After shepherding the educations of four of my own kids, and educations of several hundred other students from ages five through sixty, I must admit that we are doing it all wrong. The education system in the United States as of 2020 is a well oiled machine. We churn out millions of children year after year. But for what? What are we preparing them for? At present, the best I can tell is that the average student is prepared to sit at a desk for eight hours, doing and thinking what they are told to do and think. If you are preparing assembly line workers, this is perfect. But time has moved on, far surpassing the ability of the educational system to keep up. If I had another child to educate, I would do it so very differently. In this writing, I want to explore, just for my own soul-baring exercise, exactly how I would structure a complete education for a child today, from start to finish, with the finish being either moving on to college work or getting a full time job.
The first step is deciding what skills and understanding you want them to have when it’s all said and done. What should this child know? What should they be able to do? In today’s world, I would suggest that a modern child is ready for either college or the working world when they can…
Learn by themselves (autodidactic)
Understand their own propensities or purpose
Function in society, and
Think Independently
These are the skills that make for a successful life today. Learning how to function in society is really a matter for parents to handle in the home, but a few of those aspects might reasonably be taught along the way in their education under the heading of life skills. How to pay your taxes, why not to go into debt, how to pay your bills, write a resume, save for your goals, and other issues of personal finance and job hunting make a nice course at some point. If you are home schooling, you might add in how to do laundry, cook, clean, grocery shop and otherwise manage yourself.
But here I would like to focus on the other three bullets, which is where a massive restructuring is needed. These three goals boil down to one: independent, self-directed learning based on one’s own interests. This is the GOAL. Not the method.
The goal is that by eighteen years old, the student is capable of independent, self-directed learning, and is applying that to their passions and propensities to create a career path. That path might go through college, or it might go through vocational school or just some certification programs or none of the above. That path might be entrepreneurial, or blue collar or both, or some other thing we haven’t even dreamed of yet.
So how do you teach someone how to think for themselves, learn for themselves, understand their passions and talents, and go build a life?
Let’s take an example from the end result and trace it back to the beginning. Suppose you are, as an adult now, interested in Chemistry and how it might be used to make new materials with all kinds of interesting properties. You could find the latest research online and dive in. In fact, you could find textbooks and all manner of material online and learn everything you could want to learn about it. Ultimately, to get a job in that industry, you will need a degree and laboratory experience. So college is a good idea. You could then take that path, choosing your college wisely based on where that exact kind of research was being done. Suppose that, instead of a scientific bent, you might be very interested in welding. There is a ton you could learn online, and quite a bit you can practice yourself with the right readily available equipment, and perhaps an apprenticeship. In each of these scenarios, the actions look the same: go online and research how it is done, the latest techniques, the kinds of available jobs, and how to get into that field.
Regardless of your interests, you simply need to know how to search and how to interpret what you find. All of that starts with what you might expect: reading, writing and math, and something extra, asking questions. If you can formulate the questions, read the answers, compile the information, and figure out a path to your goal, you will, regardless of industry or vocation, be successful. Math comes in here in terms of all manner of practical application from saving up for college to understanding business profits, recognizing false claims and calculating projectile trajectories, if that is your thing.
So there is the foundation…. reading, writing, basic math and asking questions. Luckily, every two year old I have ever met is absolutely amazing at asking questions. And that is where I would start. Two years old, or as soon as they are potty trained. I would do away with grade levels, grades, standardized testing and age requirements. Let them learn as they can learn, fast or slow or some of both. Included here for reference only are the ages you might expect, on average.
(2-3) Recognize letters and numbers. Write them. Make art about them. Play with them. Ask questions about anything and everything and have your learning coach help you look up the answers together, demonstrating the process of researching, compiling information from multiple sources, drawing conclusions, writing them down, and then letting that lead to new questions.
(4-5) Recognize small words. Make small sentences. Add and subtract small numbers. Write them. Make art about them. Play with them. (SDL: right seat ride as above)
(6-7) Recognize bigger words. Make bigger sentences and small paragraphs. Add and subtract bigger numbers. Write your own questions. Make art about them. Play with them. (SDL: right seat ride as above, but start taking over writing down what you find.)
(8-9) Keep adding bigger words, higher level reading, higher level writing, based on the interests of the day. Multiply and divide. SDL: left seat ride with supervision… here the student does the research, write ups, etc while the learning coach assists.
Time for what we used to call High School…
(10-11) As reading and writing level increases, make self directed learning more independent, asking them to report out daily. Introduce Algebra One and then Geometry. Since they are a little older, you might expect them to keep an interest area for up to a month or several months. Ask them to explore their interest area from every angle: What is the history of it? What is the science used to do the job? What art is involved? Who are some experts in this? Is there anyone locally that you can talk to about it? We will call this 360 SDL.
(12-13) Reading and writing level will continue to increase, as will research skills. Introduce either algebra two, computer aided design, or basic programming. These build logic skills that will further improve their SDL. Follow up with additional classes in math, science, history, or whatever they are interested in.
(14-18) At this point, all of these years of exploring interests will have resulted in a reasonably stable passion for some subject, and a lot of understanding of the history, science, people, math, art and other aspects of it. It is time to focus. Get out into the world and work in places where people are involved in what you are passionate about. By 15 years old, they should be interning or volunteering in these businesses, assisting the people who have the job they want to have. Meanwhile, research, read, write, make plans for your future, explore and learn and calculate and take it further. For the academically minded, take classes at the local community college. For those who prefer certifications or vocational school, now is the time. About half your “school” time would be spent assisting and experiencing the reality of your passions while half your “school” time would be spent researching, getting certifications, taking community college classes, and the like to prepare for the job market. You might also have an actual paid job beyond that. This last phase is a good time for personal finance lessons and other life skills training.
Under this plan, by the time you are eighteen, you recognize your passions and have all the real world experience, classes, certifications and training you will need to go out into the world and contribute. If college is your path you have only two more years to finish a Bachelor’s Degree if you have not done so online already, and thanks to community college, you have guaranteed admission into the local school of your choice. Most importantly, you are curious. You think for yourself, and find your way quite on your own.
The silent hero of this entire process is the learning coach. I don’t call them a teacher here, although they certainly are, but they are so much more. The job of the learning coach is to teach the basics, and then teach the student how to teach themselves. They coach, encourage and help the student find their propensities and passions and make them reality. They morph from teacher to learning coach to life coach. They might have a generalized education degree, or some specific degree that fits your child’s interests. They do not need to grade your child. They work so closely with them in a group of no more than ten, that they know very well whether or not your child is getting it or not. They report out to you regularly via real conversations.
Here is another view of how this kind of education progresses…
Facebook
Twitter
Buffer
VKontakte
LinkedIn
Gmail
Notice what it doesn’t have:
No wasted time
No standardized tests
No grades or SATs
No stress
No government involvement
No restrictions on free thought
This type of education would be considered home school, but would allow parents to drop children off at the learning coach’s home or office for the day. Parents who would prefer to be the learning coach can do that, or you can hire someone. At early ages, even a teenager or older sibling can be a learning coach. As students get older, however, you might prefer a learning coach with experience in particular career paths or subjects.
If I were a teacher today, at the K-12 level, I would quit that job, take ten students privately, and teach them in this way, 12 months a year with week long breaks here and there. As a reminder, this is just my own opinion of how I would do it, if I had it to do all over again. May it be useful to you.
