Responsibility/School/Genius

Ironically I really should be sleeping right now so that I will be awake enough to learn tomorrow. But that would just be too intelligent and responsible.

I like to think of myself as being responsible. I don't drink or do drugs or anything stupid like that. I have very controlled spending habits (that is very easy when you live at home have practically zero expenses and are taking too many classes). I don't have enough time to go on spending sprees. Though I am sure that I could easily find a way if I wanted to. There is always a way to spend more money.

Of course responsibility is a lot more than not spending money. Responsibility is doing things not because you want to but because they need to be done. Like changing a baby's diaper. No one wants to change a diaper, no one like it. It's nothing that is really praise worthy and it doesn't look good on a resume. It just has to be done.

Responsibility is just about the only thing that I have found that grades show. I have met some truly stupid people that have great grades. And I know so many intelligent people that struggle with school. All because of responsibility. Most of school isn't about teaching you information or how to come up with useful solutions to problems, it is about teaching you how to shut up and do what you are told.

In general employers could care less about an employees intelligence. They care much more about how responsible an employee is. If he will be there on time, do what he is paid to do and do it in a professional manner. A genius is completely worthless if he doesn't show up when he is needed. Geniuses seem prone to disappear exactly when they are needed (just look at the current economic crisis).

Of course, there are exceptions, but they are few. A very small part of the population actually thinks. Most of us just do what we are told. The problem with being a genious is that all genius seems to start out with someone losing a lot of money. How much time and money did Edison spend before he invented the light bulb? Was gas lighting such a bad idea? Why not just leave it as it was. In fact the gas companies tried to ruin him before he finished. Genius is only desirable if you want to make it into the history books, because during your time you will be laughed at and outright persecuted.

I used to think that school was about learning, but now I have learned that it is really just about shutting up and doing what you are told. Whoever follows the rules the best wins. They do not train you to be a genius they only teach you how to follow in the steps of some genius that came before you. Its all about playing the game that they have set up. Is it efficient? Yes. Is it the "right way" of doing things? Who knows.