I recently watched Forrest Gump, a classic film focusing on the life of a man with very low intelligence but exceptional talents in multiple fields. He shows qualities of self-belief, practice and versatility across many areas of life and these are all characteristics significantly lacking in our current education system.
As a child, Forrest is given leg braces to correct a curved spine as well as being told he has an IQ of 75. At school, he befriends a girl called Jenny Curran, but is harshly bullied by the other boys because of his physical disability and low intelligence. Whilst running from the bullies one day he breaks of his braces and is revealed to be an extremely fast runner. He is recruited by the University of Alabama and plays for the Crimson Tide football team, where he has much success. After college, Forrest joins the army and befriends ‘Bubba’, another soldier and ‘Lieutenant Dan’. In adult life, Forrest goes on to become a national ping-pong champion, a successful shrimp fisher, a marathon runner and to meet Presidents John. F. Kennedy and Lyndon. B. Johnson as well as several other accolades.
The character of Forrest demonstrates several qualities that our education system needs to teach children more. First, Forrest shows that even with extremely low intelligence, you can still be successful in multiple fields- he has success in sports, the military and business. Too often, school tells us that grades and exams are the be all and end all, and Forrest demonstrates that this is simply not the case. He also shows qualities of versatility in terms of switching between career paths, which is something I believe my and future generations will increasingly have to do as life expectancies and retirement ages increase.
Critically, most of what Forrest accomplishes in his life is found by serendipity. He never plans to play American football, join the military, play ping-pong or start a business, but all of these things happen because he puts himself out there and goes with the flow. When he discovers ping-pong, he practices relentlessly and ends up representing the USA. This is something our education system urgently needs to address: students and teachers usually believe that people are ‘inherently’ good or bad at a subject or activity (maths is a classic example), and that if you haven’t got it by now then you never will. Forrest debunks this myth as he shows that even a man with limited mental capacity can become an international sportsman with enough practice.*
Though Forrest is obviously a fictional character with an exaggerated story, there are parts of his character that we can all take something from. Perhaps the best part of Forrest’s character is his unflinching loyalty and devotion to his friends and family, which are excellent qualities for anyone to have. When I watched this film, I found it heartwarming and inspiring, and I believe there are things we can take from it both individually and as a society at large. Our education system has a long way to go in terms of adapting for the 21st century. Learning from Forrest Gump would be a good place to start.
*A good book to read on the link between practice and success is Bounce by Matthew Syed https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bounce-Myth-Talent-Power-Practice/dp/0007350546/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=bounce&qid=1621436280&sr=8-2
