Tuesday with the Philosophers

Before I begin, this image belongs to Bill Watterson, Universal Press Syndicate, and Andrews McMeel publishing. I know that 10 or fewer people check my blog, but I really don't want to dabble in taking credit where it's not due.

This comic strip is the best in the universe, and in this post and perhaps several others, I will explain why, so let's dig in, shall we?

We've all had show-and-tell presentations in elementary school, and we've probably each had a few close calls in forgetting which day we're presenting, and not bringing anything.

Well today in class, Calvin forgot to bring his show-and-tell object. Yet instead of sheepishly laying down and hoping the teacher won't notice, he stands up and makes his presentation anyways. He starts off by fighting the system, then failing to disguise his evil genius as he plans to deprive the whole class of that one catharsis, whetting their appetite while depriving them of food. It's perfect! He's bullshitting, he's selling, he's presenting, he's going outside the box, he's pissing off the wrong people.

He's sent to the principal's office, as would be expected. Watterson spent a lot of time during the life of the comic strip reflecting on how the modern school system fails to nurture students who are really intelligent, but are not easy to babysit. I'm sure there is a large percent of the student population throughout the years where the school system really failed them, and a huge amount of potential goes to waste because of poor procedure, underpaid, tired teachers, and not helping the student find a path. Even I can relate to Calvin, trying to bullshit my way through assignments, and trying to exercise my creativity and flexibility in ways that weren't necessarily kosher. I've developed my own way of doing things, and I think that I'm pretty good at some stuff, but I rarely have a good GPA in school.

Calvin also has clarity. He sees the meta-knowledge about the futility of doing the same things everyone has already done before, and saying the same things that everyone has said before. The world is changing the fastest it ever has in history. We hunted and gathered for tens of thousands of years before learning to cultivate the land and sustain a small human population in one location over a long period of time. Yet, we're adhering to educational methods developed in conjuction with late agrarian, early industrial society. Calvin shows a disdain for an educational system which truly doesn't meet the needs of helping individuals to succeed in our fast-changing world.

I just hope that those out there who have to battle the school system to achieve a very limited definition of "success" in my opinion, see the futility of trying to please the establishment at every turn, and really find something to pour their energy into. Calvin has the benefit of being hugely imaginative, ambitious, and resourceful. He'd probably tear up a storm in a competitive business setting, and I would hate to be the one he's gunning for. Be creative, waste your time doing something absolutely amazing, and if you make it pretty and make it well, the world will bend to your accomplishments. Just look up HuskyStarcraft on Youtube and see how many upload views he's gotten in the time since he started up.