First read Seth's blog:
What's high school for?
Perhaps we could endeavor to teach our future the following:
- How to focus intently on a problem until it's solved.
- The benefit of postponing short-term satisfaction in exchange for long-term success.
- How to read critically.
- The power of being able to lead groups of peers without receiving clear delegated authority.
- An understanding of the extraordinary power of the scientific method, in just about any situation or endeavor.
- How to persuasively present ideas in multiple forms, especially in writing and before a group.
- Project management. Self-management and the management of ideas, projects and people.
- Personal finance. Understanding the truth about money and debt and leverage.
- An insatiable desire (and the ability) to learn more. Forever.
- Most of all, the self-reliance that comes from understanding that relentless hard work can be applied to solve problems worth solving.
So now the question is...How to start teaching the basic skills in a simpler form to elementary and middle school students so that they can build on what they have learned once they get to high school...
Regarding the drop out rate...a band aid on an arterial bleed will not be effective. Keeping the knife (societal dangers and influences) out of the reach of children while stopping the most insidious form of child abuse (negative parental influences) is step one. You cannot water a plant growing in toxic soil and expect it to flourish simply because you have given it nourishment. Solutions must address family groups and not just the children.
Think prevention vs triage. Preparation for greatness is a lot easier to teach vs treating the effects of long-term exposure to hate and discrimination.
I believe that any group working with young people needs to take a long, hard look at Seth's blog and ask themselves...
