Some people make an argument against assigning lots of homework in school is that it detracts from children learning how to deal with people.

The response to that is that there are all sorts of ways in which one stands to learn how to deal with people without killing each other or getting pregnant at age 15.

I didn’t learn how to deal with people in school. I learned how to deal with people later. I have many friends, and there are many people who respect me. People kept making the case that I did not have common sense. I don’t want common sense. I want real knowledge and real understanding. It is common sense that you get what you give; it is common sense that life is not fair. These two statements are incompatible with one another. If life is not fair then you don’t get what you give, and if you get what you give then life is fair. Two mutually incompatible statements are seen as part of the same mentality; which means that the mentality is not nearly as sensible as it considers itself to be.

If it is thought right that kids get pregnant at age 15 but not right that they take school seriously, then something is very wrong with people who believe such things. In many American schools the kids who take school seriously are thought to “think they’re better than everyone else..” What qualifies these people to speak for “everyone else” – 8 billion people, most of them nothing like themselves? Of whatever arrogance they accuse the serious student, theirs is far greater. And it is a far more destructive form of arrogance. The pride of the achiever, when correctly directed, realizes in many accomplishments that benefit many people in many ways. Whereas nothing of any kind of good is owed to this mentality.

In Russia, the way they’ve done to keep kids away from drugs and crime has been to have extended programs for students. Another effort to that effect I’ve seen done by churches in America, where kids are either reading the Bible or playing basketball instead of doing drugs and crime. If either of these is done, there is much greater chance of children learning rather than practicing destructive behaviour.

There are all sorts of ways in which one can learn how to deal with people. Take a class in psychology. Observe. All this can be done by anyone. It doesn’t have to coincide with being a punk.

This problem appears to be worst in American inner city and in “redneck” communities. In doing what they do, they are destroying their own competitiveness. They are sabotaging their best minds. And this leads to them falling behind people who do not do that. Hindus, Chinese and Jews get ahead because they don’t do such a thing to their youth.

Once again, there are many possible ways to learn people skills. It doesn’t have to come at the expense of academic achievement. I have many more people skills now than I did when I was in school. I didn’t learn them in school. I learned them later.

How you treat your serious students has a vast effect on your competitiveness. If you treat them like dirt, you are sabotaging the best things that arise from your soil. And that leads to you losing competitiveness against people who do not do such a thing.