In this week’s 48 Days Podcast, Joanne and I reviewed the many contributions listeners sent in regarding raising creative and entrepreneurial children. Many of the submissions expressed dismay with our current models of “education” and how the important skills seemed to be learned outside of a classroom.
In my continued research into how education is changing, it became clear this is not exactly a new idea. In 1744, when George Washington was just a twelve-year-old boy, the Collected Chiefs of the 
Indian Nations met to discuss a letter from the College of William & Mary suggesting that they “send twelve of their young men to the college, that they might be taught to read and write.” The Chiefs sent the following reply:
Sirs,
We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinc’d, therefore, that you mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you, who are wise, must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours. We have some experience of it. Several of our Young People were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are, however, not the less oblig’d by your kind Offer, tho’ we decline accepting it; and, to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take care of their Education; instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them.
(letter shared from Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams)
Where have you gotten your most valuable education?
As an investor my best education was not at the university of minnesota or nebraska where i majored in business management. Instead it was investing in berkshire hathaway and vanguard indexing and then reading warren buffetts annual letters and jack bogles books such as the little book of common sense investing. Also when buffett recommends a book to read-i generally read it. Most i will keep till i die but all of my college textbooks i threw away decades ago! Remember you do not need any money to read jack bogles books at the library or warren buffetts letters online!
Carson – ah that’s the experience of so many. Your comment reminds me of Jim Rohn’s quote: “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
I graduated many years ago near the top of my class at the University of Alabama School of Business. I knew nothing. In college I was taught primarily how to work for others. How to analyze and compartmentalize various business functions. I don’t recall anything about entrepreneurship, how to succeed working for myself. After working for myself I realized that the same thing that helps you succeed in your own business is the same thing that helps you make good grades in college: seek the valuable information, use common sense and hustle. Six months at the feet of a good business mentor could have saved me a lot of time and money.
We can relate. My husband is 48, just finished his degree and was let go a month ago. Four lay offs in 29 years and here we are again, but now we have student loan debt that makes me lose sleep. We would love to start our own business, but have no clue how or what kind. Plus, now, with savings dwindling again he feels he has no choice to but get another manufacturing job. What a waste.
Ron – oh how well said. If only we could package this – “Six months at the feet of a good business mentor could have saved me a lot of time and money.”
Gotta love that: make Men of them. Our modern educational systems attack manhood, disparage fatherhood and exalt a warped feminist perspective about the world. And, oh yeah,they do little if nothing to prepare young people (male of female) for the modern working world. In fact, it might to safe to say modern schooling un-prepares young people for the working world!
Jonathan – wow, that’s strong and quite discouraging. We’ve got to take the lead as parents and influencers to counter those trends in leadership roles outside “academics.” Thanks so much for your accurate comments.
Like many of your respondents, my best education came after I graduated from college and worked for seven years as a bookkeeper and inside sales rep for a self-made multimillionaire. I learned more about the realities of running a small business during that time than I learned in any of the classes I took in college (from professors who had never had a payroll to meet or dealt with an IRS audit.)
Ouch – there’s one of the ironies. Business being taught as an intellectual exercise rather than as a result of real life experience. Two of my strongest role models in business were both high school dropouts who went on to become multimillionaires – and also leaders for me in family and spiritual life.
I work for a University (not as a professor) and after seeing behind the educational curtain for the past few years, I can say we are terribly misleading the younger generation about what a true education is supposed to be. I am around a lot of highly educated folks everyday and I can tell you most of them don’t know how to hammer a nail. And common sense is no where to be found. (ie. One highly degreed individual has spent the past three weeks trying to get rid of a single mouse at home. My suggestion of getting a mouse trap was deemed too simple, but they have hired three exterminators and the services of a cat, but the mouse problem still exists) Most of the students graduate with a degree that is at least 50% fluff will few life skills, and 95% of the students of any University will leave with thousands of dollars of student loan debt that will take years to pay back. The primary focus of Universities today is not in educating the students, but making money. That is why they push students loans so hard. Financial Aid is a cash cow for the schools. While I still believe that a college education can be a very valuable tool, it really depends on what you wish to become. There are too many fancy sounding degrees available that have not merit whatsoever. When I graduated college eons ago, the biggest skill I learned was “how to think a problem through.” My best education has been self development after graduation. Continuously reading, learning new skills, keeping up with technology, going to seminars, networking, meeting people, and solving problems. We need more problem solvers instead of desk jockeys that only know how to work for someone else. When I look around at all the talented people that work for the University I am saddened that most of them would be in a panic if they lost their job because they don’t know how to make and income on their own.
With so much common knowledge about the problems, it seems that things will have to change. And they are. This model is broken. That’s when new ideas are birthed. Thanks for your insights.
So you are saying that the government push that anyone who wants an education should have one was a failure. Much like the government push that everyone who wants a house should have one….and everyone who wants health insurance should have it. Now who would have ever thought that government getting involved in the free markets would have resulted in a disaster?