I know nothing of pedagogy nor of the American educational system, so this may resonate or it may not. I met recently with a friend who’s a founder of a prominent VC firm. I’ll just call him “Steve” to protect his identity. He’s intimately involved in philanthropic work focused on education in this country. Whenever I see him he’ll always bring up the kind of activities he’s involved with, and the challenges this country faces.
Of course the main challenge in this area stems from just how little this country invests in educational infrastructure, and that breeds a host of follow-on issues around attracting, retaining, and continuously improving the base of educators in the K-12 arena.
As Steve and I spoke, I told the story of my upbringing and my experience with the public school system where I grew up. It was a bad scene, not helped by the fact that the friends I chose were not exactly great role models. I told him a story about how I never did homework during my entire K-12 experience, and I furthermore told it with a great deal of pride. I thought that this must be what Steve is dealing with, but perhaps to an even greater degree.
It occurred to me that there was a single defining moment that I must have latched onto that changed me and set me on a less destructive and more prolific track. Oddly enough, the Hippie era came along, but for me it worked. You probably think of things like “dropping out”, “peace”, “love”, “drugs”, and “acid”, but there was something about this prototypical model to emulate that was a good thing, or at least better than what we have today.
Let’s think about this. The Hippie era came along and what did it mean to people like me, and to a good number of my peers across the country? The part we grasped onto was the intellectual dimension of the era. It was good to be smart, well read, and intellectual. My model wasn’t Ringo, but Lennon. It wasn’t The Beach Boys, but Dylan. We were reading books like Tom Wolf’s “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” and Ken Kesey. We spent time studying Kurt Vonnegut and modern philosophers like Herbert Marcuse, Theodor W. Adorno, Hanna Arendt, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and of course Nietzsche (a favorite of Carly Fiorina when asked what books she read – she obviously was forced to read this in college).
I wanted to study German just so I could read original works. I clearly remember when I picked up Emmanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” in German. There’s a sentence on the first page (THE FIRST PAGE!) that’s 113 words long, containing 17 punctuation marks. Man – you had to be smart just to read it. (I don’t think I understood much but I tried damn hard).
I didn’t actually want to be these people – I just wanted to acquire their knowledge. What an inane and futile aspiration, but it was much loftier than being a brainless high school dropout. This is what must have really changed my life and turned me from a horrible K-12 delinquent with horrible grades and questionable behavior into someone who valued education and intellectual pursuit.
My role models were different than what I see today. Part of the problem is our lack of investment in our educational system, part must be due to parents’ general lack of ability to enforce discipline and foster regard for the value of education, but a bigger part has to do with today’s role models. Think about the role model comparison. Here are some of my role models:
I guess I wanted to be more than I was – but it’s probably better than being less. Now think about real significant role models of today. Here’s a couple from our last presidential election.
Now, to begin with, this guy is a moron – yes, a simple moron. How anyone might look at this guy as someone to model or emulate is one of those sweet mysteries of life. Do you think I’m kidding about this guy? Take a look at this:
Do you see the satirical juxtaposition of two images that couldn’t be more antithetical? It’s comparing the model of today to one of my models. Does this mean that were I a high school teen today that I would aspire to be Joe the Plumber? That is a depressing thought.
Take a look at some of our other modern role models: Peter Griffin, Patrick from Sponge Bob (Bob l’éponge in French), Homer Simpson, Cartman.
These guys are cool, and I’m sure there are many young people who’d like to be just like them. Well, to get off to a good start, just get stupid. Amazingly, the only intellectuals depicted in any of these shows are Stewie Griffin and Brian – an infant and a dog.
Even Peter’s son Chris is an idiot, but generously graced with an even more impoverished IQ.
Check out this role model – and I think he’s genuinely talented (I mean it): you’ll remember him from “That 70’s Show”:
We know his persona in the show is that of an airhead kid. Given that he’s such a cool and good looking kid it’s no wonder that he’s a role model. After all, if I’m in high school and I act like him, despite the fact that I’m basically not very attractive, it may help me meet girls. Therefore Ashton Kutcher is the model for me.
Take a look at the grown up Ashton in “No Strings Attached”. In one scene he brings his “no strings attached” girlfriend a balloon the morning after they have great sex, and in another scene he tries to impress her with a bouquet of carrots – you know this is cool.
So, even as we grow up it still makes sense to be semi dumb as long as it gets you what you want.
The question is what’s the incentive and motivation today to be smart? I don’t know. All of these idiots that I’m talking about, with the exception of Joe the Plumber, are all characters that I enjoy watching. I really liked “No Strings Attached”, and I have to admit that I watch Sponge Bob every morning before work and Family Guy every night. Fortunately for me, I’m not influenced by this nonsense – it’s just fun. However, I’m sure glad I was not impressed with such characters in my teens.
My VC friend Steve really has his work cut out for him. Unfortunately, I don’t think a few bucks given here and there to some much needed educational programs will work. The problem is far too deep. It has something to do with how brains are shaped. That’s a tough one.
I hope to blog again.
