“Don’t let schooling interfere with your education”
– Mark Twain

There’s a lot wrong with our educational system today including: teaching to the test, cookie-cutter approaches to learning, de-emphasizing hands-on and physical education, suppressing innovation, reinforcing the status quo, and much more. From a student’s point of view, school can be boring, vexing, and confining.

The key however, is not to drop out but to deliberately acquire a parallel education outside of the confines of academics. As a person with innate talents and abilities, learn all you can to improve your talents. Do you have a skill to cultivate biodiversity? Groom your skill. Acquire the education (both within and outside school wall) to master your craft. Read widely, experience, and practice. Don’t limit your learning to the walls of your classroom or your course load, learn as wide as your mind can think.

Every talent or skill requires hours of careful nurturing before it produces genius. Bill Gates spent hours poring over computers as a youngster. Similarly, Oprah Winfrey, recognizing her talent to connect with people as a teenager, spent hours honing her skills before she became a master. So, take time to hone your skills both in and out of school and then…take the world by storm!