Free Blog 7: The Farewell

So this is the last of the Free Blogs, what to talk about now? I could finish up my story, but honestly I’ve waited so long now that it’s not too fresh in my memory anymore. If I kept going it probably wouldn’t be a very accurate account, so you’ll just have to wonder about the epic conclusion. Heartbreaking, I know.
I think this last blog will be about “The Real World” as we’ve been told about it. Yes, something…melancholy to finish the portfolio with.
I’ve always hated when teachers or students talk about “The Real World.” I’m sure you’ve probably heard or used the expression before. But I’m talking about those times in middle school or high school, when students complain about Algebra because “We’ll never use this in real life!” Or the times when teachers say “You think school might be easy now, but when you get into the real world you won’t be able to survive off of just being smart alone Mark!” (I got that from all my teachers in middle and high school.) First of all, yes, you probably wont use Algebra in “real life.” I don’t think you’ll have to be graphing y = f(x) when your working as an IT assistant or playing gigs with your band at the Warehouse. However, I do believe that the point of learning algebra is to expand your mind around logical concepts. Gain knowledge and intelligence. There may not be a practical use currently, but it builds on itself and turns into a useful experience. Probably if your failing all of your algebra quizzes in freshman year of high school because you think it’s “useless,” your going to have a quite difficult time with the rest of school. You have to realize at some point that school isn’t about learning life changing information, it’s about creating a basis for your mind to learn concepts for the rest of your life.
As for teachers telling me that I can’t survive off just smarts alone, well that’s probably true as well. Holding a job takes work and effort, while school, for me, did not. But, to use the old expression, I always said “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” If I can just coast through school without having to study or do much homework and still make A’s and B’s, why shouldn’t I? I know it wont work in real life, but it’s working now. Why change it? When I have to exert effort, I will. Of course, I never bothered trying to get this message through to many teachers, because they wouldn’t take to it very well.
Anyway that’ll be the last of my rants for now. You know, I kinda liked these free blogs. They gave me a chance to let out things I’ve always wanted to say, but could never convince anyone to actually listen to for longer than a few minutes. A lot of people find it difficult to follow what I’m saying or where I get ideas from, and the explanation of these things is often too long for them to care to listen to. Maybe this has something to do with why I’m pretty good at writing without really meaning to be.
Well, enough of that. It’s been fun. Since I won’t see you on the next episode of Free Blog. I’ll see you on Monday!