I’ve got a new resource for you that could explode your level of success – see end of article.
We are releasing the all new 48 Days to the Work You Love seminar on September 1st. Because of the continued workplace volatility we are getting a lot of pressure to make the course “certified” for use in traditional colleges and universities.
While that sounds appealing, the deeper I explored the process the more disgusted I became. I do want people to experience the freedom of finding their passion and applying that in work that is meaningful, purposeful and profitable. But I can’t get excited
about the process that would make this “certified.” Unfortunately, there are requirements that defy everything I believe about showing competence. To me, “education” is broadening your life with experiences and understanding and that can take place as you’re traveling through Switzerland or starting your own delivery business. That education may be more valuable than sitting in a classroom and just regurgitating what’s in the textbook.
Academic certification requires certain things like seventy-five hours of coursework. It doesn’t matter if the content can be conveyed easily in forty hours. I would have to artificially create seventy-five hours, even if that included just busy work to meet the requirement. Their model, then, for proving your competence is to regurgitate what was in the material. So we would have quizzes, tests, and essays where you feed back information that was in the textbook. You could cite the average time on a job and how unemployment has changed over the last 20 years. You would know how many small businesses are starting every month and what the average income of a teacher is. And what that means, and this just absolutely destroys me, is that a student could get an A in the course, 48 Days to the Work You Love, and yet never get that first job, never get a promotion, never find their passion, never find work that they love, or never start their own business. They could fail at all those parameters by which I measure success and still get an A in the course.
So I’m really outside the academic model. I’m happy to be there, frankly, because I think the academic model we have in the United States right now is the next bubble that’s going to burst. And there are a whole lot of people that are saying that. People like Mark Cuban and Mike Rowe and lots of other bright people that are seeing what’s happening. It’s a really broken model where we’re encouraging students just to fill their head with the knowledge that you can access from an iPhone in three seconds. Yes, times have changed. Why would to fill your head by memorizing the capitals of all 50 states or the names of all the presidents?
Here are a couple recent questions from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire:
- “Nephelococcygia” is the practice of doing what?
- Which First Lady was a ninth-generation descendant of Pocahontas?
- Who did artist Grant Wood use as the model for the farmer in his classic painting “American Gothic”?
- What letter must appear at the beginning of the registration number of all non-military aircraft in the U.S.?
Will knowing these answers open new doors of opportunity? Will those come up in an interview? We need people to help people solve problems. To come up with solutions, unique ways of seeing new opportunities and creative ways of relating to other people.
Those are the kinds of things I want to convey, and so proving competence in my courses is not just a matter of feeding back what the materials say, or memorizing insignificant information. Rather, describe to me a project that you’ve worked on. Let me see a blog that you wrote. Tell me about the landscaping business you had last year or the woodcarving business that you just started. Tell me something that you’ve done where you’ve put legs on an idea and created an economic model that will benefit you. Show me the invention you’re working on. Describe how the job you have now fits you or how you just discovered a unique way to blend your passion, talent and money.
There’s a lot of research to support that getting a 4.0 in college is not a good predictor of any kind of success by however we measure that. We have to move past this valuing of knowledge to understanding and application. Learning is easy – mastery is challenging. And unfortunately, a lot of our academic program doesn’t require that. We just show knowledge and that’s it. Knowledge doesn’t do anything for you unless you move all the way through to understanding and application.
And here’s my recommended resource. “How to run a Mastermind Group” I don’t remember the symbol for Barium from the chemical chart of elements I had to study years ago (I’ve replaced that path in my brain with something meaningful), but Mastermind groups have been my constant source of new inspiration, support and motivation for me for many years.
I am a teacher Dan (though on my way out after (and still) working with a coach I discovered through 48 Days) and I must tell you, it is no longer possible for me to work around the people who make up the majority of this system I am in. I simply can’t do it any more. It is for me as meaningless as you articulated and even more demoralizing. Spreadsheets, protocols, dimensions, rubrics, and other indistinct blurs that have nothing to do with t-e-a-c-h-i-n-g have corroded my spirit. Which is the best thing that could’ve happened to me personally, because, well, I’m leaving education now so I can be a teacher. (By the way: For anyone who reads Dan’s blog and is unsure of your next step, I very much recommend getting a coach. If you know who you are and the type of person you seem to resonate with, it can be an unexpected catalyst to move you forward. It’s like taking a bite of a carrot, and tasting chicken linguini with white clam sauce instead. Go to the coaching tab, and click Get a Coach.) Another thoughtful article, Dan. Great to hear that your shout in the hollow tunnel of “certification” has echoed back to you the sweet truth of who you are on the inside. Ralph Waldo Emerson would be proud of you. 🙂
Dan,
Thanks for your profound insight and comments. Yes, I really had to acknowledge who I am on the inside – because the financial possibilities of aligning with the academic system was pretty staggering. But I couldn’t make myself do it. Love your line – I’m leaving education now so I can be a teacher. Sad but true for many.
Absolutely right on mark Dan! Leave the academic idiocy to the idiots and keep on challenging us to learn and do the meaningful and effective things that yield results! Great blog!
Jonathan – yep, so sad to see these kids coming out with no marketable skills. Just a piece of paper and often a load of debt.
Greetings Dan,
I agree that our educational system is fatally flawed. Unfortunately things like compliance and regimentation are prized. Having been trained as a teacher, I can tell you that in my experience, conformity rules the day for students and adults within the system. This leaves precious little room for identifying and developing an individual’s strengths. We need to develop an educational environment which fosters creative problem solving and critical thinking. Perhaps most of all, the process of failing forward needs to be seen as normal and encouraged.
Paul,
It seems “identifying and developing an individual’s strengths” is just not scalable. Thus we’ve built a system for conformity and compliance. There are bright spots with some innovators leading the way. Thanks for your comments.
Dan, Your thought about scalability here is interesting. Wouldn’t have considered that but, education is big business in may ways. A bit of a tangent perhaps but here goes. Knowing how rigid and regimented our educational system can be, do you think that a child who is particularly adaptable, can become highly compliant in order to “succeed” only to discover traits such as creative problem solving or an ability to think outside the box later in life under the right circumstances?
Dan, my son is a department head at an East Coast boarding school that has had a reputation as an Ivy League “feeder school” for over 100 years. Young people from all over the U.S. as well as over 40 countries attend that school for a chance at the Ivies. I also live in Columbus, Ohio, and have met many young people like Chuck. Here’s my scenario, but you probably won’t like it: Nick begins looking for jobs in the finance industry, making the most of the contacts he has made at his Ivy League university. Since he has been in that milieu he knows the manners, the lingo and the habitats of the upper levels of that industry. The fact that he has never held a job is not held against him, since none of the people he interviews with would dream of having their son or daughter actually WORK when they could be studying and adding experiences to their portfolio. He is hired, given some accounts, and, if he makes the most of his experience, he will end up a multimillionaire as a hedge fund manager. Of course, he may have to work 70 hours a week for a good deal of his career, but he may decide it was worth it.
Chuck, once he decides on a career he’d like to pursue, will take some courses at a community college to establish himself in that field. If he has an entrepreneurial spirit he may decide to try his luck as a business owner himself. If he makes the most of his experience he will end up with a comfortable living and a secure future. Of course, he may have to work 70 hours a week for a good deal of his career, but he may decide it was worth it.
Which is better? Well, you be the judge.
Most universities in the US today seem to be mostly interested in so called “diversity” and promoting socialist and immoral ideas to students and the community. The word “diversity” is even second of three words in the “brand” of the university I work at.