Toughing it out

I’ve been thinking about one of the arguments I often hear for keeping kids in school even when they’re miserable, even when it’s taking a toll on their confidence and vitality.  “They need to learn to deal with hardship,” people often tell me.  “Life isn’t easy, so we shouldn’t make childhood easy.  I’ve had hard [...]

Now and later

In case you haven’t seen it yet, check out the story of a 9 year-old in Los Angeles who built an arcade out of cardboard. The film is getting lots of attention for this child’s creation, and it’s getting donations for a college fund the filmmakers have set up.  I’m hoping that the collection will [...]

For your young engineer/inventor/technician/designer/artist

Wow.  Look at this.

Unvilifying the video games

I’m reading Jane McGonigal’s Reality is Broken, about how games (of the video variety in particular) may not be the useless waste of time and brain power they’re reputed to be. It’s one of the most powerful pieces of writing I’ve read in a long time.  I don’t play video games, and until I started [...]

Will it get in the way?

I have an acquaintance who’s a published author but never quite got the hang of spelling.  And a friend who’s a research scientist with a PhD who has never been able to add or subtract very well. Spelling and quick mental computation can be helpful, without a doubt.  But even for their highest-order relatives (like [...]

Me? Non-judgmental?

I got a great and at least partly unfounded compliment the other day.  It came in a coaching session with a young woman who’s considering her career and work options.  We were talking about things she’s been successful at and enjoyed in her life.  ”You’re so non-judgmental,” she said.  I laughed, thinking of all the [...]

Khan and beyond

Innovations like Sal Khan’s videos work wonders for delivering academic content efficiently and equitably.  But what happens once we’ve won our game of academic content delivery?  As a civilization, we can’t survive on algebra and five-paragraph essays alone… The other night I was awake for a long time trying to figure out why I don’t love [...]

Cause for courage

I spoke with a friend a few months ago who does hiring for a small private high school.  They had an opening at the beginning of the school year for a teaching assistant, a position with no benefits that paid less than $10 per hour.  Most of the applicants, he told me, had master’s degrees. [...]

The costs package

I came across an interesting pair of articles this weekend on a website called Career Cast.  The articles list the most overrated and most underrated careers this year. I didn’t find their choices all that surprising; the site based their ratings on factors beyond how impressive the title sounds, or how traditionally esteemed a given [...]

Early indications

We start pointing young people in the direction of particular kinds of work very early, much earlier than we’d like to think.  If we want to improve the caliber of work that goes on in all professions, we’ll be wise to start noticing the potential for various professions that’s evident in young people who don’t [...]