Interesting perspectives. I could not agree more that our current educational system is no longer fulfilling its obligation to society. The model is dated and is derived from an economic and societal perspective that is over 100 years old. This piece from Sir Kenneth Robinson is an interesting historical take – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U. To me, i look at it this way. If you were going to build an educational system from scratch, would it look like this? We both seem to think no.

We have gotten away from the purpose of an education, which is to educate and provide our youth with a set of tools to assist them throughout their lives. Your points about having different likes, ability’s and interests is often forgotten. We teach to the crowd, not the individual. We teach from the top down, not locally up. We teach to a definition of success that does not often apply to the majority of our students.

Your thoughts on changing the length of time for attaining a degree, incorporating civics, financial literacy, creating newer more practical degree types and rewarding and encouraging giving back to the community are spot on.

Different degree types, entrepreneurship, flexibility in obtaining an education as well as rethinking the financial costs of secondary education also need to be addressed. Lastly, there needs to also be a corresponding change in the way we educate our young children as well as provide educational opportunities for our work force. The historical impact of education on a society is well documented. We need to execute better as a society.

You have great points about programs that could be helping high school students make the transition to their own life. I would love to see those happen but I’m not optimistic. In the meantime, I take two ideas from your article that could help.

First, learn how the world really works. Not how they say it works on paper – how it really works. If the schools won’t teach you that, set out to learn it yourself. You have the two key topics: finance and civics.

Second, there is always going to be news stories about how bad things are. Bad news sells newspapers and gets viewers. So stop reading the news for a couple of years. Stop reading the articles that kill your optimism, enthusiasm and hope for the future. There is always something that needs to be done somewhere and if you don’t get paid for it initially then volunteer. It will look good on your resume, you’ll get positive reinforcement and the world will be that much better for what you have done. Nothing so dire that you absolutely positively have to know about it is likely to happen and if it does, you’ll see the smoke. The world will still be waiting once you get back.

Lastly, your thought that ‘college seems like the next step on a path set by someone else.’ I have spent most of my work life in jobs that didn’t exist when I graduated from high school. I’ve pretty much made life up as I’ve gone along and the people I most admire have pretty much done the same. Don’t look at the world like it’s a peg board and try to shape yourself to fit one of the holes; look at the world like it’s a lump of clay and try to turn it into something more to your liking.

I hope your ideas can translate into realities. Reading articles like this keeps me positive.

Thanks,

/chet

Enjoyed the article and the pragmatic approach you have outlined for altering higher education through experiential learning. Funny, I recently responded to a survey from my high school and my main points of emphasis were to provide real world experience and financial literacy.

In regards to education, I am a firm believer that you learn best by doing. Put another way, a well-rounded education involves experiential learning; coupling theory in the context of what you know with real world practice.

I also like how your model provides visceral experiences. Financial literacy and civic engagement can be little more than abstract concepts unless they are directly relevant to your life. Actually living frugally with Americorps for a year is a much better teacher about cashflow and debt management than reading a case study. Perhaps most importantly, doing expands your frame of reference and exposes you to the reality that there is a ton of stuff you didn’t even know you didn’t know. This then opens up a whole new can of worms as it creates an environment of self-directed learning.

I find a lot of the idea’s relevant to the non-profit I work for, the Family Independence Initiate, a national center for anti-poverty innovation. FII invests directly in people’s strengths and initiative by putting the power of choice and control in their hands. The working poor families decide what their goals are and how to make them happen with support from other families in their community. They make the choices and ultimately create their own paths out of poverty.

In any event, I enjoyed the article and appreciate your work with DailyFeats and Swellr. Would love to talk further! Take care.

Best,

- Aaron
@fii_boston