Last updated on March 31st, 2021 at 09:19 pm
InĀ 1998, Robert Fulgnum wrote a book called āAll I Really Need to Know, IĀ Learned in Kindergartenā. Its premise is that we overcomplicate life andĀ that if we all simply follow a short list of rules, weāll be okay andĀ the world will be a far better place for it. Theyāre simple, theyāreĀ catchy, and theyāreĀ things we usually forget as we get older and we makeĀ our lives more and more complex. The book simplified into its coreĀ lessons as listed in the credo at the front of the book is shown in theĀ excerpt below:
AllĀ I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be IĀ learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduateĀ school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don’t hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- Live a balanced lifeālearn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
- BeĀ aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: theĀ roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why,Ā but we are all like that.
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cupāthey all die. So do we.
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learnedāthe biggest word of allāLOOK.
EverythingĀ you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love andĀ basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
TakeĀ any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adultĀ terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government orĀ your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a betterĀ world it would be if we allāthe whole worldāhad cookies and milk atĀ about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay downĀ with our blankies forĀ a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put thingsĀ back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Things would be amazing were it kept this simple! But we grow. We changeĀ and our worlds change with us. And while we subtly change as we getĀ farther away from those kindergarten years, if youāre looking for theĀ place where those changes are mostĀ pronounced, you neednāt look anyĀ farther than high school.
All Thatās Wrong With the World, I Learned in High School
HighĀ school is a totally different world to anything most kids haveĀ encountered beforeāa lot of kids have it particularly hard in those 4Ā or 5 years (though as adults we often trivialize this). Maybe itās theĀ hormones. Maybe itās because in those years, itās most kidsā first brushĀ with any sort ofĀ responsibility. But for all sakes and purposes, highĀ school is a whole new ball game.
FurtherĀ proof that the lessons we learn in high school might not be the bestĀ for us lies in the types of incidents that come out of high school āĀ teenagers find themselves at the first point in their lives where theyĀ have the mental and physical capacity to act as adults do, but withoutĀ the years ofĀ experience that come with being an adult. High school isĀ usually the first time we come across things like sex, drugs and a senseĀ of identity. Other things simply become more pronounced, like bullying,Ā ostracism and a class system. You’re stuck in general population with the same people for 4 or more years, and whatever strengths and weaknesses you brought in with you only get more pronounced as the familiarity grows among your peers. The lessons I think we learn from highĀ school look a littleĀ like this:
- Do for self before you do for anyone elseāthe world revolves around YOU, after all
- Nice guys finish last
- If you canāt stand up for yourself, the world will chew you up and spit you out
- However much you mess up, someone else will be there to bail you out
- If youāre going to take something, make sure itās someone weaker than you
- You know whatās good for you, but the bad stuff is cheaper, tastes better and is easier to get
- Anything can be done at the last minute, that is, if itās worth doing at all
- Lessons are the right time for naps and goofing offāyouāre above lessons, and they wonāt matter to you later in life, anyway
- Itās a dog-eat-dog world and every man for themselves
- Youāre invincibleāconsequences are something your parents only bring up when theyāre mad at you
TakeĀ any one of thoseĀ items and put it into everyday adult life, and youĀ start to see the archetypes of all the things going wrong around you.Ā The reason why we turn a blind eye to homelessness, poverty and generalĀ bad manners. Why we opt to take care of self-interests rather than thoseĀ of society as a whole. Kindergarten was all fine and dandy, but itās aĀ long road between there and the working world. Itās possible that weĀ need to rethink the lessons that we teach those younger than us and whatĀ people will grow to become if led down the wrong road for too long.
Perhaps itās time to go back to building blocks and crayons, because we all know that meeting notes and pens just aren’t as fun.
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