Home Schooling is much better training than Government Schooling. In fact, working without a structured curriculum, lesson plans, and academic goals (called, “unschooling”) is more likely to turn out a gifted entrepreneur than will the regimented drudgery provided in Government Schools.
Oh, and it’s more fun for the student. Things like the joys of reading and discovery don’t get stamped out by boredom in an unschooling environment. But in the Government Schools, well…
Are you looking to hire a reliable, hard-working, intelligent employee who’s able to comprehend and follow instructions? If you’re a small business owner you know it’s hard to find that kind of person.
Entrepreneurial coach Perry Marshall has the answer…
Hire a Homeschooler. In “Escape from the Institutional Straightjacket,” Marshall explains, “why entrepreneurs have to un-learn so much mental garbage before things really start to click.”
Marshall explains the six ways that the Education Business “unconsciously conspires” to stifle entrepreneurial skills.
Want your child to be successful? Marshall explains what makes homeschooling so special. And it turns out that this is another one of those “more with less things” Downsize DC is always talking about. Here’s Marshall, in his own words,
“In modern education we have this notion of helping students become well rounded. This is accomplished by ringing a bell. At eight o’clock in the morning, the bell rings and school begins. The teacher lectures for forty minutes, and you spend ten minutes working on her assignment. Just when you start to get some momentum going, the bell rings again… Now it’s time for math. 50 minutes later the bell rings and it’s time for gym. 50 minutes later the bell rings and we’re in social studies… Then comes lunch… everything is spoonfed and compartmentalized… The bell conditions kids to never spend more than an hour on anything. It prevents them from ever becoming interested or passionate about any one thing – just passively involved in a little bit of everything. ‘Well rounded’ usually just means shallow and disinterested. Those inane textbooks… condition young minds to believe that all books are boring and irrelevant.”
So how is homeschooling different/better? It allows a student to focus. Marshall tells his story of entrepreneurial success. It started in his high school years with a single deep, passionate interest – not a well-rounded search for knowledge. His enthusiasm drove him to learn everything he could about his hobby. It required everything of him, and the deeper he got, the more skills he needed – the more well-rounded he naturally became.
“…looking back I realize that this technical, entrepreneurial and musical journey was the natural consequence of a labor of love. I was deeply interested in something, while all my friends were biding their time in The Matrix… If they had an itch to scratch, they didn’t build something, they just went to the store and bought it. They were being educated about everything, but learning next to nothing; I was building instead of buying. I was searching for everything I could possibly find about ONE thing, and in the process, learning something about everything.”
So can we get better education for our children if we closed the public schools? Yes.
Back in February, Bill Gates declared American schools, “obsolete.” The Microsoft founder also said he was, “terrified for our workforce of tomorrow.” But he’s busy trying to fix it: Right problem, wrong solution.
Perry Marshall quotes John Taylor Gatto, former New York State “Teacher of the Year,” who told his colleagues when he resigned from the public school business, “Your bureaucracy is a mill that grinds up human beings and turns them into consumer fertilizer for a planned economy. Human potential erodes as hungry minds sit in listless boredom, and teachers operate without the tools they need, just so you guys can fill your administration buildings with cushy jobs and give contracts to your cherished vendors. That’s why most of our students can’t read after 12 years of education – yes, even though it only takes 3 months to learn how to read. That’s why most kids follow the herd into a bleak future instead of thinking for themselves.”
On a sight like this, where we’re concerned about Human Progress, clearly this is an issue we cannot afford to ignore.
Both Perry Marshall and the author of this blog entry, aren’t ignoring Mr. Gatto’s warning. We both Homeschool our children. Why?
I like how Marshall puts it: “…they’re not immersed in a corrosive, disrespectful environment where they learn bad habits from other kids and become conditioned to think that learning new stuff is boring.”
But here’s the best thing about homeschooling, in particular. You don’t need to lobby Congress, march on your capitol, or petition the school board to make your child’s education better. You can simply make the decision that you want something better for your kids – something better than you had.
I can’t let this blog entry close without sharing a fantastic Perry Marshall soundbite with you. I was blown away by this quote: “Accusing a home school kid of missing out on ‘socialization’ is like accusing a work-at-home entrepreneur of missing out on corporate politics.”
Amen.
Check out the full article here.