“I hated listening to everyone else stumble on their words and try to phrase things in the vaguest possible way so they wouldn t sound dumb, and I hated how it was all just a game of trying to figure out what the teacher wanted to hear and then saying it.”
“Dewey believed that education has a practical function and should not be seen as a series of pointless hurdles to jump over before real life begins. Education isn t a preamble to life; it s part of life, and it exists to solve practical human problems and meet human needs.”
“For almost 18 years you’re taught to sit down, shut up, and raise your hand. Then you have to decide what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.”
“Only by concealing our identities can we shed the masks we have to wear at school, at work, even at home - everywhere there is surveillance, policing, punishment - masks that are increasingly indistinguishable from ourselves.”
“Roger Daltrey had been expelled for smoking, but was still impudently showing up on campus to visit his various cronies. I d first met him after he won a playground fight with a Chinese boy. I thought his tactics were dirty and when I shouted as much, he came over & forced me to retract.”
“A true survivor is someone who, after 12+ years of being schooled, remains independent in their thinking.”