To do whatever you tell me

Do you remember that scene from Forrest Gump when Gump joined the army and met his Drill Sergeant?

Drill Sergeant: Gump! What's your sole purpose in this army?

Forrest Gump: To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!

Drill Sergeant: God damn it, Gump! You're a god damn genius! This is the most outstanding answer I have ever heard. You must have a goddamn I.Q. of 160. You are goddamn gifted, Private Gump. Listen up, people...

Forrest Gump: [narrates] Now for some reason I fit in the army like one of them round pegs. It's not really hard. You just make your bed real neat and remember to stand up straight and always answer every question with "Yes, drill sergeant."

Drill Sergeant: ...Is that clear?

Forrest Gump: Yes, drill sergeant!

Sometimes I think this is precisely how school works. Too often, I think we define the entire purpose of school as nothing more than obedience. We bastardize the terms respect and intelligence and make them nothing more than synonyms for compliance.

We've confused obedience with learning for too long.

In his book Stop Stealing Dreams, Seth Godin breaks it down into two columns:

Aware
Caring
Committed
Creative
Goal-setting
Honest
Improvising
Incisive
Independent
Informed
Initiating
Innovating
Insightful
Leading
Strategic
Supportive ----------------->

or

Obedient

Which column would you want for your kids? Which is good is enough for others' kids? Which would you want for your spouse? Which would you want your employer or colleagues to have?


Godin writes:

Now that obedience is less important and learning matters more than ever, we have to be brave enough to separate them. We can rebuild the entire system around passion instead of fear.

If our problem was that too many children get low testsandgrades, then compliance and obedience might be helpful tools, but this is not what ails public education. The real problem is that too many children are drop outs-in-waiting who eventually vote with their feet, or their minds, and opt out of the whole affair because they've lost their passion for learning.

To solve this problem, demanding more obedience and compliance will be at best unhelpful and at worst harmful.

Speaking (and owning) your mind

Have you ever noticed how often people feel the need to explain that the views they express are their own and not necessarily a reflection of their employer?

I've seen some people change jobs and then announce to the world that they can now speak their mind. Have you noticed that it's at this point that the things they say are sometimes for the first time worth listening to?

If you can't speak your mind because of your employer, are you sure your mind is still yours?

Heightened control

Despite what conventional wisdom tells us, heightened control and demands for obedience are the worst responses to defiance.

Where there's no relationship, there's no trust.

Where there's no trust, we resort to manipulation and dictates. Compliance and obedience become the name of the game, and for most kids this spells disaster.