What We Are Buying With Our "Investment In Education"

Haven't been posting recently. Work has become overwhelming. Not a bad thing.

I've recently decided to push for some opportunities that I see occurring in the next two quarters, as the economy enters its double-dip. When others are crashing, it's an opportunity to acquire, no?

So I've recently hired two young people, and am in the process of training them up to a level of competence. One of these people has a Bachelor's degree, the other, two years of college. Between them, thirty years of education. And yet, it seems that I'm working with tabuli rasa.

Their handwriting? Barely legible. And, at the first sign of challenge, they admit to not being sure whether or not they have chosen rightly when undertaking their positions here. They are nice, bright kids. I continually admonish them to think about their favourite sports heroes, asking them, "what is it about these men that allowed them to rise to the top of their sport?"

Failure.

For every made shot in the NBA, there were thousands of missed shots in practise. For every goal scored in a World Cup match, thousands were missed on the practise pitch. The only practical teacher of success is, has been, and will be, failure.

These kids grew up in an educational system that put them into groups. Gave them a task. And then, the group developed their "project," from anything as simple as writing a poem, making a poster, acting out a skit. No individual responsibility. And projects were awarded points for creativity. Never for anything approaching an epistemological understanding of the task they faced. No points for truth, logic or clear thinking.

Points for working well together.

The following video encapsulates what I'm working with. Here's a young man, in college, without the slightest clue as to what his own responsibilities are. And, he's living off of the largesse we are being told is necessary in order to "invest" in education.

Have a nice day.