Like most other people I know, I spent a decade of my life as a child at the hands of educators on the state payroll. Unfortunately, we can’t get those lost years back, nor can we tear the offending system down. We can, however, take Buckminster Fuller’s advice and instead make it obsolete by developing a new and better model with which to replace it…
Headfirst
In 2014, I participated in a radical new program here in Chile called Exosphere. All I knew going into it was that it would be an environment that would nurture my inner entrepreneur and facilitate my quest for personal economic freedom. Little did I know that what awaited me was so much more. Much of the first month was spent on introspection and personal development. The director, Skinner Layne, poured his heart and soul into the group and guided us through a rich selection of literature chosen to promote self-reliance and an entrepreneurial mindset. We learned web coding and practiced the arts of public speaking and presenting while discovering our true inner passions and devising business ventures around them. Along the way, I gave birth to a little on-demand custom video production business and watched as the other participants began start-ups of their own. It was pretty obvious that we had all stumbled into something very special…
Surprises
What I couldn’t have anticipated beforehand is how much focus there was on developing those parts of ourselves that aren’t so obviously related directly to regular business activities. We discussed dogma, philosophy, belief systems, our childhoods, relationships, and matters of love and community-building. The pieces were all there and it was just a matter of choosing whether or not to embrace and use them. Nothing was forced upon any of the participants and there was no curriculum to adhere to. The staff were all of a voluntaryist mindset and the learning we did was a very fluid and organic process rather than something pre-designed and pushed squarely upon students. At its heart, Exosphere is a cleverly-crafted chaos from which a clearly-purposed order can grow and flourish. In other words, it’s exactly my kind of environment. Ten years of childhood may have been taken from me by the state, but here, I almost felt like I was getting them back. I wish I could quantify and express that feeling with some kind of objective numerical value but I just can’t. The value may be obvious, but it can't really be measured until some time has passed and the effects begin to stack up. It has been two years already and I'm waist-deep in an exciting real estate business with friends I met there so at least that much is measurable and I wouldn't trade it away for anything. Those three months were a key part of my personal journey and I know that many of the others that were in the program with me feel the same.
Can One Size Really Fit All?
In a word, no. Of course not. If you require a course outline, clearly-defined structure, and detailed foreknowledge in order to function, this is definitely not the place for you. There’s a reason they call it a bootcamp, after all. Despite the gorgeous seaside locale, it’s a place of hard work and should not be thought of as any kind of vacation. You will be tested, your sacred beliefs will be shaken, and if you make it out the other side (not everyone does), it won’t be as the same person you entered as.
Exosphere looks amazing - I'll look into it. One headteacher once told my parents "we could have locked Alex in a cupboard for 4 years and he'd still get top marks."
My parents replied "that's you've exactly what you've done."
I spent 14 years at school in total, and I would have been much better off with just a computer and a small budget for books/games etc. I wouldn't have wasted all the energy on exams, avoiding bullies, manipulating teachers to be on my side and feeling crappy all the time.
But hey, you can't change the past. And I think I've come to terms with it as best I can.
If you have curiosity, the world's your oyster.
Yup. Just gotta try and make up for the lost time now and commit to breaking the cycle of stupidity. I'm sure if/when you have kids, they'll have a much more productive childhood.
similar feeling here man :) but we are still on time :D and in a much more accelerated pace
"The pieces were all there and it was just a matter of choosing whether or not to embrace and use them. Nothing was forced upon any of the participants and there was no curriculum to adhere to."
YES. I love this philosophy and believe this could be the future of education. This is how to make education exciting and fun rather than a burden that burns people out. It's time to take back our education and start learning what we want how we want to.
Were home schooling our daughter.. shes 5 and doing like math and reading harry potter :D
That's fantastic!
Thanks :D
That is the right attitude of parent, but I'm sure your daughter would be excelent even in pubilc school, and will be in life if you keep up your effort. This way she might have problems with social encounter in future, althrought I'm sure you keep count of that also.
We do worry about this.. my wife was in figure skating her who life and most friends were there so we might try stuff like that.
School is not the only place where social skills can be learned. We can learn that in any social situations. As parents, we just have to facilitate such encounters in daily life.
Definitely.. Steemit might make that easier and harder :/
But hey at least everybody can work from home now :D
Amen to that! At the very least, you can blog about your shitty life and earn your own way out of it now. I wish I had that ability when I was a kid.
Sounds like a very big difference to traditional education, but it also sounds far superior.
"far superior" is not technically correct.
Prove it.
Great article!
I wrote a follow up on where exosphere is taking me.
https://steemit.com/construction/@engineercampus/engineering-campus-my-mission
Cool! It was great meeting you there.
The look in your eyes makes me think you were really going to scoop his brains out lol
This was a fantastic day of my life!
What can I say? It was a big day and I was hungry :-/
^ Proof piedpiper is actually a zombie IRL
I think school is dead. It teaches kids to be slaves!!!i am an interpretive that has never been employed, always working for my self and have done really well. I have had to educate my self with what interested and worked for me. I don't think there is a one size fits all way to do it. Also I think education and knowledge are 2 very different things. I think nurturing imagination is so important and it's just not being thought .
so what do you main School is Dead???
I mean that the model we all experienced is obsolete. The internet has opened up all the world's knowledge to us and travel is easier than ever. Our youth would be much better spent exploring the world for ourselves rather than being told about small bits of it by a state employee.
I agree with it. Now the Internet has provided all kinds of science and already many people who taught himself to earn their success.
Exactly. The street bums of today have access to all the world's recorded knowledge and can communicate instantly with people on the other side of the planet... not even the greatest of ancient emperors could dream of having that sort of ability.
for science upvote for you... cheers
True, all of us have impossible opportunities throught Internet but how many of us grab those opportunities, and use them for better oursefls or others.
I don't care about what people choose to do with their lives, I just hate to see the state systematically stunting their potential.
Amen! I can't even imagine outsourcing my parenting to the state like that.
Reading this comment makes me wish there was something stronger than up voting.
for science upvote for you... cheers
lol - yay science!
I think we need both. I don't see something like this building with reliability useful adults, scientist, etc. YES, some kids will do brilliant but a lot more need structure and constant help and a bit of a push. I dunno.
I' not one to believe the government is brainwashing through education. That's a bit too much for me.
Agreed. I work as school teacher, and while I see kids at school and school system are failing at many things, we teachers are often thier only guidance in life. Idea of no normal school wold be teriffiyng, becuse lots of kids would be left to themselfs for education nad lifematters. There wold be chaos. Ideas like this shoud be mandatory afterschool expirience or just like this one summercamps, where they could thrive in creative chaos.
Being left to themselves would be much better than herding them into such an abysmal institution, as far as I'm concerned. Public school is just socialized daycare. Citizens are robbed and extorted to pay for the training of obedient workers and most of the parents are complaisant because they want to outsource their parenting responsibilities.
Moden school has lots of problems. But in that socialized daycare kids get some skills while they have fight for they place, and learn some basic skills and to way function in community which is mostly harsh and realistic. As I offten explain to them its not about what they learn (to replicate), but its about the journey they go throuhg in preparation for their future lifes. Lots of parents don't have and don't spend enough time with their kids, and that impacts school system a lot. Its like from 8:00-14:00 its not parents problem, and after they come home they are too tired. Without right care kids die out, its like with plants . You must nurture them while they are young, else you will have harder life later, or will be lost in shrubs.
TLDR Problem is not within schools, its in society, we must tend for every kid, and his future, that is something parents sometimes don't see. Time and effort you spend with them, pays out with dividends in future. As techer its is hard to put passion in student, becuse that is parents and society role.
I agree that shitty parenting is the ultimate underlying problem. The state just takes advantage of it. "Oh what's that? You'd rather not be a full time parent? No problem! We'll be happy to take them off your hands!"
Hope you have a great time outside of school :) Party get drunk all of that
Quiet missing some parts of school all those times the clowns of the class cracks jokes. Now you have to be more self dependent and nothing is at easy as school nowadays.
I do believe that school nowadays can really be a waste depending on what profession you choose. If you're a doctor you have no choice really but for entrepreneurs its not necessary if you have the talent and brains.
You can still apply to universities without having to waste a decade in school as a kid first.
Testing if commenting is working.
looks like it is. lol
I can relate to this in a lot of ways. Are there any particular challenges that stood out to you on your path?
I definitely agree with you about Education. We are about to go through a Renaissance and will need leaders that can guide that innovation.
yeah, my primary challenges were always institutional barriers. I could've done so much more if people just got out of my damn way.
I'm so tired of college. I feel like a learn much more being 30 minutes on the web than taking hours and hours of classes. I wrote my first post yesterday, sharing some of the resources that I use to learn online. https://steemit.com/education/@icaro/learn-anything