When watching the film “Most Likely to Succeed”, I was reflecting on the arbitrariness of the public education system which has become nearly ubiquitous in many parts of the world. To an alien civilization, it would seem absurd that we send the younger members of our population to a building for six hours a day where they are expected to sit down and remember things which will be largely useless to them when they reach adulthood. The film makes a compelling argument that, while the traditional educational was once useful for preparing individuals to enter an industrial economy, it is becoming increasingly obsolete as the structure of the global economy changes.
The film was inspiring to say the least, and it left me with the feeling that I do not want to waste students’ time or their talents, for the sake of keeping them in line. I am also left with the reminder that each student is a human-being, an infinitely complex person with a multitude of competing interests and invisible forces influencing their ability to be present in the school environment, for better or worse. I hope in the coming months, and years, that I can continuously find ways to prepare young people for the world which they will inevitably enter into, and to foster their unique gifts and abilities, rather than stifle them.
