Let the Learner Decide

I was set to write about how schools spend billions of dollars on training, but they don’t have a clue if that training works. But that article will have to wait until another day.

I serve on a few non-profit boards now that I’m retired. This morning I had a check-in with the leader of one of those organizations.

This non-profit leader had what I thought was a good idea when she approached the local high school to see if students might be interested in interacting with our non-profit to learn more about leadership and workforce preparation. This particular non-profit exists to promote and support downtown businesses, so connecting youth with small business leadership seemed like something everyone could get behind.

I was wrong.

The non-profit leader told me the school people she met with told her that their students were “overextended,” meaning that the kids were too busy to commit to interacting with downtown business leaders. The school people encouraged our non-profit leader to provide calendar events stating when and where the students could volunteer. The school people seemed to think that this would meet the non-profit leader’s expectations.

They were wrong.

Both the non-profit leader and I realized that the school people were greatly underestimating the impact the downtown business leaders could have toward high school students. Imagine the power of a conversation between a small business leader and two or three high school students interested in starting their own business. Starting with a question like, “How did you begin your small business?,” could begin a wonderful relationship between a current business owner and those who eventually will own their own small business.

Imagine how much young learners could experience, specifically gaining knowledge and skills, if they were given access to successful business leaders within a downtown area. Imagine the relationships that could be built when young learners and business leaders commit to long-term conversations. Imagine the possible outcomes when young learners were given the opportunity to learn, and possibly intern or apprentice, with business leadership.

My experience in public schools tells me that the school people who fear their students are “overextended” are blinded by a daily school schedule that frankly wastes a lot of young learner’s time. But still, those school people are protective of that time, convinced that the time students spend with them is better than anything else.

That’s wrong.

I told the non-profit leader this morning to call the town’s school superintendent. Ask the superintendent to bring 10 of their top teachers and line them up on one side of our downtown’s main street. Then, ask 10 of the top downtown business leaders to line up on the other side of the street. And then, ask the young learners to choose who they would like to spend the next six weeks working with and learning from. I’m guessing 6 to 7 of the business leaders would be chosen instead of the classroom teachers.

But, if school people were a bit more open to sharing time with “real world” leaders, like those who own their own businesses, run their own non-profits, or have other jobs important to the town, then “school world” might be seen as a place that promotes “out of school learning” instead of depending on compulsory attendance laws to force students to choose schools over other potential places of learning.

The non-profit leader plans to call the superintendent, not to challenge the school district to a main street duel (that was my idea), but to see if the school people might be persuaded to reconsider the high school’s “overextended” response and allow the young learners to decide for themselves if they might be interested in this downtown opportunity.

I told the non-profit leader what our organization might want to do is to start our own downtown learning organization. That way, young learners and their families could decide for themselves if they would like to learn from learning coaches (responsible for reading, writing, problem-solving, and character development skills) and business leaders in the downtown area or choose to stay inside the traditional high school. I’m guessing our non-profit won’t start its own learning organization, but the school people’s response of “overextended” without even asking the students themselves makes it awfully attractive.

Instead, let’s hope our leader’s conversation with the school superintendent will produce a cooperative learning environment where the school world and the real world work together for the benefit of the town’s children.

Friday News Roundup tomorrow. SVB