People often ask me how I have come to live this kind of life—travelling frequently, not really working. My former headmaster even asked my parents recently, “What does Robert actually do?” So I thought I’d explain here, as best I can.
I did well academically at school—straight As at A-level, distinctions at S-level, and I think I was the only one in my year to get these grades. Which may make it all the more puzzling that I now live the way I do. Isn’t education meant to be a launchpad into a career, into the social hierarchy? Well, no, I don’t think it does achieve that, simply.
What does education actually teach you to do? I would say to:
- Think clearly
- Speak truthfully
- Be respectful
- Question assumptions
- Not use power to dominate
- Not hide behind empty words
These are all things I believe I learned. But in some environments, particularly professional ones, they’re liabilities.
In a nutshell, I’d say that having respect for both others and for the truth can be a surprisingly difficult path to tread. Because people posture—often without realising they’re doing it. Getting to the truth is hard work. Posturing is easier, and often a way to avoid that effort. If you’re someone who resists posturing and tries to speak honestly and thoughtfully, you may come across as a threat—someone who unintentionally makes others uncomfortable.
Revealing the truth can expose others’ shortcuts, or the ways they’re going through the motions. If you present it bluntly, people may dismiss it emotionally. If you present it gently, they may find it harder to ignore—and that can feel confronting. So oddly enough, doing what education encourages—thinking carefully, speaking plainly, respecting others—can make things harder, not easier.
At one job interview I was told, “The trouble is, in a way, your thinking is too far advanced.” In another, I was rejected out of hand for being “too pleasant.” A relative once said, “Everyone is afraid of you, because you use your brain as a weapon.” I think it’s all about calmly getting to the truth. People don’t like it.
I think that there are other problems with education too. It teaches you to think deeply. A lot of work is very shallow. Employers will be concerned that the most educated will be bored. Such people may also have feelings of frustration that they are wasting their lives in their work. I was even told that in one job interview (for which, true to form, I wasn’t offered a job) “You have to leave your job, you have to leave it, because if you don’t, you are slowly going to die.” Maybe that’s a compliment. The interviewer was telling me that I had deeper skills that I should be using. But in which direction should I go?
Another problem is that there is a disjunct between education and professional life. You finish university and then what? Should you become an accountant, lawyer, banker, actor, computer programmer? How does studying maths, literature, history or science really give you any guidance in that extremely important decision? It doesn’t, is the answer.
I hope that educators understand that, while education may liberate the mind and spirit, it is wrong to assume that it serves well as a launchpad for a career. Going back to my headmaster’s question, what I do is I travel a lot (as you can see), I study things that interest me, I spend time staying healthy, I work on websites (this one and www.legalobjects.com), and I have found a few disparate sources of income (entirely legal) that tide me along, and do take up some of my time. I also do apply for jobs from time to time. But is the two or three hours it takes to apply really a good investment of my time, when employers may only be advertising to create the impression of an open process, or acting without integrity in any number of other ways?
All this travelling has been incredible, and I am very fortunate to have done it. I didn’t really set out to travel so much. But, as we know, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. I’ve had a lot of life, and for that I’m grateful.
29th March 2025
