7 Prisoners
Bob Lefsetz’s Original Post – “7 Prisoners”
This is classic Lefsetz:
“If you behave you’re a sucker.”
“This always depresses me. In our educational system they teach you to obey, get in line, pay fealty to the teacher, all qualities that will leave you left behind in real life. Especially college. It’s like an alternative universe. You get good grades…exactly why? Have you noticed that all the people who didn’t fit in, who weren’t the teacher’s pet, are the ones who blew up the world and made beaucoup bucks? Turns out you win if you color outside the lines. If you behave you’re a sucker. You’re being taken advantage of right this very second, unaware of it. And to win you’ve got to bend the rules, employ obfuscation and abandon relationships and in many cases morality.”
Next you’ll be telling us to defund the police and hire crisis counselors to deal with every problem in today’s society.
An education is supposed to teach you fundamentals that will allow you to get a job, earn a living, and prepare you for participation in an orderly society.
You’re absolutely right that a few geniuses like Bill Gates, Frank Zappa, Ray Kroc, Elton John, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson all dropped out of high school or college and accomplished amazing things.
These are exceptional people. Nobody came out of my suburban high school and went on to such greatness. They are an anomaly. And certainly some schools are too regimented, too strict, and too demanding. But telling us:
“If you behave you’re a sucker.”
Creates, encourages and exacerbates the problems we are seeing in many schools these days:
“In Anchorage, Alaska, fights and assaults are making up more of the suspensions issued so far this year. A brawl and stabbing in an Annapolis, Md., high school led to seven juvenile arrests. Pupils damaged elementary classrooms in Vermont, overturning furniture and supply bins. Parents in Baltimore County, Md., organized a protest in response to a perceived increase in violence. In Shreveport, La., a group of fathers are now taking shifts greeting students at the high school after 23 students were arrested in a one-week period.”
Violence in Schools Seems to Be Increasing. Why?
This always depresses me – liberal left coast entertainment bloggers saying stuff like:
“If you behave you’re a sucker.”
Please THINK about what you are writing. You stayed in college long enough to earn a degree in art history and went on to earn a law degree from Southwestern Law School. But your advice to college students today?
“And to win you’ve got to bend the rules, employ obfuscation and abandon relationships and in many cases morality.”
Thanks for the talk, Boomer.