Here is an a snippet of 16-year-old Paul Hillsdon on the purpose of education: “Schools need to be facilitating the full development of young children to a young adult; raising people who are vocal enough to question the unquestionable, creative enough to imagine the unimaginable, resourceful enough to answer their own questions, and radical enough to believe they can change the world for the better.”
Paul Hillsdon is a 16 year old youth currently residing in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada. He spends most of his time perusing the internet, catching up on TV shows, and thinking up crazy ideas. Paul is currently muddling through the last years of high school. Afterwards, he intends to pursue his dreams and ideals as long as financially possible.
Paul initially developed his ideas around education through some turbulent times in school. After being the straight-A, teacher’s pet, top dog student in school for a few years, he hit a wall. Succumbing to the social pressures of high school, he discovered that there were only two reasons to be in school: socializing and learning. Being able to focus entirely on the educational aspect, he realized how screwed up it was.
After a rough Grade 9, wherein he experienced two terrible teachers, he lost all motivation for schooling and refused to return. He continued his studies for Grade 10 onwards with Surrey Connect, a local district-funded online school. Realizing that distance education was 10 times worse than regular school, he intends to return back to a building and graduate with grades that will enable him attend university, in the case that he may one day wish to do so.
(Description for the 21st Century Learning Initiative website)