1. The "education" that has meant the most to me is not one that was taught within the confines of a lecture hall.

2. The hardest "tests" I've taken have not been ones printed on paper.

3. The most memorable "lessons" I've had have almost exclusively been taught by experience,  not by a well-paid professor.

As a kid, I was a voracious learner. I wanted to know everything about everything. I devoured books and documentaries like my life depended on it. Learning was so fun for me, not because I knew that it would help me get into university or because it would further my career opportunities, but because I was hopelessly in love with the world. Every day held so much wonder and potential! I wanted so badly to grow up and finally be old enough to be able to go out on my own and see and experience and discover to my heart's content. 

And then slowly, I began to grow up. Though I once believed the teachers that had encouraged my insatiable curiosity were just as awestruck with life as I was, they quickly proved otherwise. They had lost that ability to see the magic in the everyday, and replaced it with mandatory facts, theorems, and equations. Though obviously not intentional, it felt as if their solitary mission was to take students, stuff their heads with the "necessary information for success", shove them through this mold of academic perfection, and then produce hundreds of identical "productive members of society". Kinda like putting dough through a pasta machine, except with humans. 

Facts are important. But there are so many other things that hold merit in life too! I really believe that despite our formal educations, there's still a part of that curious little kid that's survived in each of us. School could never teach you the full extent of the incredible things this planet actually offers. School can't teach you birthdays or weddings or funerals. School can't teach you feeling. You will never see a test at school that measures creativity, loyalty, risilience, empathy, compassion, humor, resourcefulness, or leadership.