Beat Your Goliath

Morgan Leverett, an African-American banker, shared the following observation with me: “White families let their kids ask questions and actually answer them as though they’re questions coming from adults. This wasn’t something I had growing up.” Although epitomizing white families and respecting children at the same level as adults are not winning educational strategies, I do acknowledge Morgan’s point about the importance of questioning. Often times, busy parents can feel frustrated with the incessant questions that keep coming at them. However, unless your child is being annoying for the sake of being annoying (e.g., children are astute enough to pick-up on — and can take playful pleasure — when their parents are getting annoyed by strings of “why” questions), encouraging them to ask questions, and seriously taking the moment to ponder them together, can be helpful not only to their self-confidence, but future development as critical and creative thinkers. To really understan...

Check out this video that's gone viral: Amado Candelario, who lives in Chicago with his single mother and two sisters, just heard back from Harvard. He got in! What a crazy wonderful Christmas gift! Every year, as the Head of Asia for ACT.org and a peak education performance advisor, I get the privilege and joy of hearing good news, like Amado's, from all over the world. With college acceptance rates (to the top US colleges) being at an all time low (see here and here ), it's even more of a thrill to hear such sweet news. Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard Acceptance Now check out this clip: The audio background in Mark's YouTube clip perfectly captures the genuine surprise and joy that a proud father feels at the very moment his son gets into one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. Say what you want about Mark, but one undeniable truth is that he was a very hard working and smart kid back in high school (and probably still is). ...

How much can one learn from behind the desk with his/her eyes locked on a computer screen? A lot; yet not so much. I am a huge advocate of learning through reading. Reading, I believe, is one of the best (sometimes the only) way to increase ones knowledge as well as the capacity to empathize (to be and to feel from another’s shoes). However, how many articles or books must you read before you can perform heart surgery? Put it differently, how many online articles or books must I read before you can trust me to perform heart surgery on you? There are clear limitations to what we can gain and learn from merely reading. Argo there are clear limits to what students are learning today from a traditional class structure, wherein students are assigned readings and then gather for discussion or lecture. With so much information dispersed and shared via internet, technology, and social media, it’s easy to be under the delusion that we already have all the education we need at the tip of ...

Over the years, I have noticed a disconcerting trend — boys are underperforming in school as well as in the college application process. And then I came across a YouTube clip by PragerU entitled, "War on Boys," and found myself nodding in agreement: "[O]ur schools have little patience for what only a couple decades ago, would have been described as 'boyishness'. Girl behavior is the gold standard in schools. Boys are treated like defective girls." Consider the partial profiles of the following 'Student A' and 'Student B': Student A: Writing. Stories are commonly about personal narratives full of emotion and self disclosure. Reading. Prefers fiction, magazine, and poetry. Book. Favorite book is Little House on the Prairie . Behavior. Calm, orderly, and obedient. Student B: Writing. Stories are commonly about skateboard competitions, pirates, and aliens. Reading. Prefers comic and non-fiction. Book. Favorite book is The Gu...