- how to recognize and defeat learned helplessness in all areas of your life

- field trips to somewhere very different!

agree with the ones you mentioned (personal finance, health, relationships) as well as a few others listed (auto care, overall vocational learning). another i would add is basic household maintenance stuff: carpentry, plumbing, electric, etc. i really suck at all of that stuff.

seems like Jon’s company http://EduFire.com is doing language education online. another company i’m an investor / advisor for is http://TeachStreet.com, which helps people search & connect with local teachers & instructors. they haven’t launched yet, altho they’ll be rolling out in Seattle soon.

i’m also learning a lot about education for kids, since we’ve got a 3-year-old about to start pre-school. my wife’s been doing a lot of home-school education with our son and 1-year-old daughter, and between her & the nanny the kids are well on their way to speaking mandarin & japanese. kids just suck up new info from 0-3 at an amazing rate. holy crap.

WSJ also did a recent review (here: http://tinyurl.com/67q58c) of 3 education sites for reviewing / finding schools for kids:
– http://education.com
– http://greatschools.net
– http://schoolmatters.com

anyone know of other great sites for education info?

The problem is the kids with perfect SATS and great test taking skills when it comes to thinking/doing/proactive behavior have real tough times. Is it necessary?

Hell no, take orders, do your work and be happy. I think to be an entrepreneur, be independent, think for yourself and try new things it makes it much easier to start at a young age of questioning things and learning what you want to.

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that the current system stinks. This isn’t a case of one bad teacher or a single bad school. It’s the whole school system that wasted all of our formative years by playing babysitter, instead of engaging our brains and interests.

To paraphrase some friends, I think we need a revolution in education.

I think we need to give people an engaging way to learn what they’re curious about and trust that they’ll take what they need.

I urge you guys to see what EduFire.com is doing to education. Their menu of teachers and classes is a great solution.

not only that, but there is a need for this info to be packaged and delivered in a way that appeals to young people.

sadly, it will take a long time to change the curriculum in school, so we’ll have to educate young people where they spend most of their time out of school: internet (youtube social networks)

im starting a youTube initiative for progressive peer videos on topics such as:

basic finances (credit)
mental health
communication (with parents, school)
sexual health
dating/relationships
volunteerism
goals and motivation

if you know people (experts in these areas) who might be interested in collab’ng on these vids for young people, tag me

yehaw*
=)
vanae

Along the lines of Andrew’s comment (Hi Andrew–miss you!), I heard about a school many years ago that allowed students to create their own schedule (who says we all learn math better in the morning?), pick their own subjects, and even create their own learning environment. They had options of desks, floor space, bean bags, listening to music while studying, etc. Not all people learn the same way, so why not give the option to learn in a way that’s customized.

I remember back to my own elementary school experience and I appreciated that I was allowed to do advanced programs (yeah, I was one of THOSE kids). In third grade, I switched to the 6th grade class for a few hours each day. I also was bused over to another school one day a week to do advanced teaching/creative projects and LOVED it. I remember doing reports on tornados and architecture in 4th grade. I’d love to see more options for kids, to explore, to learn, and to challenge.

One last thing…then I promise I’ll stop. I really enjoyed my Freshman year of high school as I had all of my core classes (english, math, science and social studies) with the same group of kids. The school purposely did this so we could bond and build community. Only the Freshman classes were set up this way, but it created a great foundation for that awkward year of high school (i transferred to a new school, so this was vital for me!)

Again, great post and conversation. Lots to think about.

I lost the weight and eat right/work out and I am slowly getting my body into the right direction after many many years of poisoning it.

I really wanted to learn a ton of things I didn’t get to learn during school. If I had to ability to try out subjects for 3 weeks and have the option to change into another discipline depending on how i feel, I feel I would have had more options.

I believe we are moving toward a world where kids collaborate more online on projects and subjects they care about, we need to ask less from our students in the traditional sense (Get an A on a subject they don’t care about).