What will we become?

Every generation is know for something-good or bad. My generation will be know for mass teen pregnancies, Facebook (and other social networking websites), and so on. We are supposed to be the "future" of the world, but most don't care about the Earth or the people on it. Teens no longer care about education. I see kids that boast about horrible grades, as if they should be put on a pedestal. And yet, kids that try and succeed are the outcast. As a whole, most teens these days are mindless, vain drones, following the masses. I look at the people who are famous and think to myself, "Why are you famous? What has been your major contribution to the world other than some stupid pop song that has no depth, or a T.V show about the real housewives of blah blah blah." The way I see it is there is almost no point in helping a generation, because the next generation will soon forget your triumphs, trials, and the messages you sent. What messages will we send?

 

Not as bad as the 1950s were.

 

I highly recommend you watch The Arrivals. Most of your questions will be answered throughout that series.

You seem open minded enough to appreciate such harsh information.

 

The Arrivals... The Arrivals... Does not compute... Does not Compute....

I guess I will need to revisit that topic..

Now, in terms of my own opinion.. What are we to become? Or more importantly what is to become of US?

Well, I don't know.. I guess it all depends as to what your personal choice is. There are many beliefs of what we could become or what may become of us.. You must remember though, whatever it is, it needs to happen before December 21st this year... LOL.. I kid ya!

Seriously though, humanity as a whole is on a downward spiral to whatever place its going. Everyday all we hear about are more rapes, murders, thefts, assaults, crimes, death, destruction, disease..

And how do we meet the above crap? With greed (make money from the above topics), apathy (we really don't care about the above), corruption (we make use of the above for our own gain and manipulate people for it)...

So... I guess it really isn't a question of WHAT we will become, but it's WHEN. WHAT will we become? On the current path extinct. WHEN? Well, whenever the universe decides it's time, or we kill each other off...

Kind of a bleak outlook, but there really isn't much evidence to suggest otherwise...

 

Sam101 is the Michael Moore of Hip Forums.

 

OUCH..... That hurts... Really... Where did THAT come from? Although, I guess it's kinda flattering in a way.. if someone wanted to give me a million or so dollars to make a movie I would definitely take it!

I'm curious though... Why would you say that about me?

:afro:

 

You're not bullshitting yourself, I suppose.

You explained how fucked the human race is.

Yes, I'm a Michael Moore fan. :hippy:

 

If teens no longer care about education.. then they're not following the masses, because if so, everyone would still care about education.

And I think the only reason the new youth don't care about education is because we're being told that it's our only choice in life.. and it's not. Look at all the "fuckups". Yes, they may be considered "fuckups" within society, but if you look at the bigger picture.. they're still alive.. and that's what our bodies are built for - survival. We can pretend to dress ourselves up in suits and use lots of different knives and forks for each particular meal, but when it comes down to it, we're as savage as any other creature out there. We just do the dry cleaning, and some of us have really big cutlery drawers.

Every generation changes, simply cos the older generation die off and take their ideas to the grave. Humanity, the entire race as a whole, can be considered a constant, growing, morphing organism. The political ideologies and morals within that race will change with time, as new things pop up we'll "adapt" to fit the change.. and the only reason things look so bleak now is because we've cut ourselves off from each other.

Technology has advanced incredibly quickly, and we still need to catch up. We've backed ourselves into a corner because we think we're what life's about.. but in the next 20 years I think there are going to be enormous changes, because we're beginning to notice that the very fabric of existence that we had previously thought was "all of it" is now starting to reveal itself to us as one tiny thread in a MUCH larger universe.

The regular rules of space and time are being reconsidered.. matter is being revealed as mind, and it's all getting horribly New Age, whether we like it or not.


So to answer your original question.. I think some media nut will dream up some title like "The Ultimate Paradigm Shift". The title's meaningless, even being remembered is.. we should stop clinging to this bullshit...

 

No one cares about education. That was my point. Most people cannot make a solitary decision. We all conform. It just happens. Even if you say you do not conform to socially accepted norms, you still conform to norms not traditionally accepted. To me, knowledge is power. Thus, being educated is important. Going to collage and having a 9-5 job isn't for everyone. But to be able to function with others, and circulate new ideas, we must have our own ideas and knowledge. We will not survive if we are unable to think and learn. How else do you think society has changed and morphed?

 

We create our own knowledge.. Is knowing the population of India really all that important? Well that depends what you do with it.

I know what you're saying, education is the baseline, and I agree 200%, but what I found when I reached college, is that all the teachers weren't actually teaching you to learn.. they were just doing a shit job they regretted choosing to do, and one of the reasons is they're teaching stuff that's wrong.

The education system is so far behind the "cutting edge", it's ridiculous.. but it costs too much money to reprint all the textbooks, it's too much effort to rewrite the syllabus, and by the time they've done that, everything will have changed anyway!

In this society it's hard enough for schools to keep paying their staff wages.. and the staff know that, on top of that the retirement age is going up to like.. 68 or something, when it was 60 five years ago. If they retire prematurely they don't get a pension fund, and they're left in the shit.. no jobs left in society, and everyone's fucking things up left right and centre.

Would you honestly like to come into work everyday, with all of that on your shoulders, into a school of a million little shit faced brats, with hormones screaming around their body at 200mph, to teach them something they can't see the point of? They have no life experience, so it's meaningless drivel to them.

Even with life experience, it's still all meaningless drivel.. what's the point in regurgitating facts? You're not taught to understand things, just remember them and write them down when you're told to. Don't forget spelling and punctuation! That makes it all so much easier to understand!
And the people that remember things well and don't challenge authority, get a pat on the back and get told they're "clever".. so they go on to do well in life, which is great, by the way, I'm not hating, but in the bigger picture.. when nobody challenges anything, we can never break out of the trap we've got ourselves into.

We are an intelligent life form, whether we have a structured education or not. Knowledge is power, but only if you know what to do with it. The drop outs are pushing the boundaries, intuition is telling them that the system is bullshit anyway.. they won't sit around and do nothing all day for all eternity - cos we have that feeling called "boredom". They'll find some crazy shit to do, won't be so strained and constricted, and the ideas will flow.

It's gonna get worse before it get's better - but we're not just going to sit and stew in our own shit.. that's actually what we're doing now. We need the dropouts and bums to make us realise what we actually have, and it'll help us integrate what we've learned already into a much broader spectrum..

I know it's frustrating, but chin up. Everything works out in the end.

 

I see what you're saying. I agree that most students don't see the point. I hear everyday "I'm never going to use this in my life." I think we should be able to go to school to learn what we want to, not what we have to. A lot of what we learn is so irrelevant to our lives that most just tune it out. Challenging authority is the only way to initiate change. But where I'm from the drop outs end up working a McDonalds, doing a whole lot of nasty drugs, and doing nothing with their life. They hated the system so much, that even in the end they got trapped into something they never wanted- living in this town for good. Sometimes the only way to beat the system is to get inside the inner working, and change it from inside.

 

This is far from unique for the upcoming generation. Same with most stuff in your original post. Teens have always been boasting their 'courage' to skip classes or fuck up their grades etc. This is nothing special of this day and age.

 

Quite a few of my friends are doing exactly that, but moaning about it isn't gonna change anything. They're doing what they do, and it is sad because they beat themselves up over nothing and get stuck in an eddy.. but it's hard not to when you see what's happening.. this can be just leaving school, or for worldwide change. The same pattern occurs on different scales, with different subjects and reasons, but it's still that same pattern.

It's the turbulence of starting to think for yourself.. suddenly it's not all nice and easy, things don't get done for you, you're not guided through life like you previously were.
Some people can ride that turbulence, some get thrown out on top completely by accident, some people get dunked and only surface every now and then, others think "fuck this" and come up from underneath to join the others that ride it.. and some people, unfortunately, drown.

Just be aware that education, in the Western sense, isn't the be all and end all of life.. look at all the bushmen running around in their nickers. Sure they don't have iPhones and internet, but I can tell you for a fact that they have a WHOLE lot more respect for each other, because they're constantly faced with this chaos.
They have to work with each other, not against, to be able to survive. None of this individualised bullshit that capitalism brings out.. but it's fine, capitalism is gonna be our "saviour", cos we're realising how far apart we're drifting - and I honestly think that we're starting to close that gap. I hope so at any rate..

So don't worry, just do what you do

 

I think the whole point of education has been missed. It's to share knowledge and get you prepared to live in the world today..

However, the main POINT to education is to learn how to learn. If you don't know something, go look it up. Figure it out. If you know how to LEARN you can do anything. That's what most people don't get.

It isn't the piece of paper you get at the end that is important, it's if you can LEARN and get the information you need when you need it. It's how to ADAPT.

Sadly, this is a realization people come to only after many years, and most don't reach it at all.

If you don't take anything else away from schooling, learn how to learn.

I remember my geography teacher saying "this is important as you will use it" and I've never used it. So students feel cheated. I think there needs to be a different mode to schooling. Teach people how to learn, and let them choose for themselves what to learn. All my job skills have been self learned actually on the job for example. You just sort of wing it. Those that know how to learn and adapt are the ones that ultimately survive the best.

I think a big part of our problem is that nobody cares about education anymore because they are looking around at the current world situation and say "we're boned no matter what so who gives a flying f**k"

You are stuck with one of these categories mostly:

1. You got your degree, but there are no jobs in your field of expertise
2. You don't have your degree so can't get the job that requires the degree

Really, I look back on it as well, and nobody has ever asked to see my papers. All they care about is if you can do the job. And actually companies for the past few years are looking for people WITHOUT degrees so they can pay them less. So it's a catch-22 situation..

It's a sad sad state of affairs, and I don't think anyone really has an answer to the current issue.

 

Where I come from, the people who drop out end up working at McDonalds, and spending their life in a place where they are miserable, so they do a whole bunch of nasty drugs to compensate. I think we should be able to go to school to learn what we want to learn, not what the state deems important for us to know. The "rebels" don't do anything they want to do with their life, they got themselves stuck. They tried overriding the system, and it messed them up. Granted, sometimes living isn't always about just doing something great, but it is also about the little, crazy, fun times you have. You say the people who are actually smart are the ones challenging the system? I say the only way to change the system is to get into the inner workings of it. A full court press will only get you so far.

 

One problem with schools these days is the fact that they are low on funds. Thus, they hire English teachers to teach Geometry. Most teachers don't teach you at all, they just tell you to scribble some scrabble on paper and turn it in. The population in general is growing rather apathetic.

 

Apathy is a state that many are comfortable with and accustomed to I'm afraid. It seems more often than not we are punished for going against the norm as well.

The intelligent students who are the next Bill Gates or something get picked on and bullied to the point where they don't speak up, and they just withdraw within themselves and there ya go, some asshole jock just ruined our chances of getting to Mars. Or of solving world hunger, you never know. It seems that schools are just a place you go, do your time, and try and come out in one piece. More and more it is getting like that, lots of people are switching to home schooling and then they challenge in for the GED, and continue on to higher learning, if they get that far that is.

Many don't seem to see the point anymore. And really.. If you sit down and think about it, there really isn't for them. They go ahead and get good grades, they study their asses off (assuming they can get in, as universities take priority over foreign students now than local ones), get into debt, are stuck in low paying jobs because that's all there are and are paying off the debt living paycheck to paycheck and miserable into their 40s.

Maybe they get lucky, and get a decent job.. Most times.. And reality says... No.

And besides, why would you go through all that and make $7 an hour when you can just join a gang, and make $1000s a month/week possibly? You know? It's like the incentive isn't there anymore either, there isn't really any DRIVE, you know?

So, what's the answer? There isn't one... There just isn't. Humanity on the whole is in this downward spiral, and well... It's like the song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctmctUpUwXo"]System Of A Down - Tentative #06 - YouTube

 

I think there is so much herd behaviour evident that our national anthem in the year 2050 will be 'baa, baa, blacksheep ...'

 

Hmmm... Too bad I won't be here in 2050, I'd like to see that.

 

I'll tape it and show you in the afterlife