Outside the Box (and school)

26 Mar, 2025

Lots of people sometimes say to think outside of the box. Whether this is used in solving brain teasers, a general hard problem, or a novel problem, 'thinking outside the box' is always one thing that people point to to differentiate the so-called genius or smart and the other sheep.

But thinking outside the box doesn't happen in a vacuum. People don't just magically "come up" with the solution by thinking outside the pre-held constraints that are defined. Rather, to think outside the box, people need to simply think and ignore/forget/disregard the box.

Now sometimes, thinking outside the box comes naturally. Maybe you slept between then and now and now you have new ideas. Maybe you took a walk or went on a drive or took a shower¹. Other times, thinking outside the box comes as a result of making connections. "Hey, I saw something like this before" or "wow this really seems like concept [x]" kind of thoughts start happening and before long the puzzle is solved and there really didn't seem like a box there at all.

But for most of us regular people (me definitely included), when we get stuck on an outside the box problem, we kind of just crumble. A stoppable force meets an immovable object and we are stopped.

As a result, those that we call the "geniuses" of our time are those that can drop the box and think. Doesn't matter if they're 'in the box' or 'out of the box' -- to them it's simply thinking. Afterwards, they discover which ideas work and which don't. But before, it's just thought -- and no ideas are discarded however unlikely they seem until they are proven incorrect (or an alternative is found).

Anyways, time to take a moment to criticize school again. School (high school, where I'm at at least) is currently turning me into a cog in a machine designed for ???. I've most definitely caught the senioritis to some degree but overall, things just don't feel meaningful. And I hypothesize that beyond the various factors that are floating in the air -- the fact that that last grade doesn't matter that much; that you'll maybe never see your classmates ever again; that video games are fun because there's achievement in progression that you don't feel (immediately) in school -- the feeling of being a mere tooth of a gear is as a result of there not being thinking involved.

Today went like this. I walk into 1st period Jazz Ensemble and hop on my phone to check for some notifications. After a few minutes, I get ready and hop on the band stand and play for 90 minutes. No solos taken, no new music read, nothing too interesting (though our guitar player Leo had a banger solo and there was a lot of talk).
3rd period AP Lit. We analyze Pride and Prejudice some more, do some socraticing, and take a test on the book. I score reasonably. Still nothing too interesting (though talking to other smart people in the class is cool, and I take a nap).
5th period AP Stats. We're reviewing a test we took a while ago. I already know all the answers and can explain probably all of them. I sit there and start drawing; eventually there's not enough drawing and my attention isn't needed so I go to sleep.
7th period Eng Tech Adv. It's sort of a 'free' class in that you're not mandated to do anything, but for me, I took this class to do stuff. I read a few articles on a blog post, teach our robotics mech lead (goated taoster) how to use PathPlanner, and finish with some of my friend's AP Psych reading. Pretty interesting. But not too meaningful.

In recap, my day was boring. Well it wasn't boring -- things happened that caught my attention. It wasn't dull either -- some parts of the day were interesting. It was repetitive -- I've been to this school for 3+ years and am getting tired, and I've basically been doing whatever we've been doing in class for a long while. I was also tired. But beyond all those factors, school just didn't make me care and think. I care about math. And thinking. And my friends. And being good at jazz. And reading cool things. But today, when I went to class, I did none of those. I got to practice nothing really, and it really seemed like going through the motions.

School is about learning. Millions of people have passed AP Statistics. Millions more have read Pride and Prejudice. I would wager that there are many that have done both. So why are these classes even offered?

If I asked this to a principal or a teacher, the most likely response I'd get would be that although these things have been dissected, there is still value for the student to get out of learning this material -- namely the opportunity to get educated (literally -- I read a book I would've otherwise not have known and learned some math I would've otherwise not have known) but also to think.

And as outlined in my day above, I don't think that second thing happened. In the age of digimedia and as a high school senior, I simply don't care about the facts. I know how to learn, I'm smart, and there's no reason for me to be in class if class is all facts. And since there's not much brain usage in class, it begs the question of why should I show up to school?