Education Is Failing And If You're In the C-Suite That Should Scare the "BEEP" out of you.

"Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world" Nelson Mandela

Parents, universities and corporations agree... We need to prepare our kids for tomorrow. Yet our schools continue to prepare them for yesterday, even the highly competitive private schools.

The Challenge

We over focus on academic performance, we value students' worth by standardized test results, we over schedule our kids to the brink of exhaustion in the hopes that one of those mandarin classes or volunteer gigs will somehow get them into Stanford. In David Gleason's book, At What Cost, Defending Adolescent Development in Fiercely Competitive Schools, he outlines the high cost of highly competitive education; Sleep deprivation, stress, and in some cases lasting anxiety and depression. If you are recruiting talent for your growing company, I'm guessing those qualities won't be what you are looking for.

But it's not just a future talent issue, it's a future everything issue. An IBM study of CEO's in 2010, identified escalating complexity as the number one challenge they were facing. Complexity continues to increase and in order to meet that complexity we need to do two things according Bob Anderson and Bill Adams in their new book Mastering Leadership:

Increase our complexity of mind

"When we experience the world as "Too Complex," we are not just experiencing the complexity of the world. We are experiencing a mismatch between the world's complexity and our own." Robert Kegan

Get good at solving adaptive challenges

"Adaptive challenges are a set of interdependent challenges that seem unsolvable but must be solved. Solutions lie beyond leaders' current level of knowledge and skill and common strategies for solving problems won't work. This kind of challenge requires challenging assumptions, changing beliefs, and transforming perspectives and patterns of thinking. Technical ability and competence, while important, are not enough." Ron Heifetz

The Current Education System

Our current education system is focused mainly on increasing technical ability and competence in students, but what is needed to thrive in highly complex times takes a different set of tools. Things like, creativity to challenge old ways of thinking, an adaptive mindset which allows for agility in thinking under pressure, agency to believe you can actually find a solution, and grit to keep on going when things aren't easily solved for.

These tools are not quickly acquired. My colleagues and I have been working to develop leaders with these skills for many years. One can't unbuckle* 20 year old myelin rich neural pathways overnight. It's possible but arduous to change old ways of thinking as an adult and you have to want it according to Dan Goleman in an article on developing emotional intelligence.

(Note: Unbuckling neural pathways is not a scientific term. It’s the term I use to explain the process of learning a new way of thinking, being and doing and un-learning an old way of thinking or an old operating system that’s been reinforced in your brain for years.)

If we want to remain highly competitive in the global business world, we need to begin teaching kids these skills now.

As the world becomes more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, we'll need a workforce that has an adaptive mindset and resilience. One who can write the instructions vs. ask for them. Businesses need to ask for it, or we risk being left behind in the rapidly evolving world.

Shouldn't parents fight for this?

Yes, in theory, but we don't because of three things... fear, love and nostalgia. It turns out we are terrified of failing as parents at setting our kids up for a successful life and our deep love for them drives a wickedly strong immunity to change. David Gleason, PSY. D. explores this in depth in his book At What Cost. Lastly it's our old comfortable friend nostalgia that keeps us looking backwards to solve for the future. I often hear parents say, "It worked for me!" when reflecting on their own education.

“Nostalgia is a natural human emotion, a survival mechanism that pushes people to avoid risk by applying what we've learned and relying on what's worked before. It's also about as useful as an appendix right now.” Fast Company Editor Robert Safian “Generation Flux”

The bottom line is what got us here won't get our kids there.

We need business leaders and executives to get in the game, use their influence and ask for what they need from schools to help inspire a big old nostalgic industry to reinvent itself.

In the mean time, there are some great schools doing some great things. We moved our kids to Tahoe Expedition Academy in 2015 where the focus is on building student's character, competence and grit through adventure and constructive adversity. They get to work on real world opportunities and challenges like immigration, by going to the border and meeting with experts. They go snow camping to study the stars and have been out in the field to study the impact of forest fires. Being pushed out of their comfort zone is a familiar process and it makes them braver and helps them learn to trust themselves.

While my husband and I questioned leaving our community and what was familiar for the promise of a different kind of education I knew we made the right decisions the day I heard a Venture Capitalist that I consult with say,

"When the "beep" hits the fan, I'll take the girl who was raised on a farm over the Magna Cum Laude from (enter your revered university of choice) any day. She can handle it."

His point was, competence isn't everything.

So, I ask you business leaders, what do you want your future hires to bring with them when they show up to work 5-10 years from now? Something tells me it won't be their formidable test-taking skills.

About the Author:

Alexis Robin is mother to 12 year old boy/girl twins and resides in Truckee, CA with her husband and kids. She is the COO for pLink Leadership, a speaker and executive coach.

Explore Tahoe Expedition Academy's vision for education reform explore.