00:14:47.720He doesn't need math. Are you joking? Not only are other subjects essential to understanding the world, to understanding all pieces that we sort of put together in order to truly see a bigger picture, but that's a different part of your brain.
00:15:09.580spatial intelligence right auditory intelligence bodily kinesthetic intelligence all of these
00:15:17.360things are in our head and all these individuals learn differently just because you learn differently
00:15:23.200doesn't mean you don't keep trying to learn different aspects along the way and it doesn't
00:15:29.380mean that you don't stretch those muscles if you consider math a muscle chemistry a muscle
00:15:34.580physetta muscle drama english they're all muscles they're all muscles in your brain
00:15:41.040some of them we need to work out a little bit more and some of them we need to work out a lot
00:15:47.740more right not to make this analogy go too far but it's like math and science are like the biceps
00:15:54.740and pecs of the frame all these guys walking around with shoulders and upper bodies like tanks
00:16:01.140and legs that can barely hold themselves up and hamstrings so weak that at the mere thought of
00:16:08.140the quadricep taking one more leg day is going to just snap your tendons because you haven't
00:16:13.680built a balanced body. It's not about strong individual muscles, or it shouldn't be,
00:16:20.460metaphorically speaking, and quite literally for those working out right now. It's about a balanced
00:16:25.180body you don't have a balanced body you're going to break and in this day and age in this time
00:16:32.460we need to be and we're expected to be more aware more clear about international events more clear
00:16:43.740and aware about the intricacies and the interdependencies of all different sorts
00:16:48.860of economic practices and job forces and new jobs coming up and how do i transition
00:16:56.940how do i get transferable skills so i can go to a job a job b job c because the days
00:17:03.340where you get out of high school you get out of university and you get your job and you put in
00:17:07.500your 30 years put on your gold watch and call it a day and retire with a beautiful beautiful pension
00:17:12.540are done and that's not to say it's a bad thing i think a lot of people look at that and go oh my
00:17:19.660god so depressing no it's not no it's not because i think this the soul the spirit whatever you
00:17:28.380want to call it the thing that makes us human is driven to create is driven to learn is driven to
00:17:35.260expand what they know and how they apply it we like the stability of that 30-year workforce
00:17:42.780because it gives us money but i would argue it deadens our soul i would argue it limits who we
00:17:53.820are who we want to grow into and who we are destined to change and become
00:18:00.700We think, hilariously enough, grade 10, you walk into that careers class. In Ontario,
00:18:08.240we do a careers class in grade 10. You're 15 years old. And you sit down and you do like
00:18:13.040a personality test and they tell you what you're going to be. You are 52% likely to be a law
00:18:19.880enforcement officer. And then what, off you go to do that? The notion that we're supposed to know
00:18:26.220our careers when let's be perfectly honest we have a very limited scope of what they're of what exists
00:18:37.820right and how do we know until we've taken all the courses and dabbled our brilliant brains and
00:18:44.700i think everybody's brilliant dabbled our brains into many many many different disciplines
00:18:53.100surrounded ourselves with different people with different passions tried things and sucked at them0.70
00:18:59.580so tried things sucked at them still enjoyed them so you keep doing it tried things sucked0.80
00:19:07.260at them you hate them but you keep doing it because to hell with that thing being the thing0.97
00:19:12.700that stops me from learning that needs to be taught in elementary school want to know how you0.79
00:19:18.620you do that? Lots more money. Specialty teachers, number one, I've talked about that before. Specialty
00:19:24.960teachers that are driven and singularly focused. So when you ask me about how to do fractions,
00:19:31.360I have 37 ways to tell you until you get it. Math is about recognizing patterns, right?
00:19:40.020And you can recognize patterns or you can memorize patterns. But if you can get to a point where you
00:19:46.440recognize the pattern, you start to understand math. And if you understand math, then all of a
00:19:53.060sudden everything doesn't seem as difficult. But understanding math for some people as opposed to
00:19:59.540others, recognizing patterns just takes more time. And possibly, probably. One of those 30 ways of
00:20:07.480explaining it, it's one of those 30. But you don't put 30 kids in a grade 5 classroom, you can't do
00:20:13.500that you put 30 kids in a grade 5 classroom you you can't do that and then not give extra help
00:20:22.140after school before school saturday sessions and if we were honest about it every kid would need
00:20:31.900more every single kid the kid that doesn't want to do phys ed why well you don't have the bodily
00:20:39.500coordination yet yet can you have you ever seen a kid get a physical thing like i i haven't helped
00:20:49.980me i teach gym it's a loose descriptor uh and when i can teach a kid to do something that they
00:20:58.140thought they couldn't do shoot a basketball throw a baseball um hit that backhand um
00:21:06.300Um, when I can teach that and you see the kid, you see it turn on that sense of accomplishment.
00:21:16.640Kids should be able to feel that in every single class.
00:21:21.280The difference is it's so clear in a, in a gym class when you get it or you don't get
00:21:30.220And when you don't excel, whereas in other classes, we haven't made it as clear.
00:21:35.300right? We haven't made, and some of this is teacher's fault. It's my fault. I haven't made
00:21:40.880it clear when you go from understanding a concept to comparing a concept, to criticizing a concept,
00:21:50.140to dismantling a concept and pulling things out and applying it. That's the progression.
00:21:56.520we as a society as an educational sort of body we are we are sitting and we are resting on our
00:22:06.460heels at the memorization of a concept what a waste what a waste people say oh we're falling
00:22:15.840behind other yeah of course we are of course we are and it's not because and i hate this answer
00:22:22.260it's not because kids these days kids these days they get baby they get this they get that they
00:22:28.180get treated better they do no it's not because kids when i was in elementary school that maybe
00:22:36.640were on the spectrum or had levels of anxiety you know what happened to those kids they got
00:22:41.940bounced out of the class. Their education stopped. Intelligent, genius kids have we stopped from
00:22:55.800getting educated because we decided they can't get it. I don't, I can't even count guys. And
00:23:03.840I'm not even talking about discrimination based on race and sex and sexuality and religion and
00:23:09.980all of those things that fed into it and that gave preconceptions of who people are and what
00:23:15.280they're allowed to do, what they're capable of. I'm simply talking about different learning styles
00:23:20.700and abilities of my generation. When we were met with that, we pushed them off, right? You don't
00:23:31.100take advanced courses anymore. You go into that room down the hall and you just do simple tasks.
00:23:37.920We don't ever push you ever again because you know what? Some kids just don't get it. Some kids just aren't school kids. I can't say with enough passion how much that's not true. Here's what I will say. Some kids just aren't this stereotypical, lazy, limited, in-the-box kind of thinking of education.
00:24:04.160that you're right about. That you're right about. But there's a reason that geniuses
00:24:10.880can't sit in a classroom. What? Are you joking me? If our education system doesn't encourage
00:24:20.560the genius and that person leaves our education system and finds education elsewhere, we're
00:24:30.340broken we're the problem it's us the education system is the issue we need to build an education
00:24:37.380system that makes space for geniuses and make space for the place where we suck to build up
00:24:44.900that kid expand their minds expand their ability to apply and dip into every single thing it costs
00:24:52.900more money period and how dare we how dare we limit opportunities on the basis of standardized
00:25:03.780testing how many kids do you think we lost i have no idea even how to gauge this what study
00:25:09.780that would find this how many kids can't sit down and write a standardized test
00:25:14.420therefore didn't go to med school therefore didn't cure cancer how many
00:25:22.900We talk a lot about the discriminatory factors within an education system based on color and sex and religion, all very, very prominent and very important to discuss.
00:25:33.800But why don't we talk about it when it comes to prejudicial thought and the pretense of objective testing that has kept out how many kids, how many students, how many kids that didn't do well in their SAT never went to university?
00:25:52.900Is that because they wouldn't do well in university?
00:25:56.100Or is that because the system we have built
00:26:00.000has created the pretense of objectivity
00:27:24.040It's not for them to avoid their weaknesses.
00:27:26.040It's for them to overcome, build, expand.
00:27:30.120So when they go off to university and they hit a block, they push through.
00:27:34.120When they go off to university and they get a C, it doesn't diminish them.
00:27:37.780When they go to university and they realize, I never, I thought I wanted to take this, but now I'm switching gears.
00:27:44.020I'm going to take this, but that's okay because I have transferable superpowers that I can go from A to B to C to D all the way down the alphabet if I have to, to find what I'm great at and what I'm passionate about.
00:28:28.740Let me say it again for those sitting in the back.
00:28:34.460in education systems elementary high school college university it doesn't matter you will
00:28:40.140get out of it what you put into it so if you're looking for a grade you can probably navigate a
00:28:46.140course get a good grade be done with it get the piece of paper move on with your day but
00:28:50.940if you're looking for an education not a piece of paper i guess there's two kinds of people and this
00:28:58.540this is why mature students just do it differently. You can be looking for your degree or you can be
00:29:04.600looking for an education. Which one's more important? Right? And we teach kids too much
00:29:12.520to fight for the degree because it's the paper that's going to get them in the door. It's the
00:29:16.160paper that they need. It's the paper. It's the paper. It's the paper. And what we forgot to
00:29:19.900tell them is, shoot, no, it's the struggle. It's the fight to understand. It's the interesting
00:29:29.720points of conversion of thousands of perceptions. It's the idea that bias exists everywhere and
00:29:39.600rooting through it. It's the idea that the more I know, the more I know nothing at all,
00:29:44.540very socrates that's an education it's funny you should come out of university going
00:29:51.740i don't know a lot i know a bit i know i know the tip of the iceberg and you should also come
00:29:59.260out of university saying i'm not done because education doesn't just have to happen in university
00:30:05.900walls or college walls at all i'm a huge proponent of college and university two reasons number one
00:30:13.580that paper does allow you into doors that you could never get in before
00:30:19.020period and there's jobs and unless you have that paper i mean they're never even thinking about
00:30:22.700you but number two it tells or it can show that you've actually been given a structure
00:30:33.660that you needed to follow so somebody like me um i need a structure
00:30:38.860uh there's a great quote out of goodwill hunting that says something to the effect of
00:30:45.140you just spent 150 000 on a education that you could have got with a dollar 50 in late
00:30:51.640charges from your local library that's not wrong i don't disagree with that to an extent
00:30:58.020if you have a natural capacity to be able to teach yourself and even more importantly the
00:31:08.000structure that you can impose upon yourself in order to get that job done. I don't think many
00:31:16.020of us have both of those things at the same time. I think the structure of school is important.
00:31:22.880Here's what else I think is important about school is sitting beside kids and then adults
00:31:30.560and then contemporaries, and having the debate, having the authentic, big, impressive debates.
00:31:44.360That's where education lies. Now, a lot of people today want to skip all of that and just debate.
00:31:50.760school doesn't matter philosophy's garbage feminism sucks cool what feminist what philosopher1.00
00:32:00.560do you find lacking the most what economic theorist do you think has the greatest relevance0.99
00:32:06.760to today and why look we can all chirp all we want on twitter and instagram tiktok on a podcast
00:32:15.180but until you can start speaking authentically intelligently in an educated fashion about what's
00:32:24.060been said you're not really having any sort of original thought right you're just parroting
00:32:31.580things can you learn about feminists on your own of course you can of course you can do you0.98
00:32:38.780i don't think so and there's a lot of things that i try to stay out of right there's a lot of like1.00
00:32:45.700um there's a lot of educated avenues i can't speak to a lot of people are fighting about
00:32:55.720you know um what age could can an individual transition what should they be allowed to do
00:33:02.120with their own bodies and not allowed to do that and i simply say and i wish more people would say
00:33:08.680this. I'm not an endocrinologist. I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not a physician. I do not
00:33:15.580have specialty degrees in gender identity and formation and child psychology. I am not a trans0.98
00:33:22.280person. So for those five reasons, I am going to adhere. I'm going to shut my mouth and I am going1.00
00:33:28.400to adhere to the more educated, to the people that have spent their lives researching and
00:33:34.400understanding and doing all of those things and heaven help me to the trans community
00:33:39.680but we're so busy trying to give an opinion based on minimal fact
00:33:46.000and usually some anecdotal evidence of like my neighbor or whatever
00:33:52.720so we get to high school and we've taught kids to be better at the things they hate or they're
00:33:59.280not good at high school shouldn't be we we don't want kids deciding things right but we want kids
00:34:06.080deciding their future and they're never going to take these classes again we are a conundrum of
00:34:11.120of hypocritical life paths for these kids because at the end of the day what we should be
00:34:18.960doing in high school is is forging a more holistic educational model where kids don't get to negate
00:34:26.400huge elements of education because they don't think they're good or they don't like it enough
00:34:32.900or they never tried it. I think they need to have a better understanding of all of that
00:34:39.060and transition our system into, at some point, your 65 that you got in physics 12
00:34:47.180is much more impressive to a university admissions board than the 97 you got in English.
00:34:56.400Why? Because the 65 in physics is the, the end of that race. Nobody ever talks that you started at a 35 and you battled and you owned it and you did extra work and you, you, you, you know, didn't let it stop you from competing. You didn't let it stop you from understanding. Holy crap.0.97
00:35:21.040listen they might not be a physicist okay fine but i'm telling you right now0.97
00:35:31.800their drive and their ability to work their brain expand the parts of their brain that don't
00:35:37.900naturally form that's impressive hire that kid hire that kid put them in that school
00:35:44.500because that strategy that job to to be able to have that confidence and even be insecure and
00:35:56.440push anyway guys why are we not doing this with our students I'll tell you why I'm gonna say it
00:36:03.700into the mic here money it costs more why is it that the only way we test kids for the most part
00:36:11.860is through a written test our whole lives after university are oral you talk in a presentation
00:36:21.960you sell something you you um try to create some sort of social media awareness you're in advertising
00:36:32.580Guys, there are every time I think of the way people succeed, they do it by figuring out how to stand in a space, have a thought, have an idea, back it up, and do it with vigor, and do it with confidence.
00:36:56.620outside of university when's the last time y'all have sat down and taken a written test
00:37:02.660what job does that happen in it doesn't you know what happens boardroom meetings
00:37:11.300want to know what happens social media like you know revelations want to know what happens like
00:37:18.000art exhibits. And everywhere we look, the notion of having a voice, a strong voice
00:37:27.960is the driving force of success. Why not take the information that we want them to understand
00:37:38.040and maybe sometimes memorize, but more importantly, guys, more importantly,
00:37:44.340we want them to be able to criticize it synthesize it pull it apart and apply it if they can't do
00:37:52.740that education hasn't happened we need to change the definition of education and and we should do
00:37:59.500it sooner you want to exist in this world we have to do it sooner we've told all these kids
00:38:10.300their job is to memorize and then we unleash the internet on them with every piece of information
00:38:17.280at their fingertips and we wonder why they have anxiety are you joking me we've unleashed this
00:38:26.760world of fact without teaching them the skills to criticize synthesize and apply
00:38:33.540we watch people of who have mastered the ability to talk and stand in that space
00:38:41.120run the world possibly into the ground and better thinkers better better idea creators
00:38:50.120are sitting silently by because they don't have that charisma because they're terrified
00:38:55.380to stand in the room you want better people empower them
00:39:03.400you want a better society teach all of them you want better advances bigger advances you want
00:39:12.360society to get healthier and stronger tomorrow stop excluding students based on ridiculous
00:39:21.080antiquated ideas of what intelligence and education is
00:39:25.320is. And if you want all that, guess what? You're going to have to pay for it. And it
00:39:35.160sure doesn't, it really doesn't start with banning books and limiting access to education
00:39:42.700and limiting access to word and thought. It doesn't start there. It doesn't start by telling
00:39:49.420teachers what they can and can't talk about more more ideology more thought more pieces
00:39:59.420we want history great i need personal accounts i want to hear what the loser side said in that war
00:40:06.380you want better history you have to be it has to be bigger stop trying to get i teach an american0.72
00:40:14.060history course from 1775 to now holy crap i do the civil war in two days
00:40:24.140why we're trying to jam thought we're trying to jam ideas and numbers and and you know
00:40:32.780dates and people and events into people's head why that's not education
00:40:37.580if you don't know what to do with the information if there's no there's no fundamental aspect to the
00:40:47.040information and you learn to apply it and stretch your brain and that goes for art music drama
00:40:53.120physics math all of it all of it oh all the computer stuff which i can't do but nonetheless
00:41:00.680is vitally important all of it how is there not a course yet a mandatory
00:41:10.160course on information technology in the internet and deciding and defining what
00:41:18.140credible sources look like and how you do that I don't think we can do anything
00:41:23.740until we do that everything is expanded almost to an infinite level like there's no limit anymore
00:41:34.940to stuff you can learn and if there's no limit what we need to start understanding we need to
00:41:40.540start pushing our universe our high school classrooms to do dig deeper smaller areas
00:41:48.860Apply it, understand the context, understand what happened, understand how it, the ripple effect, understand how it's happened time and time and time again.
00:42:02.400We have to start understanding elements and applying it, not just memorizing fact.
00:42:09.900memorizing fact memorizing dates memorizing formula applying it getting my piece of paper
00:42:18.360moving on working at my job for 30 years is not education it is limiting and it's not just
00:42:25.900limiting for the individual it's limiting for our whole society so right now in these last
00:42:30.620moments of this podcast decide what do you want do you want more for your kids do you want more
00:42:38.900for our society? Do you want more for our future? And the bottom line is, you get what you pay for.
00:42:48.640Thanks so much for hanging out with me today, guys. Please throw all your comments, questions
00:42:53.940into the comment section. If you want me to do another podcast on education, I would love to.
00:43:00.380Thank you so much for hanging out with me, and I will see you next Tuesday. Same bat time,