Login
You're viewing the forall.social public feed.
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    It’s the fault of the schools, sure. But it’s also the fault of parents who turn their children’s education into a painful, constant struggle. It’s the fault of education theorists and government regulators who are tasked with deciding what information, from the entire store of human knowledge, should be crammed into a little over a decade of schooling.

    It all adds up to create a negative, dragging, shitty attitude to learning anything.

    You Don’t Have To Let Yourself Graduate.

    7/13

    💬 1🔄 2⭐ 0

Replies

  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    Here’s what I believe. I believe that structured learning doesn’t answer the entirety of your educational need. I believe that it doesn’t answer even 50% of it. I believe that it lays the groundwork for the rest of your life as a learner.

    8/13

    💬 3🔄 0⭐ 0
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    When you view your schooling and your college education as being the foundation, not the entire block, you can start to build on it. If you spend every single year until you die ensuring that you have continued to learn, that’s going to change your level of understanding, readiness, and general insight.

    9/13

    💬 2🔄 1⭐ 0
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    I think the greatest thing a person can do after their formal period of education is complete is dedicate at least some portion of their time, every day and every week, to learning. Really learning. Reading, viewing, and analyzing the information necessary to learn a skill, a fact, a new area of expertise.

    10/13

    💬 2🔄 1⭐ 0
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    If you never let yourself graduate, you will never let yourself stagnate. You won’t fall back on old, outdated beliefs, or forget the important principles and lessons you learned before. You will keep your mind active and your edge sharp.

    11/13

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    You have so many opportunities to learn. Right now. From videos on YouTube to entire volumes of incredible, important books that are available as a free download on Gutenberg. Not to mention the online courses that will let you learn about almost any subject. Or failing that  -  Wikipedia.

    12/13

    💬 2🔄 1⭐ 0
  • JA WestenbergDaojoan@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:19 AM

    The point is, your learning really doesn’t stop because you left school. It stops because you think you’ve done enough. And if you don’t take responsibility for continuing your education throughout the rest of your life, you’re the one who will pay for it.

    13/13

    💬 4🔄 1⭐ 0
  • Gauffgaufff@piaille.fr
    Aug 9, 2026, 5:35 AM

    @Daojoan very inspiring, thank you!

    I'm a #teacher and I fully share this view, also trying to convince my students about it (not so much by telling them, but by trying to humbly inspire them).

    Which is hard, if most of them feel bored and trapped in something that they hope will stop. So I try to make learning fun and enjoyable.

    We sometimes say that dogs never stop learning. The least we can do is to do the same, and realise how lucky we are.

    #education is one of humans' most fundamental and precious building blocks.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • nevarronevarro@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 6:03 AM

    @Daojoan Life-long learning is an old and well-established concept (e.g. see the UN SDG 4). As an educator I don‘t see the formal education system as bleak as you do – at least for Germany. There‘s room for students to thrive, and a broad curriculum leaves room for future artists, physicists, translators, teachers, … to find an interest in certain areas. Of course there are things that need improvement. But I‘m not sure what new perspective you‘re trying to establish.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Atomic Nixonatomicnixon@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 3:15 PM

    @Daojoan Or, skip the middleman. Grade-10 dropout, just turned 60, learning Houdini VFX programming and teaching writing to a ClaudeAI instance with memory systems we've built together. Now that's what I call bootstrapping. You're right, of course, and if I'd had "Bob" as a teacher (instead of scum) and with the world's knowledge at my fingertips, I'd be a god by now. Instead, I'll keep learning neat, fun, and interesting things until the day I die, and then I win! :)

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • PoloniousmonkUair@autistics.life
    Aug 9, 2026, 7:44 PM

    @Daojoan

    Education is a lifelong, self-directed process that forced schooling is designed to subvert. This is not an accident. The pioneers of forced schooling around a century ago (in the US) were open about it. This guy's a little right-wing Catholic in his sex roles, but dead-on about schooling. He was Teacher of the Year for NYC twice and NY State once.

    archive.org/details/against-sc

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • ideogramideogram@social.coop
    Aug 9, 2026, 12:59 AM

    @Daojoan
    I think focusing on any kind of formal education is a mistake. You can learn from talking to others, reading historical plaques in your community and local museums. Browsing a few pages of a book at any library, watching educated people on TikTok, or television. I 100% agree with your general premise though! ❤️

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • CORbuildthecor@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 1:22 AM

    @Daojoan, all your points hit hard. This is my favorite. I loved and appreciated my college experience, but it was just the beginning! After a while, college felt like a prison, and after four years, I couldn't wait to be released from my 4-year sentence.

    I grew up on microfiche, atlases, and encyclopedias. Opportunities for lifelong learning abound! I'm grateful for the expansion and evolution.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Atomic Nixonatomicnixon@mastodon.social
    Aug 9, 2026, 3:58 PM

    @Daojoan On the off-chance you haven't you Must meet John Taylor Gatto and check out his (twice teacher of the year, State of NY) methods. Summary? Get out of here, go somewhere and DO. I learned how to learn, and that failing wasn't, it was cartography, mapping the problem. Result? I built my own house, all my furniture, and I didn't even blink when it all burned to the ground because I knew I could do it again.
    youtube.com/@johntaylorgatto/v
    No, that's wrong, I cried for my books, so many books. :(

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Joe Heafnerheafnerj@mstdn.social
    Aug 10, 2026, 9:48 AM

    @Daojoan Correct. I taught community college for thirty years and watched it change from a place where anyone could take a course to learn something to a "success factory teaching mill" where EVERY student was FORCED into an academic track leading to a job or career they didn't necessarily want. Learning was no longer the goal; ticking metric boxes was. Admins sold out to businesses who stuck their noses in and started dictating everything.

    💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0