What’s up? First of all, thank you for taking the time out of your extremely busy day to read our very first blog post. Welcome! Recognize Education And Learning (REAL) is a movement that will shift the culture. We are creating a mindset that’s REAL. This blog is for the REAL ones. In this blog, we will talk about a perspective that continues to perpetuate the current system, which limits the success of our future leaders. We’ll also discuss how we can use the current system to our advantage. The reason we call this movement a culture shift is because there’s a mindset within our culture that contributes to a lack of sustained success and happiness. We need to change this.
The grind continues forever when you are controlled by external factors that dictate your future. REAL ones don’t fall for this trap. We are invested in recognizing the education (what schools teach you) needed to shift the current system and the learning (what schools don’t teach you) that’s needed to ultimately create our own system. Embracing this mindset and applying the skills needed to achieve this is the key to our cultural growth.
What is “Education”?
Education is the information provided to you in school. This is, of course, biased in nature because schools provide the information they believe is necessary for you to learn. Let’s keep it REAL, the perception of education is that most of the information is not something we want to learn. A lot of us think it’s usually irrelevant to our lives, especially at the time we are learning about it, and, because of this, we end up having trouble applying this information to REAL life situations.
Trust us, we feel you when it comes to the boredom of sitting through a lecture or studying for questions on a test that will never be asked of you again. We get it. We understand how it doesn’t make sense why you have to follow a man-made curriculum and educate yourself on the information they want you to learn.
There are a lot of factors that force you to learn this stuff. From your overbearing parents, who, if we’re keeping it REAL, are just looking out for you at the end of the day; to the current societal system that limits opportunities based on the number of degrees you have (we are talking about their opportunities; not the ones you create for yourself). The system requires at least a high school degree even for most mediocre jobs and benefits. With that said, we have to deal with the fact that we have to educate ourselves on what they want us to know if we want anything they have. Regardless, education is necessary at some point in your life, so it might be a good idea to play their game to get what they have so you can do what you want with it.
What is “Learning”?
Learning is based on experience. You learned how to tie your shoe from… tying your shoe. This is true about any type of learning in any kind of way. The more you experience something, the more you either learn from that experience or continue to go through that experience until you learn from it. How are you able to tie your shoe? The experience of failing every time you tried to tie your shoe before you knew how to do it. You learned from that experience and did something different the next time. This type of learning applies to everything we experience in our life, including experiences outside of school. We learn how to communicate. We learn how to walk. We learn how to express emotions. We learn! We learn all of these things through trial and error until we eventually get it right. Our culture needs to understand that learning must be applied to our experience to change that experience. We are constantly learning, whether we like it or not. The issue is we sometimes misuse what we learn and apply it to things that negatively impact our life or refuse to apply it at all.
Let’s keep it REAL, when we get money, most of us (talking to the students) instantly want to buy new Jordans because we were taught that money should be spent and should work for us. The problem with this is that the instant gratification of buying those Jordans eventually wears off, including the soles if you decide to hoop in them. Let’s say it wears off after about one year… Now you’re $300 short and wearing old, soleless Jays. Imagine if we used that knowledge about money working for us and applied that to investing in Nike stock. We would be able to get about two shares of Nike stock at a little under $150 each (as of today, March 3rd). After a year, you forgot about that $300 you spent that ended up being much more because of inflation, Nike doing well, etc. This is just one example of a decision we make daily that prevents us from getting out of the rat race they want us to be in.
Students: REAL vs. FAKE
Now that we’ve covered how we view the perception of education and learning, we need to share with you two different types of students that dictate their fate in life. The two types of students are the REAL student and the FAKE one. There is no spectrum of these types of students. Each person falls in line with one of these types of students. People can shift between the different types of students at different points in their life, but each person knows where they fall most of the time.
The REAL Student
This student is all about developing their mindset to understand the necessity of embracing both education and learning. They are aware of the systematic structure that limits their opportunities, however, they use education and learning to their advantage to eventually create their own system of success and happiness. This student always keeps it REAL. This means that they share their growth mindset culture by empowering their peers through positivity and motivation. This student is a leader, who leads by example. We are so proud of this student and we hope they continue to move the culture in a positive direction, keeping it REAL.
The FAKE one
Okay, so we don’t have an acronym for this type of student, but this student is the opposite of REAL. We can’t call this person a “student” since they don’t meet any requirements of being a student. The fake one goes through life doing what other people force them to do. If their parents tell them to go to school, they’ll go… but that’s as far as it gets. Once they’re there, they use their time to sleep or disrupt the learning environment. They want to be successful in life but haven’t figured out what they’re going to do to get there.
This person has so much potential! They’re capable of achieving their goals but they need to shift their mindset to one that involves action. This not only applies to school, but outside of school too. Speaking of non-school settings, the fake one doesn’t take advantage of the lessons they can learn from experiences that they go through and does not apply those lessons to their life in a positive way. Disclaimer: We in no way are judging this person and hope this person can figure it all out before it’s too late. Let’s keep it REAL, we want everybody to succeed!
Teachers: REAL vs. FAKE
No surprise here, but there are also REAL teachers and FAKE teachers and I’m sure you could probably guess how they might be different from each other. Teachers can also gravitate between these but again, you know where you might fall most of the time.
The REAL Teacher
We will start with the fact that this “teacher” does not have to be in a classroom. Just like REAL students, who are always learning, the REAL teacher is always teaching. Ideally, the REAL student becomes the REAL teacher, which means they lead by example. This teacher’s life is based on always keeping it REAL as well because they understand that someone is always watching. This teacher is all about using education and learning to show students the ways they can apply these resources to their life in a positive way. They praise their students for their success, understanding the importance of acknowledging greatness when it presents itself. We embrace this teacher as a significant part of the movement and are excited at the next generation of leaders this teacher will produce!
The FAKE Teacher
First of all, this person shouldn’t be called a “teacher” since they don’t meet any of the requirements of being a teacher. This person is, however, in the classroom (and only in the classroom) so we will let it go for now. They somehow got the job. This person thinks that teaching is based on doing what they’re told and telling other people to do what they’re told. They don’t fully grasp the importance of being a teacher and the role they play in others’ lives. They don’t see themselves as being on the same level as the people they are there to teach (by the way, they don’t have “students” either since they’re not “teaching”, if that makes sense). Because of this, they don’t act like a role model or care about how their actions might impact others. Disclaimer: While we don’t judge anyone, we are honestly scared of the potential negative impact this person will have on our future leaders and hope this person becomes a REAL student so they can become a REAL teacher and help us continue this movement toward cultural prosperity.
The Importance of Recognition
Let’s keep it REAL, we are all looking for some form of validation. We all want to be embraced when we feel like we’ve done our best at something. If you’re a basketball player, how would it feel if Michael Jordan gave you some props? If you’re a musician, how would it feel if Kanye West reached out and wanted to work with you because he likes your work? (Keep it REAL about your answer too)
We are all searching for that recognition and acknowledgement, especially from the people who teach us. Therefore, recognition is so important to our movement and the cultural shift. What if we acknowledged educational accomplishments as much as we acknowledge somebody’s gold rope chain? What if we praised teachers with the same energy we give to entertainers? What if we gave students the credit they deserve for being at a school and learning the information they didn’t ask to learn? This might hold the culture accountable, where we want to embrace educational success and learning.
Another benefit of recognition is the appreciation side-effect you give off. When you recognize someone, you are inevitably letting them know that you see them. That they are worth positive acknowledgement. This is the driving force that will create empowerment that begins within each of us, which will then manifest into positive and more importantly, sustainable outcomes that will benefit our cultures’ future generations to come.
Our mission is motivated by wanting to help our culture understand how to use education and learning to our advantage so that we can create our own system of operating and have more control over our success and ultimate happiness. We want you to be a part of this movement that will not only benefit you, but will benefit our culture which includes your children, your children’s children, etc. Let’s keep it REAL, it’s hard to think of anything more fulfilling than positively impacting your family and the culture. If you’re still reading this, you must be a REAL one! Again, thank you for checking us out and we look forward to continuing this movement with you.
Keep it REAL.
Recognize Education And Learning 