scholarships, and there's no end in sight. When I do love something, I can concentrate and focus all my energy and attention on a single topic, but that rarely comes in the context of school, as I'm never motivated by the system, which I have huge problems with, and have probably already discussed on here.

So, my path continues. I am rewarded time and time again for all the shit I do. It's not to say my work doesn't deserve it, because I do good work, when comparing to what I see of my colleagues. However, I kind of squeeze through the cracks in ways that the system wasn't designed for because the system doesn't allow me to choose my own intellectual, social, and educational development as I would like.

I am reminded of a Kubrick quote that I really enjoy, and it's sort of a philosophy of mine. I think it applies perfectly in this case.

"If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject you can create the consoling illusion it has been mastered."

This is not to say that I believe I know nothing about nothing, but it applies to a certain extent in regards to school. While I'm on the topic of Kubrick and education, I will end with a final quote.

"I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker."