Why American Education Can’t Move Forward

American Education Can't Move Forward

Last week, I nearly passed out on the upper deck of my parking garage.

It was fun, really. Well not fun. More like enlightening. I always thought people who passed out were being dramatic. I thought they were faking it.

Turns out it’s a real thing.

Why do humans have to make things fit in patterns?

Why, in a world where college is rapidly devaluing and the employee is paid less than ever and freelance work for anyone who has a skill is three clicks away, are we still explaining to high school kids higher education is the only answer?

Are we so determined to find a one-size-fits-all solution that we water down the message for everyone?

I read a statistic recently that said 78% of people hate their jobs. Why? Is it because those people have a job they don’t like? Or is it because they have a life they don’t like?

Is it because they bought the idea a college degree would make everything fine?

The system isn’t fine.

We’re faking it.

Why?

Why can’t we move the machine forward?

1. We Want Simplicity

It is easy to say “everyone should go to college.”

It’s also wrong.

You see, the problem with taking broad general statements and applying them to a large body is that people get left out. It’s the same as “nobody should go to college,” which isn’t true either.

And you know what’s sad? People who were always going to work on cars, who were always going to join their father’s business, who were always going to cashier at the shell station down the road still end up doing that.

Except now they’re trying to shake tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt.

2. Pride

Humans hate to be wrong. To admit the system of formal education as we know it  ( memorizing facts, massive textbooks, repetition of a task over and over and over ) no longer applies to the world we live in is a bitter pill to swallow.

After all, smarmy blogger with your coffee and your Mac and your precious ideals, do you have a better plan?

Nope. I don’t. Not a comprehensive one.

I have a few ideas. And other people have a few ideas.

Continuous improvement is the key. We don’t have to fix everything right now, but we can fix one thing.

All it would take is a dose of humilty.

3. (Lack of) Talent

One day I might write a post about why all education should be privatized, but for now, consider this example:

When President Barack Obama rolled out a website for free health care in 2013 I imagine it was a high point for his life. After all the campaigning and bickering and fighting at last he’d succeeded. The launch was ready.

Except the website was garbage.

“But Todd, that was three years ago. Surely the government knows what they’re doing now.”

Nope.

A couple weeks ago, Tennessee attempted to roll out online standardized testing for elementary schools. It was a great idea. Everyone would have the same tests which would be graded immediately. The children would be testing on the same kind of technology they’d be using for the rest of their lives.

Except the test crashed.

And then it got delayed.

And then everyone panicked, deciding it was “safer” to assign the test on pencil and paper.

PENCIL AND PAPER.

In a world where I can send a naked picture halfway across the world, transfer funds into my 401K, and write half of this article without leaving my toilet, kids are using a piece of yellow, lead-filled bark which they will likely never pick up again after they graduate.

I’m not saying government employees are incompetent.

I’m saying capitalistic ones are better.

4. Fear (of the unknown)

What does come next, then? If we can’t get our students lining up from 8–3 (and it must be 8–3), what will we do instead? How will the children learn??

Maybe like they’ve always learned — through practical education. Through being addressed with a problem and given the keys to solve it. Through watching someone who’s been there before and doing it with them.

“You can’t sail West!” they said.
“There’s no land past that big river.” they said.
“The black man has no soul” they said.

Fear of the unknown always loses.

5. Money

College is big business! Of course it is! Why pay $1,000 to attend a semester of community college and live at home when you could pay $32,000 for the same length of time? Because it’s the American Dream! People died so you could have the right to sink yourself into a new car’s worth of NON-BANKRUPTABLE debt before you’re old enough to drink.

That’s what this country is all about. </sarcasm>

Reminder: a name is rarely worth $32,000. Even if they do have a better mascot.

Why did I tell you that’s story about me nearly passing out? (Other than the fact that, yes, I wanted to get your attention).

Because it turned out I had the flu, and was ignoring all the symptoms. I told everyone I was fine.

But I was faking it.

The American school system isn’t fine.

We’re faking it.

26 Things I’ve Learned in 26 Years

26 Things in 26 Years

I am not a life coach, and I’m tired of posing as one.

Why would I try and tell you how to be successful if I’m sitting here right now with like $800 dollars in the bank? Why would I try and give you career advice when I’m still an underling? I’m not going to try and fool you just to get more attention. I don’t have the magic tricks. I’m not even sure there are magic tricks.

All I can tell you is what I’ve learned so far.

And here is what I’ve learned so far:

1. An intimate relationship is important

I realize “go get married” is not practical advice for everyone, but before I got serious about Kate, I ate too much pizza, watched embarrassing amounts of The Simpsons, and was pretty much a layabout. When someone believes in you unconditionally, your world flips upside down.

2. Many, many, many people simply don’t care about you

This might be the most freeing thing I’ve ever realized. Comfortable in the knowledge that 99.9999% of people (even the ones who follow me) are unaware of what I’m doing has given me the freedom to amass a large following on Medium, grow my blog to a couple thousand page views a month, and chase lots of people down to try and sell them a custom Snapchat filter.

Most people don’t care. So why shouldn’t I worry about what they think?

3. Dilbert comics were terrible…

Until I got an office job. Now they’re funny, but not in a “haha” way. More in like an “oh, God why?” kind of way. (Think the grimacing emoji, not the one which is crying laughing).

4. You don’t have to be just one thing

The idea of a “career” as one thing I do over and over and better and better for the rest of my life is paralyzing. It could be careers aren’t really a string of jobs, but a series of skills applied ferociously at whatever task is at hand.

See my mad scientist post for more clarity.

5. I will never resent my full time job

I actually surprised myself with this one until I realized it enables me to pay the bills, buy nice things for my wife, do a lot of free work (which generally pays in even better ways), and chase a passion.

In this entrepreneur-happy world, I‘m fine with selling my soul for a while.

6. Life is one big fat analogy

Choir made me better at code. Code made me better at golf. Golf made me better at school. School made me better at work. Work made me better at taking vacations. Taking vacations made me better at writing.

The more you learn, the more you can learn.

7. Fame is hard

Fame is the combination of talent, work, luck, and time. The amount of people who are born with the natural talent for something, are willing to put in the work, and to do it for a so long that they finally get “lucky” are very few indeed.

Not only that, I’m starting to think it’s a little overrated.

8. Mornings are important…

But you don’t have to drink a green smoothie, run a mile, take a 12 minute cold shower, write 1,000 words, mediate, and do some strength training for them to be useful.

Instead of constructing a 2 hour routine which would require me to be up at 4:30, my keystone habit is my Microjournaling practice in which:

  • I write the date (to remind myself I only get one shot at this day)
  • I write 10ish ideas for something (to make my brain say “hmmm”)
  • I write down what I’m grateful for (to keep life in perspective)
  • I get the heck on with my life

(If you want more details, here’s the post)

9. Most people who are telling you how to do things on a budget aren’t really doing them on a budget

I’m looking at you EVERY PROJECT ON PINTEREST EVER.

10. I’m not sure if life callings exist

At least, not the way we think they do. I think a life calling can be a set of skills, but I find it hard to believe it will be just one job. You are a human with varied interests which change over time. Things I was interested in at age 6 hold little appeal to me now. I expect what I am interested in now will seem pointless 10 years from now.

11. Writing a book is a lot of work

“I’ll just knock this thing right out.” I said to myself last August. “I’m sure I’ll be able to self publish by December. It’s March, and I’m still in production. Plus I’ve written 10 times more than you’ll ever read when you buy the book.

12. I can’t do things just to look good on paper

Not I won’t, like I can’t.

Whenever the stakes aren’t high enough for me I simply just won’t show up. In college I had an pro-bono internship so “my resume would look better.” I lost interest in about 3 days and stopped showing up. I didn’t tell anyone. I just quit. It was a pretty crummy thing to do.

But I learned “looking good on paper” will never be a priority for me.

13. It’s way too easy to look for the answer instead of assuming you already have it

So,

Instead of looking for shortcuts, I’m implementing solutions.

Instead of trying to find “78 Ways to ____”, I’m taking the first one off the list to see if it works.

Instead of reading another article on how to change my life, I’m changing my life.

Instead of looking for another magical habit, I’m getting to work.

14. The return of the Internet pop up is super annoying

How have we not moved past this as a human race?

“Oh, this article looks interst- OH WAIT HERE’S A POP UP.”

What’s bad on a desktop is even worse on mobile. Nothing like trying to nail an X which is 3 pixels wide and .5 pixels high with a fat, fleshy thumb.

15. College worked for me

Not because the machine is flawless. I am a good student. I learn from a book well, and I’m obsessed with taking notes. It’s just how I roll.

16. But college is not for everyone

I predict we’ll see a resurgence of apprenticeship in the coming years. Why go to school to learn about a series of things you will never use when you can start at 18 with a real job, get the experience in the field, and take community college to “round out” your knowledge on the side?

17. The value of money plateaus… really quickly

This is a completely first world problem, but after a certain point, money has a rate of diminishing returns. I say this not as a young, single tech guy, but as someone who makes an average income, and who realized after a certain point, buying things didn’t really make me happy any more.

Also, there is never a magical “enough” money.

18. Keeping up with news makes me sad

I am aware this probably makes me a bad citizen, but I hate watching/reading/listening to news. If something is important, I’ll hear about it.

This is likely why current events are always a surprise to me. It took a couple of weeks for me to realize Donald Trump’s running for president wasn’t a late-night joke that went too far. (…Okay, bad example)

19. I can’t judge what other people do for entertainment

The other day I saw a 30+ year old woman wearing a wild graphic tee and sweatpants with letters across the butt (“Delicious”). She was drinking a Corona-rita and laughing with her friends, no doubt about some obnoxious list of gifs.

“Wow,” I thought. “Some people just never grow up.”

I then proceeded to play three hours of Super Smash Brothers with my cousins and brother.

So yeah.

20. The best way to take away dramatic people’s power is to ignore them

I used to fight them. I used to argue with them. I used to stress about them. Now I just ignore them. Go away shiny people.

21. You shouldn’t have to rely on your parents after age 18

When you walk out that door (even if it’s just to go to university), you are 100% in charge of your own life. My college choir teacher used to say:

 “The sign on the bathroom does not say ‘boys.’ It says ‘men.’ Which one are you?”

22. You are the only person responsible for your happiness

Happiness in a global sense. Not happiness in an immediate sense . Your work/life balance. Your health. Your impact on the world. Your legacy. It’s all you. Nobody else cares about it. (remember #7?)

23. Many of the things you did as a kid will make you even happier now

Last weekend when I sat down to Easter dinner with my family I almost came to tears. We talked about the same nonsense — superhero movies, school, the Jonas Brothers — but those 2 hours made me happier than I could put into words. Nostalgia is very effective in small doses.

24. I can do anything, but I can’t do everything

— I used to say yes all the time. “Yes, I’ll have it done by Friday.” “Yes, I’ll come over to hang out.” “Yes, I can help you with your work.” Now I’m saying no more. Splitting yourself 800 different ways is an excellent strategy for never doing anything with your whole heart.

25. I can eat eggs for breakfast every day

That’s one less decision to make.

26. Except on Saturday

Because pancakes are bae.

The Teacher, The Engineer, and The Mad Scientist

calculator-scientific

She was always going to be a teacher.

Her understated glasses framed her plain face which was surrounded by straight, brown hair. Her wardrobe epitomized modesty. Her voice, which generally rolled out of her mouth soft and sweet, snapped to stern when it needed to.

It wasn’t the kind of thing where you look back and say “oh, we always knew.” We knew in 8th grade she’d be a teacher. Her parents knew. Her friends knew. She knew.

Teacher. There simply wasn’t another option.

I once had a conversation with a friend which went exactly like this:

Me: It must be nice to have known what you were going to be when you grew up. I mean, you were made to be an chemical engineer.

Friend: Oh I don’t think that’s true at all. You just think that because it’s what I am now.

Me: Really?

Friend: Sure. When I was younger, there were all manners of engineering I was interested in.

Gee, I know the feeling.

When I was younger, I was interested in different types of engineering too. Or I could be a painter. Or I could be a construction worker. Or I could be a designer. Or I could be a journalist.

Or

or

or…

At times I’m envious of those people who have their lives defined at an early age. Another friend saw the word “architect” in the dictionary in 6th grade social studies and guess what? He’s now an architect.

Forget arranged marriages. I’ve known people who seem to have “arranged careers.” Their skill sets were analyzed at an early age, and some unknown power matched them up with the appropriate career, whether that be police officer or football coach or engineer.

I am not an engineer.

I was never “always going to be” anything.

Instead, I live the life of a mad scientist, mixing together elements of careers until I get a reaction which interests me or until something blows up in my face.

Do you know what this week’s theme is? Making custom Snapchat filters. (Reasonably priced, too! Better email me quick, though…)

Last week I was writing a book.

The week before that I was very interested in data analysis.

Round and round we go in search of That-Which-Keeps-Us-From-Boredom. Because boredom is the devil.

(P.S. that link is my first Medium post ever. It’s nowhere near the quality of stuff I put out today, but you should still read it.)

How to Survive as a Mad Scientist

1. Shed the guilt

Just like some people are born with the exact set of skills and run through the exact set of experience to rocket them directly into the perfect career, some of us wander around with a mish-mash of seemingly incompatible abilities, looking to fill a particular niche at a particular time.

Most narratives I hear describe people like us as “undisciplined.” Let’s flip the script a little bit:

  • You aren’t wishy washy, you’re flexible. 
  • You aren’t distracted, you’re open to new experiences. 
  • You aren’t undisciplined, you’re adventurous. 

Could it be that there is no “normal” career?

Could it be that some people were meant to jump from career to career, solving problems, learning new things, and then moving along?

Could it be that you’re one of those people?

2. Use your boredom to guide you

Some people figure out what they’re good at by noticing what they like. Others figure it out by noticing what they don’t like.

Most mad scientists are the latter.

There are two things I’ve not gotten tired of yet — the first is writing. The second is getting tired of things.

3. Sell Yourself to Customers, not Gatekeepers

Mad scientists have difficulty selling themselves because they have difficulty defining themselves.

One of the benefits of this hyper-connected world is we don’t necessarily have to impress 6 or 7 interviewers before we get a shot at a job.

Do I think you should get a full-time job? Sure. I have one. They pay me. It’s awesome.

But I noticed Verizon does not care if I pay them with $30 I got from freelance design work, $50 I got from selling a couch and $90 from my “real job.”

If you’re mad like me, you’ll have more luck (and more fun) cobbling together several different income projects than you will trying to squeeze another 3% raise out of an employer.

Pro tip: when you start these projects, think local. The problem with setting up online shops first is that you have to compete with the best of the best of the best.

Instead, directly reach out to nearby businesses and offer your services. If they were going to google someone, they would have already done it.

4. Multi-project, but don’t multi-task

Mad scientists are chronic non-finishers. Once they reach the point of boredom, they often have trouble getting around to putting the final nail in any coffin.

Austin Kleon has a practice he calls “Productive Procrastination” in which he always has to have at least 2 projects going at once. That way, when he gets bored or stuck at one, he can just bounce to the other.

Again, the key is to keep from boredom. Boredom doesn’t necessarily mean “you’re doing nothing.” It actually should mean “it’s time to do the next thing.”

5. Do not waste what you’ve learned

Many times, we mad scientists make the mistake of assuming physics has nothing to do with statistics and neither of them have anything to do with music which is a COMPLETELY different subject than graphic design.

Wrong. On all accounts.

In my experience, life is one big analogy. The more you learn, the more you learn. Learning code has helped me with animation (and pretty much everything else). Golf helped me learn to code. Music helped me learn how to golf.

Though he is many things, the mad scientist is not wasteful. Every experiment leads to the next. Every finding challenges or validates a set of assumptions that can be applied to every situation.

6. Do not expect to become a specialist

I’ve written about my favorite IT guy before. Here are a few things I’ve heard him talk about doing:

  • Master Gardening
  • Indian Cooking
  • Building a catapult in his back yard
  • Creating an irrigation system for a friend (his suggestion, not the friend’s)
  • Solving world hunger
  • Trading a homeless man a row of sausages for a Colt 45 (the drink, not the gun)

That last one has nothing to do with career or hobby of course, but the point is Pat’s not a specialist. He is an intelligent person with varied interests. He is a mad scientist. Who knows what he’ll do next? Join the peace corps? Write an app? Create the world’s biggest pile of compost? Become a biologist?

Pat probably won’t be the best at anything. He won’t be a specialist.

It doesn’t matter. If Pat can paying the bills while keeping himself entertained, he’s a happy man.

We should all be so lucky.

The Problem With Quitting Your Job

The Problem with Quitting Your Job

(This is an excerpt from my upcoming book: The Creative’s Curse.)

Most people, at some point, will try and convince you to take what you’ve learned and soar. They’ll say you should shove away from that awful job and TAKE OFF LITTLE BIRD! Today’s culture is so entrepreneur-happy you’ve got business gurus on every corner telling you to screw the man and break free.

There’s a problem with that:

Continue Reading…

What are You Chasing?

What are you chasing?

His vice wasn’t a drink
Not a powder nor pill
His drug was the web
That’s where he got his fill

He copied the “greats”
Who said “always stay busy!”
He kept writing and working
So much so you’d get dizzy.

Headline hacks made him cringe
SEO tricks were boring
But he wrote to a formula
So his “hard work” kept scoring.

And he chased with great gusto
Every retweet and like
Every share, every follow,
“Just one more traffic spike”

But attention grew old
And despite each new roar
The applause didn’t sound
Quite as loud as before

Meaningless, meaningless,
All his happiness robbed
Now his job was himself
And he hated his job.

He forgot why he started
Back when he had a heart
Chasing fame, chasing love
He forgot to make art

Can Anyone Be Creative?

Can Anyone Be Creative?

Yes.

Okay, that was easy. Can I take the rest of the post off? No?

Fine.

Look, here’s the deal, Creativity is nothing more or less than coming up with a new solution to an existing problem. Sometimes that problem is getting your drink out of a cup without a straw, and sometimes it’s explaining that empty hole we feel inside when we turn off our phones and the noise of life stops.

Want to be more Creative? Cool. Here’s how:

Step 1: Think of problems every day
Step 2: Think of ways to solve them every day
Step 3: There is no step three

We act like Creativity is some vague thing, but in reality it’s not. Someone has to be the dreamer. Someone has to come up with ideas. The trouble is, most of us forget what it’s like to be creative (probably because of all the “stay inside the lines” talk in Kindergarten).

But then we might get to this question:

Can anyone be an artist?

Again, my answer is yes. But most people aren’t. 

This isn’t some kind of elitist position here. I don’t think only a select few are “chosen” to create art for the rest of the world.

No, most of my reason for believing this is because Artists go one step further than Creatives. Artists bring ideas into reality.

Anyone can come up with ideas. I thought of 10 this morning in the shower. That’s because I’m creative.

But art is the tangible reflection of an intangible world. It is idea incarnate.

Art is the tangible reflection of an intangible world. It is idea incarnate. Click To Tweet

There are far more creative people than there are artists because many people do not have the willpower, talent, or resources to bring their ideas to life. Good ideas are full of promise. Good art is full of work.

The best artists make solutions for problems the world has never even thought of yet. Where others can only reach our mind and reason, artists tap directly into our emotions using a certain medium they have mastered so well they do not need to explain it to anyone.

Beethoven never said: “Moonlight Sonata is about the tragic suffering of man, and the emptiness he feels both when he nods off to sleep at night and when he finally drifts away into eternal slumber.”

He didn’t have to.

“So Todd, what if I have a lot of ideas, but no time?”

Pass them off to an artist. It’s fine to be creative but not artistic. A lot of people are this way. Several of them have the title “CEO.”

“But what if I have a lot of raw talent, but can’t come up with anything new?”

Find your Muse – either within or without. There is no shame in executing on someone else’s idea. You probably do this every day at your “real job.”

Besides, you’re likely to find more pleasure making other’s vision come to life than beating your head against the wall trying to be “original.”

 

How to Be A Shapeshifter

How to Be A Shapeshifter

Can we all agree the Internet is getting too complicated?

I’m sure it’s not really intentional. It’s just that when someone is trying to complete with approximately 100 bajillion other articles on the Internet, writing a headline about 67 BRAND NEW PRODUCTIVITY HACKS becomes terribly tempting.

But sometimes, on the occasions we set aside our intellectual pissing contests and actually have a conversation with each other, we find most topics are really pretty basic.

Like this one.  Continue Reading…

The Endless Cycle of Creative Procrastination

Phase 1:

You come up with a new idea. You love ideas! They are sexy and pure. Out of the corner of your eye, it winks at you. You melt. Abandoning all else, you take the jump and fall hard.

Phase 2:

You pour your heart and soul into the idea. This Idea is the one that will change your life, the one which will make all your dreams come true. Nobody loves you like your new idea. The two of you spend late nights, early mornings, and walks in the park together.

Life is but a dream.

Phase 3:

You start to get a little bored of your idea. Sure it’s still sexy, but it turned out to be pretty high maintenance. It’s a lot of work to get ideas You long for the time when you were first in love.

Your mind starts to wander, until all of a sudden…

Phase 4:

You come up with a new idea. You love ideas! They are sexy and pure….

This is a call to action:

Break the cycle.

Finish.