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Life

Finishing school as a means to an end

photo: liese-lotta.deviantart.com
photo: liese-lotta.deviantart.com

Finishing school isn’t a big deal. What you learn, what you accomplish, and who you meet during school, that’s what will set students apart on a job interview.

School, from elementary to university, should be considered a path and not a destination. Each student should endeavor to understand knowledge instead of simply memorizing it. Nowadays, with information at the distance of a click, it’s usually more important to know how to get that information than to know it by heart.

Over that journey we grow up and we discover ourselves: how we react, what we value, and what we’re good at. You should also find yourself at least one hobby. Extracurricular activities were always very dear to me. During those activities I felt I was part of something bigger; I worked side-by-side with teachers and I was able to meet “the human” behind “the teacher”; and I made friends with otherwise acquaintances (you know, the ones you meet everyday but that you timidly refuse to greet). We join a tribe or we create our own – only now I’m realizing the importance of networking, and that is something you don’t learn at school. Because school isn’t everything, isn’t enough, isn’t the end.

Easy school, though life. Though school, easier life.
Random alumnus

School is a place that guides you while you’re learning and growing. Finishing school isn’t a big deal; what you do afterwards is the real deal. Let’s consider the college reality. Your end goal is to finish college, because everyone is doing it, so you enroll on an “easy” college/course. You finish it in no time and you mock your friends for not being available to go out with you. Pfff! the nerds have to study. But you’re not one of them, college is done… but now what?

You were shortsighted and you focused on the wrong objective. Meanwhile, your friends placed school as a means to a greater end: Today I study hard on college so that tomorrow I have the freedom to choose the job I want. For them school was a toolbox and a trampoline. In the end of the day it’s what you learned, what you accomplished, and who you met during school, that will set students apart on a job interview.