Learning can form bad habits

Years after finishing my schooling sentence, I was looking into my future. While my interest in software development was rapidly deteriorating, I hadn’t completely abandoned the thought.

I was in the middle of an assisted job search. Without any practical knowledge of programming, software development was obviously out of my reach. I mentioned the idea at one point. I found myself pressured to look into the unimaginable. I might have to return to school.

In all honesty, I actually agreed to return. I had momentarily forgotten what schooling was like. After the dreaded “Yes,” memories came back to me. I was on the verge of a serious depression. It occurred to me that there were two options if I went to college. The first is to fail and have wasted the time, effort, and money invested in the process. The other option was to make the sacrifices that I know schooling to demand and live the rest of my life as someone I hate.

For me, college would be a lose-lose situation. What could I do? I had to weasel my way out of it (no offense to members of the weasel family). Fortunately, my fear of schooling was evident enough that it was fairly easy to move to Plan B.

After preventing what would have become the biggest mistake in my life, I suggested a compromise. I would get a hold of programming tools and teach myself in my free time. That idea didn’t last. I was informed that without the schools’ involvement, I could develop bad habits. Since I wasn’t going to go back to school, I was being told not to learn. This was the end of my software interest.

Over-schooling is a serious problem in America. Among the reasons is that we are strongly discouraging practical education. When someone shows a desire to learn free from the restrictions of the schooling process, we tell them, “Don’t learn.” We are not allowed to learn in school. We are not allowed to learn outside of school. What a world we live in.