1: There is no right answer

Tests, tests, and tests.

Standardised tests are what high school is. You’re either doing well and getting A’s, or you’re not. There’s a right answer; there’s a wrong answer. Even in the creative subjects, none of which I did; there’s a good interpretation; there’s a bad interpretation.

High school gave me the impression that if I worked hard, did the right thing, got the right results-things would be okay. I mean, other than school and leisurely hobbies – in my case, tennis – there wasn’t much more to life. School, tennis, and trying ever so hard to get laid. Do things right, life will be swell.

Setting aside that I knew better (early depression teaches you to be sceptical about this ‘common sense’ thing), the entire structure of high school maintained this air that left was inherently from different from right, instead of a matter of perspective. It forgot to mention that if you turned around, left would become right, and right left. I mean, it taught it in maths for the purpose of understanding 3D rotations and vector patterns; but the practical application of that truism was never shared.

Regarding life, not facts, everything is relative. Right is only right from one perspective. There is no right answer as there is no wrong answer. We usually determine something’s right-ness in retrospect, once we’ve been able to see the results. Right and wrong aren’t things to work toward, but things to discover. Personally.

High school never taught me that life isn’t about what’s wrong and right, but what’s right for me.

2: Authority figures aren’t to be trusted

I don’t mean that we shouldn’t trust authority because they’re in a position of authority, but rather that we shouldn’t trust authority figures because of their position of authority.

That, however, is the mentality that high school endeavours to nurture. You are the student. The teachers are your teachers. They know best. The assessors, they are who decide what’s right and what’s wrong. They are the gatekeepers to correct-ness. To the big tick.

Which isn’t always such a ‘bad’ thing. Your maths teacher will be able to tell you why x = 2.4 or why it doesn’t in the same way your Psychology teacher will be able to help you make sense of why Freud had such a fixation on fixations with sex. But here’s where the confusion begins.

High school values accepting what authority figures say rather than harbouring their students’ critical thinking faculties. The emphasis is on trusting your leaders, your teachers – and blindly.

Sure, says high school –

You need to be creative. Tell me what you think. Think outside the circle. Why do you think that? Just keep in mind, I decide on whether that’s right or wrong. Truth is, initiative is overrated. Individual thought is overrated. Copy and paste what you’ve learned, please. Just make sure that when you paraphrase – which you should, always – paraphrase well.

High school doesn’t care about this –

Why does x = 2.4? Why does my teacher think that Freud thought this? What is the purpose of learning higher maths when it doesn’t apply to real life? Or does it? How? –

High school didn’t teach me to value what authority figures say, or why they’ve said it, but rather that they said it. And that this idea is stupid.

3: Your pathways are infinite

Tests, teachers, right and wrong. This way or that way.

High school drops you into a milieu, and with its giant unimaginative hand, shifts this piece here, plops another piece there, picks you up, shuts you up, and forces your eyes, ears and mouth open. Then, guzzle, it says. Guzzle it all down and shit it out on command, when we tell you to. But guzzle only what we tell you, and shit only when we tell you.

Guzzle, shit, and toot on. Onward, in this direction. Here, not there. Maybe here, definitely not there. Study this at university, or do this at TAFE. Otherwise, you will lose at life. You will be a loser. There are a fixed amount of paths. Choose one. Choose wisely. And choose now.

Gobbledygook.

There is no right, there is no wrong, authority figures aren’t always right, and you can do whatever the fuck you want.

You can drop out of society and live life like a nomad. Become a duck if you bloody want. If you’re a man you can wear lipstick and grow your hair long. If you’re a woman you can wear pants and cut your hair short. You can be gay. Straight. In between. Neither. An a-something. A lefty. A righty. A philanthropist. A corporate. An eccentric. A straight shooter. A wayward outcast. A somebody. A nobody.

You can create whatever sort of life you want to create, as long as you’re willing to experience the consequences. The consequences aren’t good or bad, they just are. What you make them.

Life is what you make it.