Bach is very fortunate to have found something he loves doing and excelled on his own. Bach clearly stressed in his, Secrets of a Buccaneer- Scholar, that education is important, but how you obtain that education is not necessarily important (1). Bach dismisses the teacher’s comment that his speech was “dangerous” because he is simply stating the facts; he is living proof that you do not need a formal education to succeed in life (1). I believe he also dismisses the teacher’s comment because of the lack of faith she has in her students. She believes that her students did not understand the message he was trying to give and does not believe that they will strive to exceed her expectations. However, Bach’s response was very well played; he stated, “They will learn and grow from anything that happens, unless they believe there is no hope. Your job is not to make them huddle quietly in a corral, but to help them get out there and seek their fortunes. Show them a way” (7). Bach basically said to the teacher that she needs to help them grow based on whatever foundation they choose, whether it has to do with school or not.

Bach’s response is similar to West’s response in the sense that they both believe a person should do all that they can to succeed. Bach phrases it as, “If you want to prosper in life: find something that fascinates you and jump all over it. Don’t wait for someone to teach you; your enthusiasm will attract teachers to you” (2). They both believe you have to be a go-getter to get what you want; Kanye told students to take advantage of your opportunities (1). They both also believe it is not the end of the world if you do not succeed. Kanye said backstage, “It is true you can be successful without [college], but this is a hard world, a real world, and you want every advantage you can have” (1). He talks about his experience dropping out of college when he had a record deal on the table, but had to go back to the real world when he was not entirely successful. Similarly, Bach stated that even if you are not successful and you have to work at low skilled jobs, it is not fatal or permanent, everyone bounces back in their own way (7).

In the excerpt of Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar, Bach dismisses the teacher’s comment that his speech was “dangerous” because he believes that Schoolism is what’s really dangerous for students. His personal experiences have taught him that teachers are not necessarily correct and the school education system is incompetent. When the teacher says the students “have” to be in school, Bach relentlessly criticizes the illness of school rules and proves that his high school teacher said the same thing and was wrong.

Even though West and Bach seem to have diametrically opposed responses to school, both of them mention the importance of proper education. They express that nowadays students need to learn what is valuable and useful in today’s society, not just what for grades. They are successful dropouts because they are clear about what they are truly interested in and filter out the useless things. West says: “Why did I go to school?’ I didn’t go for math class, I went for gym, for lunch, for art” (par.7). Similarly, Bach expresses: “Knowledge does not improve my education unless it changes me for the better” (1). West and Bach make their own choices to drop out of school, but they still continue their education, just in a different format that is equally or even more rewarding.

In addition, both West and Bach feel that school can’t satisfy their needs. For West, school is not able to support him financially; school can’t offer music production and rap classes. For Bach, school doesn’t give him the opportunity to do a meaningful experiment in physics class. More importantly, school doesn’t prepare him for the real world.

Furthermore, West and Bach both agree that education is flexible. While West states: “There’s poetry classes, but why aren’t there rap curriculums? It takes people like myself to stand up and say this is part of our culture, why not use it to educate” (par. 7). Bach believes: “ Feel free to disagree with your teachers, take some things from them and ignore some other things” (2). In other words, a good education is customized to one’s needs.

James Marcus Bach dismissed the teacher’s comment of being “dangerous” because he wasn’t the dangerous one, the teacher was. Bach is not in favor of “traditional” education; he states that, “Education is important. School is not. I didn’t need school. Neither do you” (1). Bach believes in education and learning, just not through the means of school.  The most important thing about education to him is learning who you are and that cannot be achieve from traditional education. An individual should learn everything they want to learn, and should learn it in their own manner. If you can learn calculus from reading a book, physics from hands-on activity in your garage, or even history from watching documentary. Do it. That is a valuable education, and it is probably better than anything that you could ever get from a school. In school, “schoolism” is practiced (5). There is no you in that. The student is forced to go to school studying topics that were predetermined by the school, only to get a number that does not mean anything. There is no self-exploration or discovery in that, just another cookie cutter forcing its shape upon a student.

Similar to Bach, Kanye West is also a successful drop out; however, his view on education is different. Kanye West says, “‘it is true you can be successful without [college], but this is a hard world, a real world, and you want every advantage you can have’” (1). While he did not achieve higher education himself, he approves and promotes college. Despite the contrast in views higher education and schooling, Bach and West share a common ground; that should teach more relevant courses. Bach didn’t attend school or do the work because it did not interest him. Bach wanted to do calculus, not basic high school math. So he skipped school to learn calculus. He feed his own interest, not the schools. Kanye West went to school not for math but for gym, lunch, and arts (1). In his days, ball was the hit thing, now music is prominent. Kanye believes that there should be a curriculum focused on music production, and schools should “get with the time (1). Bach and West promote learning but it should be interesting or relevant to you. Students should educate themselves in something they have a passion for.

Historically, buccaneers were seen as reckless rebels. Their social status was ambiguous because nations failed to place them in an already existing social category or to accept them as part of their societies at all.

So I believe that the term “Buccaneer Scholar” has a negative connotation to it; it may even be a euphemism for what another would call a reckless intellectual. “Buccaneer Scholars” are looked upon as strange; the Spanish authorities even called buccaneers “heretics and interlopers,” but there really is a method to their madness (Wikipedia). What I make of a “Buccaneer Scholar” is a person whose mind breaches the norm in a way that alarms those who have been trained to think in a way set by said norm. A “Buccaneer Scholar” is an intellectual rebel – someone, as Bach writes, “whose mind is driven to wonder and find its own voice and place in the world” (8). “Buccaneer Scholars” neither need nor desire academic recognition from a society that shuns them; they believe that all one needs is the passion to learn. The way one shows this passion may seem unconventional, but if it works for the individual, he or she will be content. As the European governments put it, buccaneers are “hard to control” because they know no boundaries for acquiring the knowledge that they yearn for (Wikipedia).

The benefits of such a formulation include new inventions, theories for previously unexplainable events, or possibly an overall better global quality of life. Because the “Buccaneer Scholar” thinks so far out of the box, there is more room for discovery. However, there is also a limit for the “Buccaneer Scholars;” since their ways of thinking venture far beyond the borders of the norm, others leave little room for success. A student at Bach’s lecture raised a real concern with his question: “Isn’t it true that many employers won’t even consider you unless you have lots of formal education?” (3) To survive in today’s society, one must still hold a job – usually obtained with a degree attained through formal education – and with a job comes restrictions. The brilliance of a “Buccaneer Scholar” may be held back by rules made to keep a society structured and orderly. Instead of discovering the cure for cancer or how to stay alive on another planet, a “Buccaneer Scholar” will probably use this time working in a place that hinders the individual’s full potential, just trying to make a living.

“Buccaneer Scholars” truly break the mold that society expects of us. They experiment with their own intelligence, and like with any experiment, there are positive and negative reactions.

School can be perceived differently. In both readings, we were able to read the views of two dropouts, on education and school.

In the excerpt, Secrets of a Buccaneer- Scholar, Bach shares his ideas about the meaning of education. He states that, education and school are not the same. Bach writes, that “school can help your education,”(page 1) but you can get an education through other ways too. He relates a story in which, he was asked by “at risk students” questions of how he was able to become so successful, without a high school degree or a college degree. He states “Education is important. School is not” (1). Bach even went as far as to say that homework was in the students’ control and that he “rarely did schoolwork that followed [him] home” (1). He believes that school is not the only place you can get an education, but you can self teach yourselves.

The teacher from the story actually called his speech “dangerous for children to hear” (1). Hearing this, he realizes that it isn’t dangerous for the students, but for the teacher. Bach’s only intention in this speech was to teach the students the difference between education and school. In eighth-grade he encountered something similar, in which his teacher basically told him he wouldn’t succeed if he didn’t graduate high school, but indeed he did and proved her wrong. He educated himself in computers. Bach moves past her comment because he knows that his views are different than others and he can’t convince everyone his views are right or wrong. Bach’s experience won’t always be the same for other students.

Like Bach, Kanye West is a dropout. However, their views on education and school are very different. Bach “[doesn’t] care about school” (2), while West “praises the value of higher education” (Moss, 1). West believes that school and education is one and it is important in real life. He realizes that not everyone can succeed like he did, which is why he thinks taking advantage of school is important. Bach didn’t consider this thought; he believed that like his experience, others could succeed without school. With this realization, West launched a contest in which the winner would receive a great sum of money for school. West later explains why he went to school and all of his answers didn’t have to do with the Math or English, but states that it was for “gym, for lunch, for art” (Moss, 7). He realized that students want to learn about things they’re interested in. West believes that, “this is part of our culture, why not use it to educate” (Moss, 7) which is why he is promoting his business  that puts music-production equipment in schools.

Though Bach and West had different views about school, they both expressed how important it was to enjoy what you’re being educated about. West rapped and worked in the music industry, while Bach taught himself about computers. They’re talented in what they do which brought them both success, however not everyone has talent which is why many need school in order to be educated and succeed in life.