Lie 1: Everyone should have the same pace

of learning.

When you make students sit in a class, with a

curriculum that has to get over in a year,
before everyone is promoted to the next year,
you tell everyone to "learn at the same pace."

The standardization forced the fast ones to

slow down and convinced the slow ones that
they are dumb!
The truth is - everyone learns at a different
pace. That doesn't make them poor or better
learners.

It simply makes them different learners.

Lie 2: Answers matter more than questions.

Every class would invariably have the

instructor ask, "what's the answer?"
Rarely, if at all, would we hear, "What could be
a good question to ask, to understand this
better?"
So we believed that looking for answers to
every problem is the only way to approach a
problem.
The truth is - questions help us answer
problems.

When we ask the right ones, we find ways of

asking even better questions.
Lie 3: If someone asks questions, they must
be dumb.

I recall so many occasions where the

instructor shot down a student by saying,
"That's a stupid question. What did you not
understand?"

Till today, we hesitate to ask questions

because we fear the reprimand we might
experience.
Lie 4: There are only right answers. And
every question just has one.

Examinations trained us to reply as a herd.

They trained us to believe that every question
has just that one answer.
Every other nuance is not acceptable.
In fact, every other nuance is wrong.
The truth is, the world is full of nuances.
There are no right answers in real life.

There are possibilities.

And there are attached probabilities.
Lie 5: Intelligence is a ranking

The one who scored 91% is smarter than the

one who scored 90%.
The one who scored 32% has "failed" in their
job, while the one scoring 35% has "passed".

We were all convinced that smartness,

intelligence, even hard work is a ranking!
Lie 6: Play life with a template

There are templates for everything. Uniform is

a template. The resume is a template.
The exam is a template. The applications are
a template. Someone has laid down the rules,
much before you came. Follow that template.
And you'll be ok.

The world does not need another template.

It needs another rebel.
Lie 7: What you remember equals what you
know

Our exams were not a test of our

understanding. They were a test of our
memory. Not even memory. They were a test
of our ability to intake information and vomit
it out, on a stipulated day, within a stipulated
time period.
What you remember means nothing if you
do not understand what you remember.
Lie 8: Education is a phase we need to get
done with, as quickly as possible.

Finish you school fast.

Don't drop any year.
Get into a good college.
Finish that fast.
Do your master's right after that.
Because then you will be "done" with
education and start your life.
Some stopped learning after college.
Some started learning after college.

The world will belong to those who never stop

being a student.
Lie 9: Teaching is a profession for losers.

Because most of our teachers were

uninspiring, boring, low on energy, strict, and
emotionless, we grew up to believe that
teaching is the last profession for the
ambitious.

It is a profession for those who do not have

any other option. The right teacher can
change your life, forever. But you will only
know if you ever had one!
Lie 10: An exam will determine your worth
and how well you do in life

Made it to IIT? Welcome to success.

Didn't clear your CA? No room for losers here.
Couldn't become a doctor? Worthless.
Got into the top law school? Smart you :)
It is crazy how many of us are made to feel
worthless because of how poorly we fare in
our exams.

We are bigger than a 3-hour question and

answer session!
Lie 11: We should all know what we want to
do in life, really early on.

In Class 11 - decide from 3 choices.

After 12 - decide on one thing.
And then stick to that for the rest of your life.

If you do not know what you want to do, then

you will be left behind.
School and college do their best to contain
us. We have to do our best to liberate
ourselves.

Explore. Do not settle.

Not that early.
Lie 12: Your first job after college determines
your entire life.

Didn't get through the top companies? Ouch!

Didn't make it to the average salary? Ouch!
Didn't even get a job? OUCH!
Dropping out to take a gap year and figure
what you want to do? OUCH, OUCH, OUCH!
Your first job, first title, first company, first
salary, first industry - will not determine the
rest of your professional life.

If anything, it will tell you, what is it that you

value. And what is it that you thought you
valued, but figured you don't.
School and college can either set you up for
life. Or set you back in life. Depending on the
choices you make.

If you submit to them, their templates, and

their ideas, you might become yet another
victim of standardization that aims to make
everyone look the same.
Instead, if you use them as a platform to
explore, to discover, to question, to engage, to
ask, to challenge - you will build a way to
think about the world. For the longest time,
school was a drag for me. Until my class
teacher in 11th changed my life. She
encouraged me, supported me, trusted me -
and that made me trust myself.

I dabbled in so many different activities that

allowed me to understand myself.
In college, I spent time with people who were
nothing like me - gaining a different
perspective about the world.

I participated in competitions where I had no

hope of winning, stood on stage trembling,
wrote cold emails, did internships. I faced my
fears. And I would wish the same for
everyone.
 School and college are one of the
worst products for just an "education."

But could be the best product for an

"experience."
School and college did the best they
could to convince us of these lies.

You do your best to build

your own truths.