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“I'm old school.”

It is a phrase often used with a certain sense of pride.

Sometimes, it signals values that appear less common today, respect, discipline, loyalty, accountability, and the belief that some principles should not disappear simply because society has changed, but sometimes, “old school” means something else.

It can become a polite way of saying, “I preferred things when they worked in my favour.” Modernity challenges established habits. It introduces new ideas, expectations, technologies, and ways of thinking that may require us to adapt, and adaptation can be uncomfortable.

So, rather than examining whether change has value, it can be easier to retreat into the familiar and call resistance a virtue. Perhaps being old school is not the problem. The problem begins when tradition becomes an excuse for refusing to grow. Not everything from the past was better, just as not everything new is progress.

Wisdom lies in knowing the difference.

Some values deserve to be preserved because they remain useful, regardless of the era, others deserve to be left behind because they only worked for the people who benefited from them.

Perhaps being truly old school is not about refusing to adapt. It is about carrying forward the principles that still matter, while having enough humility to admit that the past did not get everything right.