I meet many people who feel they are not good at anything.
I meet all kinds of people who simply go on with their lives getting on with it, who wait for the weekend.
Only a minority of people truly love what they do.
Education dislocates people from their natural talents.
Reform in education is not enough anymore.
We need a revolution, not an evolution in education.
The tyranny of common sense.
It’s hard to know what you take for granted.
Wrist watches, for example, are something we take for granted. Many adults over age 25 wear them because they are functional and tell time.
Teenagers don’t wear them because they do only one thing, tell time.
It’s an outdated piece of technology, with limited use for young people.
In education we still think in linear terms.
But life is not linear, it is organic.
Probably the pinnacle for education is getting you to college. That’s wrong.
Human communities depend upon a diversity of talents, not a singular conception of ability.
I came across a statement that said, “College begins in kindergarten.” No it doesn’t!
A three-year-old is not half a six-year-old.
Conformity.
We have built our education system on the model of fast food, where everything is standardized.
Education should be about passion, about what excites our spirit and energy.
If you are doing something you love, an hour feels like 5 minutes.
If you are doing something you hate, 5 minutes feels like an hour.
We have to recognize that human flourishing is an organic process, not mechanical, and all you can do is create the conditions under which humans will begin to flourish.
It’s about customizing to your specific circumstances.
We have to change from the industrial, linear model to an agricultural, organic model in education.
Abe Lincoln quote applies to education: 'The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.'"
