Always on Task!
I recently finished Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin, a book about the whys and hows of becoming indispensable. What I like about this book is that Godin, a business writer, doesn’t ignore the 17+ years that make up an employee’s educational history and the blunt-force trauma that it causes. Most business writers simply pick up their story at the cubicle, the boardroom, ignoring the changes wrought by an institution exquisitely tuned to turn curious, self-directed beings, into compliant “map readers” stuck in a permanent mondaze.
The author is a sharp critic of schools. Below are some of his unabashed quotes about the institution. Lest you think Godin is only a critic, I encourage you to pick up the book and learn about his useful suggestions for thriving inside systems (and getting out if needed!) designed to turn the most imaginative species on the planet into cogs.
Where Does Average Come From? You have been brainwashed by school and by the system into believing that your job is to do your job and follow instructions. It’s not, not anymore.
It’s futile to work hard at restoring the take-care-of-you bargain. The bargain is gone and it’s not worth whining about and it’s not effective to complain. There’s a new bargain now, one that leverages talent and creativity and art more than it rewards obedience.
I’ve seen this in high schools, in Akron, in Bangalore, in London and in start-ups. People want to be told what to do because they are afraid (petrified) of figuring it out for themselves.
There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.
Having a factory job [Godin defines today's white collar jobs which require following scripts, maps...as factory jobs] is not a natural state. It wasn’t at the heart of being a human until recently. We’ve been culturally brainwashed to believe that accepting the hierarchy and lack of responsibility that come with a factory job is the one way, the only way, and the best way.
Great teachers are wonderful. They change lives. We need them. The problem is that most schools don’t like great teachers. They’re organized to stamp them out, bore them, bureaucratize them, and make them average.
(Godin’s ‘plaint PShopped onto the billboard below)
It’s almost impossible to imagine a school with a sign that said:
We teach people to take initiative and to become remarkable artists, to question the status quo, and to interact with transparency. And our graduates understand that consumption is not the answer to social problems.
And yet, that might be exactly what we need.
