Anyone see this? Valedictorian Speaks Out...

Wow, I just found this... pretty awesome!

Wow! Good for her.

One of the more interesting things is that she is now living in a commune...

You can read about it on her blog... I sent her a copy of Atlas Shrugged.

I read the text of her speech but fail to see her point. When I was in school the work was never so hard that I couldn't pursue any interest I wanted. If anything I find that opposite is true. The teachers are naive to preparing students for the real world, rather than conditioning them as industrial drones. That's why we do so poorly in science and math as a society. Many who go into education did so because they felt that science and math wasn't for them. Now they are conditioning their students to follow their dreams, like the arts and humanities, which really only prepares you to be an educator.

The way that I understood it overall, is that she doesn't think she was actually taught or encouraged to "think" in school, only to do as she was told. I agree with her 100% on this. During my master of real estate development program everyone was trying to get a "good job" with an employer. They were literally fighting with one another over opportunities. Today, I think, only 6 of my 36 member graduating class actually has a job in real estate and less than half actually have a job at all! They were all to concerned about getting a "good job" and didn't actually learn what all the professors and guest speakers were telling them.

Good for her for sure! Couldn't agree more.

Well I never paid attention in school. All this time I thought I missed something. Maybe not!

Originally Posted by fly135

Well I never paid attention in school. All this time I thought I missed something. Maybe not!

Haha! +1

John, things have probably changed a lot since you were in school buddy. :-)

I agree that you are not encouraged to "think" in school now, but to only complete tasks. At least in your normal public schools.