Escape From the Institutional Straightjacket, Part 4

How the Machine Teaches Kids to Hate Reading

When I was a sophomore in High School, my classes were held in a windowless compound. In English I had to read a bunch of really dumb books, like Death of A Salesman. These books were boring and pointless; as a matter of fact I think the only reason kids are forced to read Death of a Salesman is because people in academia hate salesmen.

I remember starting to lose my love of reading. Something that used to be a terrific escape and adventure became drudgery. School systematically, relentlessly pounds out curiosity and wonder, replacing it with analysis, rigor and routine.

My love of reading really didn't return until after college.

Avid readers are quirky and hard to control. They don't mindlessly follow the herd. They don't swallow every whim of political correctness that comes over the transom. They question things. They make discoveries. And they make you really mad when you argue with them because they actually know what they're talking about.

All the sharpest entrepreneurs I know are rabid readers. Not just business books either, but things all across the spectrum. They know that today's newspaper may have a great PR angle they can use in their business. They know that a fiction book can give them a breath of alternative fresh air, or a clever turn of phrase. They know that wisdom literature can guide them through an otherwise impossible maze.

Schools really aren't all that interested in teaching kids how to read. My friend Rufina James was a schoolteacher in California , where they continue to teach an utterly failed reading method called “Whole Language” in which kids are taught to recognize words instead of sound them out. She was nearly fired for teaching phonics instead, which teaches kids to simply sound out words one syllable at a time.

Anyone familiar with the statistics will discover that Whole Language is a well-documented, abject failure, and that phonics is consistently successful. But… Whole Language creates more jobs for school administrators. More problems for them to solve.

4. Student finds Knowledge vs. Knowledge finds Student

Malcolm Muggeridge said, “News is old things happening to new people.” People who read know that whatever's going on right now – whatever new situation that just popped up – has precedent. It happened before to someone else. Someone already solved it. A solution has already been formulated, all you have to do is dig around until you find it. It may not have happened in your industry or in your country or whatever, but it's happened.

Most people do not realize that no matter what you want to do, there is already someone who has done it and can teach you how. When you're used to sitting in a classroom while the teacher drones on and on, you think of knowledge as something that comes to you in prescribed doses, something that is rarely actually of any interest or relevance. But when you reverse that – when you are in pursuit of knowledge, you know that knowledge is out there to be had. It may be elusive but it does exist. It's fascinating and seductive.

Whatever you want to do, there is someone who can teach you. You don't need to learn the hard way.

Now I know what you may be thinking: “Well nobody has done what I'm doing right now, because this is a totally new innovation.” That may be true (it's also a red flag, by the way – it means it's not going to be easy) but there's always a comparable situation you can and should study.

5. The Myth of the MBA

Sorry to say this, but possibly the worst preparation for business is a Masters in Business Administration. MBA's are almost universally, psychologically crippled when it comes to marketing and sales.  Go on to the next installment and I'll tell you why...