08 Sep 2014

Want to read a seemingly ridiculous comparison?

Going to school is like going shopping.

Now I know that seems like a stretch, but hear me out. When you go to school, you’re looking to acquire knowledge, heaps and heaps of information is thrown at you, but ultimately you get to decide what you keep and what you discard. Now when you go shopping the same applies, there are thousands of items available to you, but it’s your choice what you buy and what you leave. While this seems a bit simple, there are some great parallels that can be made about the different stages in your education and how you can look at shopping to improve it.

When you’re in year 12 and buried under a mountain of syllabus’ and text books, there’s nothing better than taking a step back and thinking, there’s got to be a better way to do this. Shopping is the same. If you’re like me, then you grew up with a local shopping centre that you always ended up going to. Instead of re-writing your notes for the 578th time, try and make up a song that helps you remember them. As someone who takes pride in his ridiculous wardrobe, there’s nothing better than walking into a new shop and seeing something you’ll never find at Westfield.

Being innovative works. I had friends who couldn’t wrote learn notes for their HSC so they recorded themselves reading the notes and then listened to them on the way to school. The way individuals learn best is just like your fashion sense, everyone is unique. Just because we all have to learn the same things doesn’t mean it has to be done the same way.

Trying to get your shopping done around Christmas is one of the most stressful things ever, and as someone who has worked in retail, working in a shopping centre at Christmas is even worse.  Even if you’re just trying to buy a loaf of bread it can turn into an hour long battle to do anything. School can be like that too.

When your exams and assignments start to pile up, and then you have a party that you can’t miss and then suddenly you get sick, you just need to take a step back.  Go for a walk, find a ridiculous screensaver for your computer or even go shopping! Just like Christmas shopping, you’ll get it done but there’s no need to lose your head over it.

Up until now we’ve only been comparing high school to shopping, but obviously your education doesn’t have to end after school. Many people choose to go to university and guess what? Uni is just like shopping as well!  Except now that you’re an adult and you’re constantly busy with classes and a burgeoning social life, you don’t have time for anything else.  And what kind of shopping does that sound like? That’s right, shopping online.

The beauty of shopping online is that you can do it anywhere and you only have to look at the stuff you’re interested in. Think of university as online shopping where you get to choose all your courses, whilst high school is that shopping centre that you have to enter even if you only like one shop in there. As you grow up, you have more choices and that’s scary and exciting at the same time.

Many people know that they want to go to university, yet others have no idea. It’s a huge decision to make and you’re rightly nervous. Just like when you go shopping for your first car, you don’t want to make the wrong choice. So what’s the best way around this? Do your research.

Window shopping is an art, or so I’ve been told.  Most of the time you will never buy the items you look at, but by learning about them you put yourself in an educated position to buy what you really want.  Choosing a university is the same, you can only choose one, but by doing that window shopping you can make the right and informed decision. At some point you have to make the leap, but your window shopping is your parachute.

While all of these comparisons make some sense, perhaps the most important thing to remember is that when you go shopping sometimes quality is the most important thing. And your education isn’t any different.