One of the big harmful failures of mainstream education lies in its framing learning as being successful at said education. Learning as memorizing information which can be tested and measured to meet the needs of the institution. The fact that students need to be forced and threatened in order to go through the process, and that this process kills interest and intrinsic motivation don’t seem to alarm the institutions about their approach, and are accepted as a fact of life.
Similarly, academia seems to try to prepare people for ... academia.
The best advice I’ve heard about college is to focus on creating connections and lasting relationships so you end up having a lot of connections in the industry of your choice. This can be tremendously helpful in highly collaborative professions like filmmaking or software.
As for learning, I invite you to see it as a process of becoming and adapting, not as a process of memorization. Adapting to school and academia (grades, tests, reciting back information) is helpful to the institution but not necessarily for you.
Often the real learning happens on the job, in an apprenticeship context, where you adapt to the job itself. Some career paths, like medicine and law, require unusual amounts of memorization but people who are not this type of learners get weeded out early in the process.
Lastly, I recommend Sir Ken Robibson’s Ted talk on schools and creativity. An eye opener.
I want to add my voice to the chorus. NO, you are not dumb! I was very impressed with the strategies you've tried. You simply haven't identified the right solution, yet. I also applaud your bravery in asking for help and advice and am grateful you've gotten some really helpful suggestions.
One of the big harmful failures of mainstream education lies in its framing learning as being successful at said education. Learning as memorizing information which can be tested and measured to meet the needs of the institution. The fact that students need to be forced and threatened in order to go through the process, and that this process kills interest and intrinsic motivation don’t seem to alarm the institutions about their approach, and are accepted as a fact of life.
Similarly, academia seems to try to prepare people for ... academia.
The best advice I’ve heard about college is to focus on creating connections and lasting relationships so you end up having a lot of connections in the industry of your choice. This can be tremendously helpful in highly collaborative professions like filmmaking or software.
As for learning, I invite you to see it as a process of becoming and adapting, not as a process of memorization. Adapting to school and academia (grades, tests, reciting back information) is helpful to the institution but not necessarily for you.
Often the real learning happens on the job, in an apprenticeship context, where you adapt to the job itself. Some career paths, like medicine and law, require unusual amounts of memorization but people who are not this type of learners get weeded out early in the process.
Lastly, I recommend Sir Ken Robibson’s Ted talk on schools and creativity. An eye opener.