Relevant Education Will Bridge the Gap...

Currently:
Students are lost in The System. They spend years of schooling steeped in frustration, denying personal interests and natural aptitudes that don’t fit the narrow prescription of traditional coursework. Those that move on to higher education find themselves drowning in school loans, yet remaining unemployable.

The Solution:

Relevance to… students’ natural talents, interests, and aptitudes.
Adults are quick to complain about students’ lack of motivation and growing sense of apathy. There is, however, a simple solution to this motivation and apathy “problem.” Create space where students are allowed to be themselves; where they are praised and encouraged for their intrinsic interests and passions.

• How Are You Smart?

Students also need to identify their SuperPower and be in environments that acknowledge and celebrate the gifts and passions that make them unique. (Every adult should do this, too!)

• What Is Your Super Power?

Relevance to… the real-world.
In the real-world, we have to make mistakes. Thomas Edison never would have invented the light bulb without 9,999 attempts proving what did not work. The real-world presents us with problems that don’t come with pre-determined, multiple-choice answers. In fact, very few things about real-world problems have only one correct answer. Yet, students are terrified to make mistakes; they see it as a mark against their intelligence. We must praise efforts, not results.

• Student Motivation: Are You Accidentally Sabotaging It?

Students must be taught the skills needed for success in the workplace.Countless sources of data confirm that the top, most in-demand skills for the workplace are soft skills. A survey conducted by the Oakland County Workforce Development Board concluded that 95% of the top skills needed by employers of emerging sectors are soft skills.
Only 5% of the most in-demand skills relate to science, technology, engineering, or math.

The Carnegie Mellon Foundation and Stanford Research Institute interviewed Fortune 500 CEOs to determine a formula for success in the workplace.The overwhelming conclusion was that 75% of long-term career success is determined by soft skills; only 25% of the success equation depends on technical skills.

• See what education is missing…
  The Cost of NOT Teaching Study Skills

Relevance to… the biology of the brain.
If The System taught in a manner that was congruent with how our brains work, we could eliminate nearly all frustration over learning and there would be almost no need for Special Education.
My son has a severe reading disability. His test results include some of the largest discrepancies possible. Yet, he has become a thriving student, reading two years above grade level. How did he do it?
We taught him with methods aligned to the circuitry of the brain…

• The Brain Circuit
• The Brain Biology of Learning Disabilities