Why you hated school (And how to make learning fun again)
Did you hate school too?
Fine, hate is a strong word, but school was a chore for most of us, myself included.
The social aspect was fun, and I had a few inspiring teachers, but for the most part, I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring.
I only fell in love with learning after formal education. The sad part is those early years are when our brains are most plastic. That is the time to build a solid foundation.
Wouldn’t it be better if we used those early years wisely?
This essay is what I wish my younger self understood about enjoying learning.
1. School sucks because it’s irrelevant to our lives
How often do you use what you learned in school?
If you’re anything like me, you rarely any of it.
You probably use the critical foundations— reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. But the pointless facts we memorized for exams aren’t much help.
The classic example:
The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
Instead, if we learned science in a way that related to our lives, we’d be more motivated to learn the material. In fact, that was the exact conclusion of this study.
“A randomized field experiment demonstrated that a motivational intervention designed to help high school students make connections between course material and their lives increased interest and performance in high school science courses.”
Here is an example of how relating science to your life can make learning enjoyable.
Many of us struggle to keep our room orderly (me too).
We can use the second law of thermodynamics to understand why:
If we think of our room as an isolated system it will naturally drift into disorder.
Unless we take action against that trend:
Secondly, from a statistical point of view, there are significantly more options for disorder than order.
Say your notebook has one proper place on your desk. Then within your room, there are hundreds if not thousands of wrong places for your notebook:
on the floor
on your bed
on your chair, etc.
So disorder is statistically more likely unless we actively try to counteract it i.e. we must spend energy to maintain order.
This is how something like the second law of thermodynamics can be useful and fun to learn about.
Therefore, a good teacher will show students the usefulness of what they are learning.
More Examples
If you understand:
Stoicism will help you have better mental health,
persuasion will help you have better relationships,
and foreign languages will explode your ability to connect with people,
you are more likely to want to learn these things.
2. “Necessity is the mother of all Inventiveness.”
You’ve probably noticed Americans tend to be monolingual while Europeans tend to be multilingual.
It’s not because Americans are dumb or that German schools are superior; it’s because we have different incentives.
Learning a foreign language is hard and takes a long time. Without a good reason, it’s near impossible.
I know this because I’ve been in both situations.
Americans can’t learn Italian
My school offered Italian class... in America.
Why would I learn Italian if I have no connection to Italy, no one to speak Italian with, and consume no Italian media?
Also, if I ever were to take a short trip to Italy, I am pretty sure I could get by just fine with rudimentary English.
To be fair, there are over 2.6 million Italians and Italian Americans in the greater New York Metro Area, and maybe that’s why they offered Italian class.
Still, even my Italian-American classmates left six years of Italian without speaking Italian. (Only one kid could put together a few decent sentences)
Compare that with English class in Germany. Every senior I’ve met at a German high school can hold a basic conversation in English. (Most of them are fluent)
Then why can Germans learn English?
I do not believe Germans speak good English only because of the school system. (In fact, many Europeans I’ve met attribute their superior English skills to TV and video games.) I believe it is also because they face a necessity to learn English.
English is not optional
America is the world’s largest economy (for now) and an essential partner to Germany. You can speak English with people in every European country (many foreigners come to Germany only speaking English and their native tongue). And the most popular music, films, and TV shows are primarily in English.
More on why I believe everyone will eventually speak English:
Further, some majors at German universities are taught in English or require English language skills. For example, if you want to study Chemistry at the University here in Konstanz:
“...as large parts of the research literature is written in English, good English skills are highly recommended.”
Thus, across Germany, you'll notice a high level of English ability simply because you need English to thrive here.
Once again,
“Necessity is the mother of all inventiveness.”
Therefore, students should be encouraged to reflect,
“What do I need to learn to achieve my goals?”
and then start learning.
This is what Epictetus recommended two thousand years ago:
“First, tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly…
Athletes decide first what they want to be, then proceed to do what is necessary. If they decide to be a distance runner, it means one particular workout. If they want to be springer, those factors are different…
You will find the same thing true of the crafts. All our efforts must be directed towards an end, or we will act in vain. If it is not the right end we will fail utterly.”— Epictetus (Discourses book III c. 23)
3. Learn sh-t you want to learn
The point of this post is:
Learn sh-t you want to learn
If you learn stuff you want to learn, you will have more motivation and achieve better results.
For example, people are often impressed that I speak Chinese, but little do they know it was easy for me. Not because the language is simple or similar to English (it’s not), but because I wanted to learn Chinese.
Only learning/doing things you like is one of the biggest life hacks. But I get it sometimes you are at school and have less choice over what you can learn.
For people still at school, it’s helpful to accept the system for what it is and treat it like a game. You can either win or lose the game, but complaining about it doesn’t help you win it.
Once you win the game, you will have more options to follow your intellectual curiosity on your own terms.
Call to Action
If you want to learn more stuff, put down your phone, sit down, and just take 60 seconds to ask yourself,
What am I curious to learn more about?
What am I naturally good at that I want to double down on?
Where am I lacking?
Skills everyone needs that aren’t taught at school:
Manage your mental health
meditation
Feed yourself well
cooking
Effective communication
persuasion
Last point: if you’re thinking about what to learn:
Consider learning evergreen skills i.e., skills you can use for the rest of your life.
For example, suppose you want to learn marketing.
In that case, it’s probably better to study copywriting than Facebook ads because principles of copywriting and persuasive writing will still be relevant in ten years while Facebook ads may not.
Happy learning
P.S. I thought this Youtube video about empires was cool:
https://youtube.com/shorts/BD4jSqbtMHE?feature=share