Our society is currently having a crisis of culture, a crisis of leadership – a crisis of education. And the crux of it – indeed, the solution for it – is found in our youth.
Hardly anyone truly does Scholar Phase in today’s educational environment. Really: Almost nobody. Most students in public, private and charter schools avoid Scholar Phase and instead focus on the central elements of modern schooling—getting good grades, scoring well on tests, qualifying for scholarships and college entrance. Scholar Phase isn’t even a priority for most parents, teachers, or students.
The same is often true for homeschoolers, and even many of those who do TJEd. And while test-taking, achieving good grades, and preparing for nationalized exams are good skills to have, they don’t even come close to the real goal of teen education: getting a true, quality, Thomas Jefferson-level Scholar Phase.
The reason most schooling emphasizes grades, credits and test scores is that these have become the markers of conveyor-belt education. But Scholar Phase is the real need, because it prepares a young person to fully excel in a unique, powerful life mission. This is what education is meant to accomplish. Anything less is a letdown.
And let’s be clear: Youth who get a truly great education do so because they fall in love with learning, and eventually with study. They love to study because they feel a deep inner passion for learning, so they voluntarily seek to learn, learn, learn and study, study, study. This only happens when a teen feels truly inspired about learning.
That’s why our focus for youth is on helping them connect deeply with a sense of purpose that impels them through the pain and glory of gaining a great education – because they CHOOSE it. Because their life has purpose. And their contribution matters.
With very few exceptions, truly great education is always great self-education. Teens who aren’t great self-learners seldom do really quality education in the long-term. (This is true in public, private, charter and home schools, and it is also true of college students and other adults.)
The whole focus of TJEd High! is to help teens who aren’t yet superb self-learners to become excellent self-learners, and to provide those who are great self-learners with the inspiration and input to truly leverage their efforts to higher levels of success.
While young people can start at almost any level of academic skills, TJEd High! is designed to quickly help them improve these skills and embrace quality self-learning.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Youth versus Teenager
by Michael Platt, PhD “A TEENAGER--I’M SO SORRY!” “We have two teenagers,” I sometimes hear parents say. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” I sometimes reply. Although I say it with a smile, the truth is sad. Teenagers are not inevitable, natural, or God-given. The Teenager was invented, fashioned, permitted—let loose you might say—by the generation of our parents and grandparents. Discovering that may help us to raise our children differently. The Novelty [...]
What’s the biggest problem with Homeschoolers?
First and foremost, even among "dyed in the wool" homeschoolers, there is widespread neglect of the Core Phase. I believe this is because of our tendency to identify so strongly with our label of "homeschoolers" that our family culture becomes defined by academic achievement. I remember when I had three little ones and knowing that I wanted to homeschool how anxious I was to "get on with it". I had learned [...]