Hammer and Nail
Have you come across the story of hammer and nail? When you were a student, the teachers is always right. You were trained to follow instructions. Those whom used alternative methods to solve mathematical problem sums (even when you attain the correct answer) will be awarded a big cross. In the eyes of teachers, students whom cannot follow instruction is like a nail sticking out. You will be hammer until you fall in place like the rest.Each time you try something new, you will be hammer upon. This is how our education system kill the creativity in young developing minds. You probably had tried to resist in the beginning but each time the hammer came down harder and harder until you starts to feel the shame of your actions. In no time, the "teaching" have blend your action and ideas with the rest of the nails. Some fortunate students, in this context nails, was plucked by the other end of the hammer head. This fortunate few was "plucked" and remove from our formal education system. Ever encounter real life stories whereby school dropout running own business earning more than five-figures income per months? Ring any bell?
Boy on the left, drop out from Harvard University in 1975. If you are one of his teachers or lecturer during that time, from the look of this boy, you probably would not want him in your class. Find out more about this boy at the end of this article.In some cases, PhD graduates exchanges their time and services for a paychecks from these companies owned by school dropout. What does this means to you? Does it challenge the facts that good qualification equal good solid paychecks? Absolutely not! Paper qualification means nothing, it is just a key that helps you open only the first few doors in your profession. Don't mistaken it for a lifetime meal ticket! Sadly formal education system not only hammered and sap away creativity but also our dreams.
Few years in the work force, you will come to realize that the hammer and nail culture seems to be everywhere. Your management now take over the role of hammer in your working life. They decide what time you wake up (indirectly), what time you eat your lunch, which day you receive your pay and most importantly how long you wear the company uniform. We are talking about a system. A social system whereby intelligent human being are treated like an object. Flip the old dusty dictionary on your shelf. What is the definition of a hammer? A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. Sometime the impact is so massive (leave a cracks in the skull) that it disabled our natural ability to use our creativity and hidden skills that our sub-conscious possess.
It is not hard to imagine, if you are not productive or efficient in your job position today what will your management do? Yes bulls eyes! They will hammer you with more work load! They will back stab, spit, pass comment behind your back until your emotion and ego bruised. Before the week is out you probably have threw in your resignation letter. By then, you may wonder why should I stuck in this hammer and nail culture? As you pack your stuff on your table into the paper box, you may have a flashback on the day when you receive your first examination report card. You might wonder the tears from those students whom did not made it academically, could that be tears of joy? Some "bad" student simply have feathers too bright to be kept in the cage of hammer and nail system.These early school dropouts may have temporarily lost their confidence in life but they get to retain the undamaged brain cell for creativity and the survival instinct in the real world. There was a saying, if you cannot create the future you want, you must endure the future you get.
About 30 years later, the same boy from the picture above turned out to be one of the World's Third richest person (as of 2008). Founder of Microsoft having a Net Worth of 58 Billion. Mr Bill Gates. Do you think it makes a different to the world that he failed to complete his education at Harvard? Do you think if he did what he was taught in school, look for a good company with a good pay enable him to achieve what he have today? Do you now suspect that formal hammer and nail education system have had hinder you from your natural true potential to achieve higher goals in life?Have a comment about this articles, please contact us at eaglesvisions@gmail.com
