Educational priorities

This fall, we will be sending our daughter to a Montessori-style preschool for a half day, twice a week. It is a far cry from real “school,” but I realize that we are closer to making big decisions about our children’s’ educational trajectory each and every day. Consequently, I’ve given education a lot of thought lately. Here is where my head is so far, and the principles that I think may guide our decisions:

1. The world belongs to the creators. People that can produce things are those with the upper hand. The end goal of education for my kids will be to be able to “build” and create- skills like engineering, coding, design and various forms of art will be priorities in our home. In other words, hard skills of creativity and creation.

2. Critical soft skills will be a close second-tier of learning. My most valuable asset is my ability to sell, and it is a skill that has come in handy in all kinds of ways. I’d say that sales, complemented by critical thinking, negotiation, public speaking, social skills and etiquette and maybe a second language thrown in for good measure will make all of that creation business from point #1 worthwhile and profitable (both financially and in other ways).

3. Educate through experience. Depending on the path we take, whether public or private schools, some form of home or other alternative schooling, etc., this may look quite varied. But if I have the chance to share the history of the American Revolution through a four-day trip to Boston or European geography by train through the Alps, that is more fun and beneficial than opening a textbook. My kids won’t forget those experiences, ever.

4. Practical skills > standardized tests. Personal finance, health and nutrition, gardening and photography may have no impact on where a kid can get into college, but college isn’t the goal. A life of abundance and excitement is. I’ll focus on practical skills when in doubt.

5. Jobs are like pants. You can get a job and change jobs easily if you are reasonably bright and hardworking. A job isn’t the goal. Skills to enable the life that you want are the goal.

   I’d go so far as to encourage my kids to get an engineering degree even if they have no intent on being an engineer. Engineers are not often sitting on the sidelines looking for jobs, so that probably won’t be an issue. But with engineering skills, a traditional job is just one option. Product creation and entrepreneurship is another, for example.

6. Begin with the end in mind. Kids may not know specifically what they want in life, but I bet most would agree on one near-universal, long-term desire: freedom of time, location and finances.

   With this in mind, 80% of options are easy to write off as impractical or statistically improbable. Dedicating most of your time trying to be a professional ballerina while acquiring no skills of creation or relational value is a bad option. No knock on ballet, but I bet 99% of ballerinas don’t have freedom of time, location and finances. It’s a tradeoff that most people probably wouldn’t make if they thought of it in this context.

This is probably something I’ll be writing about more and more because it is very much top of mind. I’d love your thoughts and feedback. What is missing here, or which principles are off-base? Shoot me an email.