I want to shake her, and her parents' hands... FOREVER.
I'm sure the reason she wasn't cut off a couple minutes into her speech was because the automatons in the administration didn't even understand her point behind it.
I'll bet a lot of those administrators sitting there very suddenly got sweaty palms and I'll also bet they have have or have tried to exact some sort of revenge against her.
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Another 18 year-old who thinks that her anti-institution philosophy makes her edgy and wise is going to tell everyone else what's really important in life, which at her age she is only starting to live. If all she got out of her education was to regurgitate information verbatim and pass tests, then I say it was she who wasted her time, and not education that is a waste. If she thinks that education is just about being a worker, she's approaching education wrong - and it is wasted on her.
Ready for a pedagogic movement, indeed! The popularity of your video speaks to a growing awareness that education cannot continue as it is. I've come to understand how-to turn this tide, and keeping that info to myself seems unconscionable. So, I reach back with a nonprofit dedicated to this movement that Erica bravely encourages us to participate in so a paradigm shift will happen. At akrna.com we laid down quite a track for those ready to kick pedagogic butt! Action is a choice of will!
I believe we all have an incredible smartness and creative smartness at birth that gets lost in our educational system. This is not so much in many other cultures that emphasize looking in or should I say listening to what comes from inside. Nice to hear this from a young American.
Loved this! It's so impressive that a high school graduate understands what you do. I'm 42, and I've only come to understand the same things you talked about over the last few years. I have read some of John Taylor Gatto's work, and he is definitely on to something. I have consulted with another education reformer who met him. He said Gatto's best critique is on how the school system operates, and how it was formed, but he discounts academic subjects too much.
Honestly? You're criticizing the education system in America? People, PLEASE realize how lucky you are and how shitty education is in different countries! I know it's hard for some of you who have been told how "special" you are your whole lives. Perhaps you have never experienced life outside America and thats all you know. Sure it's a grind, it's expensive, it's hard, etc. But it's a HELL of a lot better then working and living off of $2 a day in poverty where there is no hope of wealth.
You're so right! Our slave masters are kind Slave Masters and we would be nothing without them! We ought never to question or ask for better treatment. We ought to be pleased with our good fortune of only being flogged some of the time rather than all of the time.
@zumeex That's not the issue. We USED to have a standard here in America and we no longer have it! I don't care how bad "other" countries education systems are. I, as a citizen of The United States of America, care about what a shit hole WE are in. Manage your OWN house before you go trying to manage others. And that goes for practically everything Congress is trying to do. YEAH....HONESTLY.
@zumeex So, what you are saying is that because the world is full of poverty, we in America should not try to expose that GOVERNMENT FORCED education is terrible for humanity? Your logic IS a product of Marxists brainwashing. There is absolutely no reason for any human to be living in poverty, it is all by design. Try this documentary - End Game - to help you understand. Peace....which is impossible until a critical mass understands who rules the world and all of humanity, and why.
Could not have said it better myself. Which I why I dropped out after FIVE 4.0 honors semester. I was top of all my classes, on the president's list, in all the "clubs," and so on. Had enough of "the game." Dropped out and toured the country on my motorcycle - best decision I ever made.
#NEWYEAR #RESOLUTION Firework #KatyPerry you tube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw Please RESOLVE NOT to LIVE your life VICARIOUSLY through #TV #Videogames etc
who needs school when we have the internet. I learned everything from the internet and taught myself editing, script writing, and even self distribution. The rest I learned from experience. FOCK SCHOOL!
good speech, however those of us who have had to earn a living in this world know how you feel. we are caught in this trap and feel your frustration too. don't think you are unique or alone. RON PAUL 2012!
Yes! Thank you for this! I'm glad you mentioned how people memorize instead of learn. My professor constantly tells us this. We were programmed to memorize everything instead of learn it, so we never get anywhere because we know nothing. Good speech.
What a brave and smart leader this girl is. I love the body language of the people behind her, administrators and the headmaster I guess? A beutifull and intelligent speach Erica.
@foshizzbizz101 I suggest reading the Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Lewellyn. I've read it and loved it!!! It's very good and has lots of info about quitting school(if that is what you want to do), except she calls it "rising out of school" I think. It has lots of other stuff in it too, and it's good for anyone who's questioning the school system.
Corporate America demands that students graduate with certain skills. Education nowadays is data-driven. Scores are published locally and nationally. Schools are squeezed.
Ya BUT she is probably going to be earning a ton more later and while everybody else is slaving away, working a 9-5 job, she'll be taking an around-the world trip, living in the style of her preference, etc. It's not guaranteed but it is pretty likely. You know she isn't going to be working at minium wage, that is for sure.
I love reading information about these sort of things. I am currently in public school and am just getting tired of it all. I know the system sucks and all...but when are they going to make videos about what you should do now that you know the truth? I'm seeing more videos made about critisizing the system and none about how you can use this information to your advantage. Does anybody know?
I agree with a lot of what you said. I did not play by the rules at all in high school...and I probably wouldn't have graduated if it weren't for helpful and sympathetic teachers every step of the way. They understood that I was not stupid, but bored out of my mind...and disdainful of the system/my peers. I felt like I was suffocating in that environment...when I started college it was like taking a breath for the first time in years.
Thanks for showing us all the courage of the young. Fear will always be there. Courage is overcoming your fear to both speak your mind and follow your heart. Use your strong mind (that has resisted the brain washing of the machine) to become a self-directed learner able to adapt as you educate yourself. ~ wiredinstructor
I guess I just got lucky. I loved my University years and cherish the wonderful learning I had, traditional or not. Then again, I was lucky enough to study biology and was fascinated by the insights into the human condition and the real reason we walk this earth. Perhaps not the most employable choice of subjects, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Stick to your vocation, and worry about the day to day later. It will work out in the end.
Smart girl, I'm glad this speech is coming from a young lady at the top of her class, graduating..Honestly I paid alot of money, got into alot of worthless debt being raised in Boston, and expected to go on of our best schools.
While I have a great job today, my job is completely unrelated to what I studied in, and I have yet to use anything I've learned in college in my field. Atleast now though I know I will not raise my kids with a one track goal in life.
You say someone didn't do there homework because the were reading a topic they were interested in. The day has 24 hours what stops them from taking time out of there day to do homework an the read an interesting topic.
Everyone agrees with her just because they want out of school. Do you really think if we were supposedly taught at our fullest everyone would excel? I believe not.
@TheGoogly1235 And I guess that is supposed to excuse the indoctrination and corruption of the public school sys? Well I hope you dont forget to vaccinate yourself with Gardasil )o,,,
Somebody taught you well. However, do not disparage work, as all meaningful activities require work. Even thought and leisure stand in the shade of the work that made them possible. That said, with passion and a willingness you may indeed " tear down the walls". All in all, well said and well thought out for a new adult.
"...We have not to raise up from them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen — of whom we have an ample supply. The task is simple. We will organize children and teach them in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.” - John D. Rockefeller General Education Board (1906)
the fact that you are able to have these deep thoughts and critical thinking says something positive about American education, why don't you come here and teach English in China as I am now, and then you'll see real authoritarian teaching, punishable by pain
Yes, you seemed a little nervous, but what you said was brilliant... And more of us need to have the courage and wisdom to not just think such words, but to speak them to the masses.
This is the kind of CHANGE we should all HOPE for! I look forward to a time when students are offered the opportunity to depart school to pursue an apprenticeship or career without being chastised and labeled a "DROPOUT".
Why not encourage INNOVATORS, INVENTORS, ARTISTS (of all forms), and LEADERS?!?!?
I don't know what will come of this bright young lass, but I hope she continues to aspire to greater accomplishments than mere "pieces of paper that tell us we're smart enough to do so."
Always remember your words here. Next month, next year, in 5 and 20 years. Never accept what the government tells you, always push to be more. ~SSG Murphy J
Great written speech but you should have practiced it a lot more. I cant stand your tone changes, monotone, and over emphasizing a question. I'm sure no one tried to stop your speech because they were falling asleep. Great ideas and I feel the same way about the education system.
Absolutely beautiful, this young lady gets it. Education and regurgitation doesn't equal intelligence. The Certificate of Education called a Diploma is nothing more at it's highest levels than a Doctorate of a doctrine in which you are indoctrinated. All it says is that you know what they want you to know and nothing more. Actual experience is valued by an small business employer more so. It is ridiculous to need college to be a Mc'Ds manager and worthy of ridicule. Break that box they made 4 U.
It at least says something about your administrators that they didn't shut you up about a fourth of the way in. I'm not sure my principals would have been so tolerant. Congrats to you, though. You're lucky to have figured this out before college, and I hope your parents and friends support you in this, unlike some of mine.
she could have just said, fuck school. she doesn't even realize making this speech itself is a result of mechanical counterculture academia taught in school. every 18 year old wants to put down the man. nice speech, but old news.
@EmanEvan I don't think finally opening your eyes before you graduate and being willing to share the truth with your peers, regardless of the medium, necessarily constitutes some sort of mechanical conditioning. It is possible to respect and master the tools of the system without buying into the philosophy and psychological culture of it.
Okay, though not original and not helpful (she offers no alternatives, critiquing is real easy). She essentially plagiarizes Alfie Kohn, yet she does bring up the other big anti-school guy, John Taylor Gatto.
is created. She told me that one of them knew the fed is privately owned, and none was wise about the debt money system. As far as your points, just last week we talked about the educational system of doing what ur told and regurgitate the facts that they are shown. I will definately show them your speech, you are very intelligent, and see the world as it really is, and even more importantly, the world as it CAN be. I wish you well.
is created. She told me that one of them knew the fed is privately owned, and none was wise about the debt money system. As far as your points, just last week we talked about the educational system of doing what ur told and regurgitate the facts that they are shown. I will definately show them your speech, you are very intelligent, and see the world as it really is, and even more importantly, the world as it CAN be. I wish you well.
Erica, To hear words like that spoken from someone as young as you, gives me hope that not all is lost. I have 3 teenage daughters one of which also graduated this year. My youngest two are my proginees, they have a thirst for truth, once I began to show them what the corporate media dosen't want them to know. Now we talk about these issues almost on a daily basis. They talk to their friends and teachers about this. Last year my youngest asked all 7 of her teachers about the fed and how money
My husband was high school valedictorian 41 years ago. He wrote a speech much like this one, which he was not allowed to give. He chose not to give a speech. He sent this link and note to our three (college-graduate) children, who know the story. It will take six posts to get it in; long I know, but worth it.
“She certainly had a lot to say but from a very young person’s perspective. There is merit in the system that she does not understand, but will as she gets older. While it is true that
achieving a high school diploma or a college diploma does not make a person more intelligent or smarter, it does have the very beneficial effect of making a person more knowledgeable. The system exposes a wide spectrum of individuals to a wide spectrum of information so that each can discern what the most important information for him or her is. While obviously intelligent and capable of critical thinking, she sells herself short when she says the only thing her accomplishment proves is that
she is the best at doing what she is told to do. An important part of the educational process is to prove that you can take orders; you can successfully define an end result and then follow through on all the tasks necessary to achieve that final result. I don’t believe that anyone has come up with a better way to measure whether or not a person has successfully negotiated the process than to give a test at the end to measure in some fashion what the person has been able to learn. I've no
doubt high schools and colleges could do a better job of teaching and measuring the success of that teaching. I have been frustrated in my own experiences of hiring accounting graduates who really don’t know how to do accounting. After five years of college, the students should actually have learned how to practice a trade so that they could be productive employees. The young lady is correct in her hope that the educational process does not rely totally on rote learning but also encourages
critical thinking that allows those students who have more of the ability to think out side of the box to do so. I agree with her thought that the student who spent his time doodling instead of studying was preparing for a career as an artist, but not that she was wasting her time doing homework. Forty-four years ago your uncle’s classmate spent his time drawing because there was no system within the school to pursue art as a career. Is it instructive that he ended up on the top of a water
tower shooting at people before he killed himself? There is still no formal art education in the our local school system, but that did not stop our family from pursuing music, art, theater and a wide range of out of the box pursuits. As I have always told you, none of us can control all of the things that happen to us, but we can control how we respond to those things. We can choose to be unhappy and defeated or we can choose to be happy and to overcome the obstacles that appear.”
It's good to see someone so young with such true wisdom and insight into the system in which we live. I've been preaching those words for years, but like Dave Chappelle says, people will only listen if a pretty white woman sings it.
I hope the 624K viewers watched (and listened) to the end.
1. It was the system she denigrates that gave her the foundation to make that very erudite speech
2. True learning begins AFTER high school. She doesn't know anything yet. College is designed to nurture passion. High School is to give students the basics.
@TheBluGmail Saying the system gave her the foundation to make that speech is a cop out imo. She even touched on that in the beginning of her speech, "...didn't teach me all it could have."
@mstefank She got out of the system what she wanted. She chose to be hyper-competitive about grades. She could have pursued her passions at the price of becoming valedictorian. She was not a "slave." She could have worked less or even dropped out. Slaves don't have a CHOICE.
I applaud her thoughts. Every system needs radicals and critics, but her arguments are fraught with logical and practical flaws. Her speech has passion, but lacks wisdom.
@TheBluGmail Again, yes and no. As much as people CAN skip an assignment to do something they are passionate about etc. The system doesn't encourage that, it's actually quite the opposite. And I agree to a lot of what you're saying. But at the same time the system itself is fraught with logical and practical flaws.
@mstefank Every system is full of logical and practical flaws. It is much easier to rage at a system than to build one. Just listen to every politician.
If someone wanted to truly blow my mind, then they would need to propose practical solutions, not just criticize and theorize. If she came up with a better system, I'd be the first to jump on the bandwagon. I don't like our school system OR our political system, but until someone comes up with a better one. I'm sticking with these.
@TheBluGmail If I saw a man beating his slave, and I took exception to this... He might demand from me a better training method, before he'd put the whip down.
@TheBluGmail you mustn't take anything away from those who criticize and theorize, for if it weren't for them, no attention would be brought to any situation that needs change as is. as the criticism grows and theories mature, expansion and improvement will occur. this speech is groundbreaking in that sense. sure this one individual giving the speech hasn't put forth an idea for a new system, but are her words not powerful enough to inspire one if not many to develop a new one?
High School to me was learning a bunch of stuff that I do not even use in every day life. I don't use algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry in my daily life. Language arts has to be the biggest waste of time. I don't remember a thing about it because really who needs to remember that stuff unless they want to become a writer or something.
I've listened to a lot of graduation speeches, and this probably the most interesting I've heard, from a student or an adult. I think we can have a better system, but first we will have to want it. I don't think we can have all students learn a broad and rigorous curriculum AND develop their own interests to the fullest. Maybe it's time to consider a compromise.
Great concept and glad you understand your own 'mis-education', but you needed to address the who and why (without veering into Illuminati conspiracy theory).
the elite doesn't want a society of free thinkers. They want us to believe what they want us to. The last thing they want is for us to grow smarter than them. They want us stupid, they want us buying, not thinking.
great speech, make people think, that is your future! speak the truth, that is your future! build something new, that has not been done before: that is your future, girl! :)
Beautiful.
seeqr9 2 hours ago
I want to shake her, and her parents' hands... FOREVER.
I'm sure the reason she wasn't cut off a couple minutes into her speech was because the automatons in the administration didn't even understand her point behind it.
davedurable 17 hours ago
Here's an young lady breaking the walls of the Matrix and pursuing levels of higher being:)
patrickisready 1 day ago
i just love seeing that fold of skin that old ladies get between their neck and shoulders
x3somevanillasex 2 days ago
i think that sums up why i skipped class to smoke weed quite nicely
x3somevanillasex 2 days ago
I'll bet a lot of those administrators sitting there very suddenly got sweaty palms and I'll also bet they have have or have tried to exact some sort of revenge against her.
heartfire451 2 days ago
The administrators are all like, "DAMN IT WHY DID WE LET HER SPEAK?!"
deviousxen 3 days ago 2
my school bitches!
magathon1 3 days ago
Absolutely fantastic. Best speech on education I've seen in my entire life.
dmcarefuldriver 4 days ago
This is truly a significant statement. And from one so young! You give me hope!
NinjaMonkeyLove 5 days ago
We need more people like you in the world.
lalalaKels 5 days ago
The Indigo children come
Mrhostilenative 1 week ago
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Another 18 year-old who thinks that her anti-institution philosophy makes her edgy and wise is going to tell everyone else what's really important in life, which at her age she is only starting to live. If all she got out of her education was to regurgitate information verbatim and pass tests, then I say it was she who wasted her time, and not education that is a waste. If she thinks that education is just about being a worker, she's approaching education wrong - and it is wasted on her.
soylentbeing 1 week ago
@soylentbeing It is wasted on people like you.
EvaYanagita 1 week ago
@soylentbeing And it's ignorance like yours that only proves what she is saying. "And worst of all [you're] completely unaware of it." (6:19)
MPH4991 1 week ago
360 people like seeing children enslaved. :(
melissabcool 1 week ago 4
Ready for a pedagogic movement, indeed! The popularity of your video speaks to a growing awareness that education cannot continue as it is. I've come to understand how-to turn this tide, and keeping that info to myself seems unconscionable. So, I reach back with a nonprofit dedicated to this movement that Erica bravely encourages us to participate in so a paradigm shift will happen. At akrna.com we laid down quite a track for those ready to kick pedagogic butt! Action is a choice of will!
selfgnosis 2 weeks ago
I believe we all have an incredible smartness and creative smartness at birth that gets lost in our educational system. This is not so much in many other cultures that emphasize looking in or should I say listening to what comes from inside. Nice to hear this from a young American.
Stomp22630 2 weeks ago
World seems kinda small when you realize that the American education system is fixed towards the industry.
Elsteveo17Emo 2 weeks ago
This chick is brilliant.
rightwing52000 2 weeks ago
On a planet that increasingly resembles one huge Maximum Security prison, the only intelligent choice is to plan a jailbreak - Robert Anton Wilson.
I believe - if Erica remains true to her words (here), she will be one of the successful in-mates, to break free of our mental entrapment.
verummossolvovos 3 weeks ago
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Loved this! It's so impressive that a high school graduate understands what you do. I'm 42, and I've only come to understand the same things you talked about over the last few years. I have read some of John Taylor Gatto's work, and he is definitely on to something. I have consulted with another education reformer who met him. He said Gatto's best critique is on how the school system operates, and how it was formed, but he discounts academic subjects too much.
mmille10 3 weeks ago
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mmille10 3 weeks ago
Some advise I've received from MIT grads probably says it best: You learn more from Bs than As.
WAKeele 4 weeks ago
so she studied real hard to pass on her jaded world view? weird... hopefully in real life she applies more practical concepts.
klepjax 4 weeks ago
ido not like her ass
erica2059 4 weeks ago
@erica2059 That says a lot more about you than it does her...
Dannyboy1550 2 weeks ago
boo
erica2059 1 month ago
i commend this chick
ceasey0xoogurl 1 month ago
Wow, this was incredible. I would marry her.
1GookSTAH 1 month ago
This was pretty incredible! Thank you for saying what others have felt for many years!
VR6OhMy 1 month ago
Yes! Amen!
djteefah 1 month ago
Honestly? You're criticizing the education system in America? People, PLEASE realize how lucky you are and how shitty education is in different countries! I know it's hard for some of you who have been told how "special" you are your whole lives. Perhaps you have never experienced life outside America and thats all you know. Sure it's a grind, it's expensive, it's hard, etc. But it's a HELL of a lot better then working and living off of $2 a day in poverty where there is no hope of wealth.
zumeex 1 month ago
Comment removed
madmadiy 1 month ago
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@zumeex
You're so right! Our slave masters are kind Slave Masters and we would be nothing without them! We ought never to question or ask for better treatment. We ought to be pleased with our good fortune of only being flogged some of the time rather than all of the time.
wort148 1 month ago
@zumeex That's not the issue. We USED to have a standard here in America and we no longer have it! I don't care how bad "other" countries education systems are. I, as a citizen of The United States of America, care about what a shit hole WE are in. Manage your OWN house before you go trying to manage others. And that goes for practically everything Congress is trying to do. YEAH....HONESTLY.
MattHatter 4 weeks ago 2
@zumeex So, what you are saying is that because the world is full of poverty, we in America should not try to expose that GOVERNMENT FORCED education is terrible for humanity? Your logic IS a product of Marxists brainwashing. There is absolutely no reason for any human to be living in poverty, it is all by design. Try this documentary - End Game - to help you understand. Peace....which is impossible until a critical mass understands who rules the world and all of humanity, and why.
lnsk 2 weeks ago
@zumeex
your dumb. lawl.
file2hd6026 2 weeks ago
Could not have said it better myself. Which I why I dropped out after FIVE 4.0 honors semester. I was top of all my classes, on the president's list, in all the "clubs," and so on. Had enough of "the game." Dropped out and toured the country on my motorcycle - best decision I ever made.
YxpuDotCom 1 month ago
The only truth about learning is that the more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
BS = bull stuff
MS = More of the Same
PHD = Piled Higher and Deeper
DMashakUSA 1 month ago
#NEWYEAR #RESOLUTION Firework #KatyPerry you tube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw Please RESOLVE NOT to LIVE your life VICARIOUSLY through #TV #Videogames etc
DMashakUSA 1 month ago
who needs school when we have the internet. I learned everything from the internet and taught myself editing, script writing, and even self distribution. The rest I learned from experience. FOCK SCHOOL!
beyondcinema 1 month ago
smart girl.
gothicprincess52 1 month ago
Hear hear
ajagucki 1 month ago
fuck school (at least the crappy way "school" is presented in the usa :)
Viper2026 1 month ago
You're awesome!
XabierGaray1 1 month ago
Very intelligent girl!!!
aietes 1 month ago
The link in your description is old so you might want to update that.
TheCatsLastWord 1 month ago
good speech, however those of us who have had to earn a living in this world know how you feel. we are caught in this trap and feel your frustration too. don't think you are unique or alone. RON PAUL 2012!
wildbill562 1 month ago
"we dont need no thought control" Pink Floyd
michaelmarroquin1 1 month ago
Thank YOU!!! WE ARE HUMAN!
superbong69 1 month ago
marry me? k thx
MaLeVoLeNcE13 1 month ago
Wow, she did great. Very good to see that some people see what's wrong with our education system.
PsychoDragonfly 1 month ago 20
Very true young lady. You passed the real test.
ShimmeringTruth1138 1 month ago
Yes! Thank you for this! I'm glad you mentioned how people memorize instead of learn. My professor constantly tells us this. We were programmed to memorize everything instead of learn it, so we never get anywhere because we know nothing. Good speech.
missliz06 1 month ago 12
What a brave and smart leader this girl is. I love the body language of the people behind her, administrators and the headmaster I guess? A beutifull and intelligent speach Erica.
MultiBunnyhunter 1 month ago 2
this chick is awesome! sadly half the people "listening" cant even understand what shes saying...
mobiletizeme 1 month ago 3
@mobiletizeme i said the same thing, people were probably dozing off, not even recognizing how accurate and incredible her awareness is there.
MidKnightBlaze 1 month ago 2
You were badass. My hat is off to you.
Artemis300 1 month ago
@foshizzbizz101 I suggest reading the Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Lewellyn. I've read it and loved it!!! It's very good and has lots of info about quitting school(if that is what you want to do), except she calls it "rising out of school" I think. It has lots of other stuff in it too, and it's good for anyone who's questioning the school system.
hhannahbbanana 1 month ago
My dad told me: boy when I was your age, I had to walk 13 miles to school. I said oh is that you didnt graduate
purplebui 1 month ago
Omg that was awesome
Bhennessy33 1 month ago
Like this to get this girl on TED!
lukostello 1 month ago 2
Need this girls number, so turned on by it...
Combs84 1 month ago
Yes yes yes yes! People like you restore me faith in humanity.
For those who need more info, she speaks the voice of the Libertarian movement.
===> google "Non-aggression principle", "Agorism", "Libertarianism"
Fjaertorslovaark 1 month ago
Corporate America demands that students graduate with certain skills. Education nowadays is data-driven. Scores are published locally and nationally. Schools are squeezed.
Deb1650 1 month ago
Ya BUT she is probably going to be earning a ton more later and while everybody else is slaving away, working a 9-5 job, she'll be taking an around-the world trip, living in the style of her preference, etc. It's not guaranteed but it is pretty likely. You know she isn't going to be working at minium wage, that is for sure.
Deb1650 1 month ago
@Deb1650 Because she's driven.
dffkaerg 1 month ago
I love this! Good for you, don't ever forget this!
MeghanLeighH 1 month ago
YES YES YES this girl is my HERO!
aliwithcurlyhair 1 month ago
Modern Family alternate ending.
Justaddwater428 1 month ago 3
amen amen amen amen. I am so happy there is at least one wide-eyed student.
RaeAnnYellow 1 month ago
ish just got REAL for the principal. You can see him squirming. haha
bummer for him. AWESOME for all of us out there feeling the same way!
Great speech mama!! mad love being sent your way for having the courage to say this!! <3
ToshaCRWM 1 month ago 3
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I love reading information about these sort of things. I am currently in public school and am just getting tired of it all. I know the system sucks and all...but when are they going to make videos about what you should do now that you know the truth? I'm seeing more videos made about critisizing the system and none about how you can use this information to your advantage. Does anybody know?
foshizzbizz101 2 months ago
she is so freaking amazing
Lindsayluver13 2 months ago
Very nice!!!!
TheSquashsquash 2 months ago
I agree with a lot of what you said. I did not play by the rules at all in high school...and I probably wouldn't have graduated if it weren't for helpful and sympathetic teachers every step of the way. They understood that I was not stupid, but bored out of my mind...and disdainful of the system/my peers. I felt like I was suffocating in that environment...when I started college it was like taking a breath for the first time in years.
niemakawy 2 months ago
1 millionaire every 100,000 students.
bbrain2 2 months ago in playlist Awesome Videos
You're speech was awesome
patrickp200 2 months ago
I agree
patrickp200 2 months ago
Comment removed
Just2pisUoff 2 months ago
Good for her
machngunjoe 2 months ago
Thanks for this video. I was very inspired by your speech...
chuckriggs1 2 months ago
Thanks for showing us all the courage of the young. Fear will always be there. Courage is overcoming your fear to both speak your mind and follow your heart. Use your strong mind (that has resisted the brain washing of the machine) to become a self-directed learner able to adapt as you educate yourself. ~ wiredinstructor
Dogger747 2 months ago
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I guess I just got lucky. I loved my University years and cherish the wonderful learning I had, traditional or not. Then again, I was lucky enough to study biology and was fascinated by the insights into the human condition and the real reason we walk this earth. Perhaps not the most employable choice of subjects, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Stick to your vocation, and worry about the day to day later. It will work out in the end.
rupertbreheny 2 months ago
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rupertbreheny 2 months ago
A woman after my own heart!
SydneyCarton88 2 months ago
Smart girl, I'm glad this speech is coming from a young lady at the top of her class, graduating..Honestly I paid alot of money, got into alot of worthless debt being raised in Boston, and expected to go on of our best schools.
While I have a great job today, my job is completely unrelated to what I studied in, and I have yet to use anything I've learned in college in my field. Atleast now though I know I will not raise my kids with a one track goal in life.
TikiTubeable 2 months ago
You say someone didn't do there homework because the were reading a topic they were interested in. The day has 24 hours what stops them from taking time out of there day to do homework an the read an interesting topic.
TheGoogly1235 2 months ago
Everyone agrees with her just because they want out of school. Do you really think if we were supposedly taught at our fullest everyone would excel? I believe not.
TheGoogly1235 2 months ago
@TheGoogly1235 And I guess that is supposed to excuse the indoctrination and corruption of the public school sys? Well I hope you dont forget to vaccinate yourself with Gardasil )o,,,
MrSokitumi0007 2 months ago
Somebody taught you well. However, do not disparage work, as all meaningful activities require work. Even thought and leisure stand in the shade of the work that made them possible. That said, with passion and a willingness you may indeed " tear down the walls". All in all, well said and well thought out for a new adult.
ecotahoe 2 months ago
"...We have not to raise up from them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen — of whom we have an ample supply. The task is simple. We will organize children and teach them in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.” - John D. Rockefeller General Education Board (1906)
bluntsafety 2 months ago
Best 10 minutes of my life.
Soundlife 2 months ago 6
i TOTALLY agree with this girl!
Reader15LoveMyCat 2 months ago
Man, I was there! lmao Good job Erica. (;
ShephieAuhmayzing 2 months ago
I like that the audience seems to increasingly begin to cough, fidget, squirm, and murmur.
mowgli2071 2 months ago 2
the fact that you are able to have these deep thoughts and critical thinking says something positive about American education, why don't you come here and teach English in China as I am now, and then you'll see real authoritarian teaching, punishable by pain
ceovp 3 months ago
Well Said. read a book called Dumbbing down of America by Charlotte Iserbyt.
gregjackie 3 months ago 6
@gregjackie "The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America" is among the most important books ever written.
thomaserossi 2 months ago 3
BRAVO!! Amazing!
PeaceNlove4Life8 3 months ago 5
PREACH!!!!
Arch777Angel 3 months ago
Lets see how the Illuminati tries to widdle her down.
EquitorialPancakes 3 months ago 5
Brilliant future conservative...
dex1391 3 months ago
@dex1391 This isn't about conservative, moderate, or liberal. This is about true knowledge over schooling.
khodo63 3 months ago 19
@khodo63
Oh no... it's extremely conservative. I hope she becomes a politician.
dex1391 3 months ago
Your wise beyond your years. Don't forget in college what you said that day.
sashajanfirst 3 months ago 39
@sashajanfirst You're ;)
MOTS411 2 months ago 3
Yes, you seemed a little nervous, but what you said was brilliant... And more of us need to have the courage and wisdom to not just think such words, but to speak them to the masses.
SimonWojcik1 3 months ago in playlist School System 3
OMG Im Like Balling!
riccisamurai 3 months ago in playlist 2011 1014 2
STANDING OVATION.
ohdarling95 3 months ago
This is the kind of CHANGE we should all HOPE for! I look forward to a time when students are offered the opportunity to depart school to pursue an apprenticeship or career without being chastised and labeled a "DROPOUT".
Why not encourage INNOVATORS, INVENTORS, ARTISTS (of all forms), and LEADERS?!?!?
I don't know what will come of this bright young lass, but I hope she continues to aspire to greater accomplishments than mere "pieces of paper that tell us we're smart enough to do so."
MacsHomeVideos 3 months ago 3
I am Jack's High School Pothead ( ´o`)y=･~~~
RedStar18 3 months ago
Always remember your words here. Next month, next year, in 5 and 20 years. Never accept what the government tells you, always push to be more. ~SSG Murphy J
degenret01 3 months ago
Drugs are... good?
mmmkay?
That must have been some good acid.
Nonlinear63043 3 months ago
Great written speech but you should have practiced it a lot more. I cant stand your tone changes, monotone, and over emphasizing a question. I'm sure no one tried to stop your speech because they were falling asleep. Great ideas and I feel the same way about the education system.
desiboy5291 3 months ago
@desiboy5291 You're so useless.
Marawanasmok 3 months ago
I vote this girl for president!
Sklingolder11 3 months ago
Absolutely beautiful, this young lady gets it. Education and regurgitation doesn't equal intelligence. The Certificate of Education called a Diploma is nothing more at it's highest levels than a Doctorate of a doctrine in which you are indoctrinated. All it says is that you know what they want you to know and nothing more. Actual experience is valued by an small business employer more so. It is ridiculous to need college to be a Mc'Ds manager and worthy of ridicule. Break that box they made 4 U.
QuantumKoala 3 months ago
It at least says something about your administrators that they didn't shut you up about a fourth of the way in. I'm not sure my principals would have been so tolerant. Congrats to you, though. You're lucky to have figured this out before college, and I hope your parents and friends support you in this, unlike some of mine.
smithn7790 3 months ago
she could have just said, fuck school. she doesn't even realize making this speech itself is a result of mechanical counterculture academia taught in school. every 18 year old wants to put down the man. nice speech, but old news.
EmanEvan 3 months ago
@EmanEvan I don't think finally opening your eyes before you graduate and being willing to share the truth with your peers, regardless of the medium, necessarily constitutes some sort of mechanical conditioning. It is possible to respect and master the tools of the system without buying into the philosophy and psychological culture of it.
smithn7790 3 months ago
@EmanEvan What's new news, oh wise one?
Marawanasmok 3 months ago
Straight up respect.
JadaC25 3 months ago
You are an inspirational speaker
chehchangho 3 months ago
Okay, though not original and not helpful (she offers no alternatives, critiquing is real easy). She essentially plagiarizes Alfie Kohn, yet she does bring up the other big anti-school guy, John Taylor Gatto.
pavelow235 3 months ago
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harvardlaw14 3 months ago
i love valedictorian girls! can we have sex? your speech gave me a boner.
harvardlaw14 3 months ago
LOOOL look at the teacher, they're like shiet, why did we become teachers?
Cus we never became successful and never got our dream job.
biglemoncoke 3 months ago 4
Don't Let School Get in the Way of Your Education
3510211 3 months ago 75
@3510211 - danny sugerman
NoQuarter1008 2 months ago
#occupywallstreet
3510211 3 months ago
they are not listening ,because they are
1) left brain
2) have no imagination
3) automoton
4) anti- individual
5) very narrow minded blind ,aloof ..TO THE TRUTH !!!
forkielifter 3 months ago 3
Great ThankYou !!!!!!!
JahSoulja108 4 months ago
Beautiful speech! Words of true wisdom!
brkdaice 4 months ago
GREAT SPEECH!!! Very inspiring!
IZombie247 4 months ago
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is created. She told me that one of them knew the fed is privately owned, and none was wise about the debt money system. As far as your points, just last week we talked about the educational system of doing what ur told and regurgitate the facts that they are shown. I will definately show them your speech, you are very intelligent, and see the world as it really is, and even more importantly, the world as it CAN be. I wish you well.
MrDANNYUNDERWOODky 4 months ago
is created. She told me that one of them knew the fed is privately owned, and none was wise about the debt money system. As far as your points, just last week we talked about the educational system of doing what ur told and regurgitate the facts that they are shown. I will definately show them your speech, you are very intelligent, and see the world as it really is, and even more importantly, the world as it CAN be. I wish you well.
MrDANNYUNDERWOODky 4 months ago
Erica, To hear words like that spoken from someone as young as you, gives me hope that not all is lost. I have 3 teenage daughters one of which also graduated this year. My youngest two are my proginees, they have a thirst for truth, once I began to show them what the corporate media dosen't want them to know. Now we talk about these issues almost on a daily basis. They talk to their friends and teachers about this. Last year my youngest asked all 7 of her teachers about the fed and how money
MrDANNYUNDERWOODky 4 months ago
My husband was high school valedictorian 41 years ago. He wrote a speech much like this one, which he was not allowed to give. He chose not to give a speech. He sent this link and note to our three (college-graduate) children, who know the story. It will take six posts to get it in; long I know, but worth it.
“She certainly had a lot to say but from a very young person’s perspective. There is merit in the system that she does not understand, but will as she gets older. While it is true that
canmere 4 months ago
2
achieving a high school diploma or a college diploma does not make a person more intelligent or smarter, it does have the very beneficial effect of making a person more knowledgeable. The system exposes a wide spectrum of individuals to a wide spectrum of information so that each can discern what the most important information for him or her is. While obviously intelligent and capable of critical thinking, she sells herself short when she says the only thing her accomplishment proves is that
canmere 4 months ago
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she is the best at doing what she is told to do. An important part of the educational process is to prove that you can take orders; you can successfully define an end result and then follow through on all the tasks necessary to achieve that final result. I don’t believe that anyone has come up with a better way to measure whether or not a person has successfully negotiated the process than to give a test at the end to measure in some fashion what the person has been able to learn. I've no
canmere 4 months ago
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doubt high schools and colleges could do a better job of teaching and measuring the success of that teaching. I have been frustrated in my own experiences of hiring accounting graduates who really don’t know how to do accounting. After five years of college, the students should actually have learned how to practice a trade so that they could be productive employees. The young lady is correct in her hope that the educational process does not rely totally on rote learning but also encourages
canmere 4 months ago
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critical thinking that allows those students who have more of the ability to think out side of the box to do so. I agree with her thought that the student who spent his time doodling instead of studying was preparing for a career as an artist, but not that she was wasting her time doing homework. Forty-four years ago your uncle’s classmate spent his time drawing because there was no system within the school to pursue art as a career. Is it instructive that he ended up on the top of a water
canmere 4 months ago
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tower shooting at people before he killed himself? There is still no formal art education in the our local school system, but that did not stop our family from pursuing music, art, theater and a wide range of out of the box pursuits. As I have always told you, none of us can control all of the things that happen to us, but we can control how we respond to those things. We can choose to be unhappy and defeated or we can choose to be happy and to overcome the obstacles that appear.”
canmere 4 months ago
Ironically, it sounds like see received a good education! Great speech!
stephen2152002 4 months ago
It's good to see someone so young with such true wisdom and insight into the system in which we live. I've been preaching those words for years, but like Dave Chappelle says, people will only listen if a pretty white woman sings it.
I hope the 624K viewers watched (and listened) to the end.
BedStuyBro 4 months ago
she sad one of her teachers directed her attention at shool flaws, i wonder if that teacher faced any retribution because of her speech...
saldownik 4 months ago
Youre right about everything you said, not too many opions in this speech at all.
ILY<3
elstrangebedfellow 4 months ago
1. It was the system she denigrates that gave her the foundation to make that very erudite speech
2. True learning begins AFTER high school. She doesn't know anything yet. College is designed to nurture passion. High School is to give students the basics.
TheBluGmail 4 months ago
@TheBluGmail Saying the system gave her the foundation to make that speech is a cop out imo. She even touched on that in the beginning of her speech, "...didn't teach me all it could have."
mstefank 4 months ago
@mstefank She got out of the system what she wanted. She chose to be hyper-competitive about grades. She could have pursued her passions at the price of becoming valedictorian. She was not a "slave." She could have worked less or even dropped out. Slaves don't have a CHOICE.
I applaud her thoughts. Every system needs radicals and critics, but her arguments are fraught with logical and practical flaws. Her speech has passion, but lacks wisdom.
TheBluGmail 4 months ago
@TheBluGmail Again, yes and no. As much as people CAN skip an assignment to do something they are passionate about etc. The system doesn't encourage that, it's actually quite the opposite. And I agree to a lot of what you're saying. But at the same time the system itself is fraught with logical and practical flaws.
mstefank 4 months ago
@mstefank Every system is full of logical and practical flaws. It is much easier to rage at a system than to build one. Just listen to every politician.
If someone wanted to truly blow my mind, then they would need to propose practical solutions, not just criticize and theorize. If she came up with a better system, I'd be the first to jump on the bandwagon. I don't like our school system OR our political system, but until someone comes up with a better one. I'm sticking with these.
TheBluGmail 4 months ago 2
@TheBluGmail If I saw a man beating his slave, and I took exception to this... He might demand from me a better training method, before he'd put the whip down.
rederickg 4 months ago
@TheBluGmail you mustn't take anything away from those who criticize and theorize, for if it weren't for them, no attention would be brought to any situation that needs change as is. as the criticism grows and theories mature, expansion and improvement will occur. this speech is groundbreaking in that sense. sure this one individual giving the speech hasn't put forth an idea for a new system, but are her words not powerful enough to inspire one if not many to develop a new one?
xen164 3 months ago
@TheBluGmail
High School to me was learning a bunch of stuff that I do not even use in every day life. I don't use algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry in my daily life. Language arts has to be the biggest waste of time. I don't remember a thing about it because really who needs to remember that stuff unless they want to become a writer or something.
yonskii 4 months ago
I've listened to a lot of graduation speeches, and this probably the most interesting I've heard, from a student or an adult. I think we can have a better system, but first we will have to want it. I don't think we can have all students learn a broad and rigorous curriculum AND develop their own interests to the fullest. Maybe it's time to consider a compromise.
CollegScholarship101 4 months ago
You are right. There is more to education than book "smart", a shame only few see it. Grades don't measure knowledge, character does...
RavidBunny 4 months ago
If the school ironically taught you this critical thinking then they succeeded, if not then I applaud you and your parents.
thefink68 4 months ago
I want her to teach my children
jhcrusher 4 months ago 2
is that FHS?
quicksilverxgen 4 months ago
Applauds!!!!!
Amazing!!!
Spread this video everywhere.
HuckMeHard 4 months ago
Thumbs up if Zerohedge brought you here.
73cupcake 4 months ago 2
Well done young woman. You nailed it.
YouOnlyDeleted 4 months ago
You are like a candle shining through the world of darkness.
ohiovr 4 months ago
Thank you.
TZM
slimmworker 4 months ago
Bravo!
lisbmsan 4 months ago 2
She has it figured out if only a bit too late.
tchapps1 4 months ago
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jpaise 4 months ago
Great concept and glad you understand your own 'mis-education', but you needed to address the who and why (without veering into Illuminati conspiracy theory).
Brajabu74 4 months ago
@Brajabu74 Watch it again. All of it.
YouOnlyDeleted 4 months ago
the elite doesn't want a society of free thinkers. They want us to believe what they want us to. The last thing they want is for us to grow smarter than them. They want us stupid, they want us buying, not thinking.
llieske 4 months ago
TLDL
llieske 4 months ago
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llieske 4 months ago
great speech, make people think, that is your future! speak the truth, that is your future! build something new, that has not been done before: that is your future, girl! :)
Haasenpad 4 months ago
well done.
jmg1957 4 months ago