Education May Be Broken, But Your Curriculum Doesn't Have to Be

“If someone teaches it to you, they can teach someone else [or robot] and replace you.” — Naval Ravikant

\ The traditional education system is suboptimal. It teaches memorization over understanding, conformity over curiosity, and compartmentalization over synthesis. It prepares us for a world that no longer exists while punishing the very skills life demands.

Here’s the good news: You don’t need to follow that broken script.

The key to success lies in designing your own curriculum. A learning system tailored to your unique goals and interests. This is how you become irreplaceable.

The Flaws of Traditional Education

Schools reward conformity, obedience, and rote memorization. The real world doesn’t. Here’s how traditional education sets us up for failure:

1. One Correct Answer

Schools teach convergent thinking: one problem, one solution. Real life demands divergent thinking: one problem, infinite solutions. Creativity thrives not in finding the "correct" answer but in exploring new possibilities.

For example, convergent thinking insists 1 + 1 = 2, and there’s only one method to solve it. If you solve it another way, you’re “wrong.” This rigidity is absurd.

Alex Hormozi, in his book $100M Offers, asks, “How many ways can you use a brick?” You could build a wall, create a paperweight, design art, or even invent something new. These are abundant examples of divergent thinking. There are several “right” answers, and some are more right than others. That's how the real world works.

When solutions are convergent, they’re easier to teach and easier to replace. If someone can teach you, they can teach someone else—or program a computer or robot to do the same thing. Divergent thinking happens with creativity, making it irreplaceable.

2. No Shortcuts

Have you ever solved a math problem your way, only to fail because it wasn’t the way your teacher wanted? Me too.

Traditional schools discourage shortcuts. They insist on “doing it the hard way” under the false pretense that you’ll learn more. But you don’t need to learn everything—you only need to learn what’s useful.

The truth is, no one succeeds alone. A pencil is the product of thousands of people working together. Woodcutters, miners, rubber producers, and manufacturers who’ve never met.

Schools lament that younger generations use calculators, computers, and now AI tools. But isn’t that the point of progress? Every generation should make life easier for the next.

I don’t want to memorize faster or calculate quicker than a computer. That’s a race I’ll never win. Instead, I want to improve my creativity, the one skill computers can’t replicate. Tools like AI aren’t competition—they’re collaborators. They free us to think bigger and focus on what matters most: creating solutions that didn’t exist before.

3. Punishes for Copying Smart People.

Copying isn’t only natural—it’s essential. You learned to speak, walk, and survive by imitating others. Copying smart people is how you speed up success.

Want what someone has? Repeat their habits. Avoid what others regret? Study their mistakes and do the opposite.

Copying with intelligence saves you decades of trial and error. There’s no point in wasting 40 years of your life trying to do the same things others have done before you.

• Copy what they’ve figured out
• Get the outcomes faster
• Figure new stuff out and make things easier for the next generations. Simple.

If you don’t seek to create your own curriculum, you will receive one. You’ll be living a life that has been lived millions of times by millions of people.

4. Questioning Authority.

In school, asking “Why?” can land you in detention. In life, it’s how you innovate. Questioning assumptions saves time, money, and energy.

Rushing through tasks without asking why can cause rework and wasted effort.

Take time to pause, reflect, and question the process for better, faster outcomes.

5. Effort Isn’t Rewarded; Results Are.

School rewards effort—turn in your homework, and you’ll get points. Life doesn’t care how hard you try. If you miss the one crucial detail, your entire effort wastes.

The market rewards outcomes, not inputs. Grind doesn’t matter; results do.

6. Memorization Is Useless.

“School rewards you for what you can remember. The market rewards you for what you can predict. The latter pays more.” — Alex Hormozi

Memorizing is storing data. Understanding is seeing how the data connects. It’s the difference between repeating a script and improvising a masterpiece.

Think about it:

• Memorization is fragile. Forget one step in a process, and you’re stuck. Understanding is robust—it adapts and improvises.
• Memorization is limited. Your brain has finite storage. Understanding compounds, connecting concepts across disciplines.
• Memorization is replaceable. Why memorize the periodic table when Google can recall it in seconds? Understanding makes you irreplaceable.
• Memorization feels like progress, but it’s fragile. Remember math class? Everything clicked until the pace picked up. You were suddenly memorizing formulas instead of understanding them. That didn’t end well. School rewards what you can remember. The real world pays for what you can predict.

What Schools Got Right

While the flaws are glaring, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are valuable lessons we can adapt from the school system:

1. Consistency Is Key.

Showing up at the same time every day, whether you feel like it or not, builds discipline. Professionalism isn’t about motivation; it’s about consistency.

Think of an untidy room:

cleaning after one day is easy, but waiting weeks or months makes it exponentially harder. The same applies to creativity—more entropy equals more effort to create order.

Destroy chaos with consistency and build momentum. Making your work easier and faster.

2. Structure Enables Freedom.

Deadlines, schedules, and systems help you focus your energy. Structure creates the freedom to be creative within constraints.

3. Collaboration Matters.

Group projects teach you how to work with others, even when it’s frustrating. The ability to collaborate is essential in the creative economy.

Build Your Own Curriculum

The most valuable education is the one you design for yourself. Here’s how:

1. Define Your Goals. What do you want to achieve? Clarity is the foundation of progress.
2. Learn What Can’t Be Replaced. Everything can be learned but not everything can be taught. As Naval Ravikant suggests, focus on skills that are so unique and personal that no one can compete with you. You will unbeatable when it feels play to you but feels like work to others.
3. Use High-Leverage Tools. Leverage books, mentors, and tools that multiply your efforts. AI, automation, and modern tech aren’t crutches—they’re accelerators.
4. Act. Study less, practice more. Theory without application is waste.
5. Iterate. Learning isn’t linear; it’s cyclical. Experiment, reflect, and adapt.

Your Future Is in Your Hands

When you design your own curriculum, you take full responsibility for your growth. You can’t blame the system for your failures—or your lack of progress.

The creative economy rewards those who think for themselves, adapt, and create value. Be the architect of your education, and you’ll thrive in a world that celebrates the exceptional.

Final Thought:

To thrive, you need to think like a professional, create like an artist, and learn like a lifelong student. Merge work with play. Focus on creativity over conformity. Build your curriculum with intention—and become irreplaceable. I’m rooting for you.

Big love,

Praise J.J.