Raise your hand if you have never felt pumped up about learning? Was there someone there to push you over the edge and send you down that broader path? For many, the answer may be no. For many, once they get into the working world they learn their set of skills and that’s that. They learn how to earn a living and hope not to get enveloped by changing technology, shifting productivity tools, automation or artificial intelligence. They hope the rest of the world will remain static as they wish to. Unfortunately, the classic days of put in the time, crack a beer on the couch each night and earn a pension are increasingly rare.
In high school, I was blessed to have signed up for an elective class titled Finance #1. This class cemented my future in business. But more importantly, it curated my interest in personal financial management. It created a snowball effect in my education, in my ability to make and keep earnings, and in my curiosity across disciplines. Finance #2 was the next step, then a ton of self-study, then an accounting degree, then an MBA, and then nearly a decade in the Fortune 20 as a finance professional. Thanks to the best teacher at my school (Mr. A) and his open methods, his emphasis on research, and his prioritization of relationship time (10 minutes at end of each class to socialize); he was the main catalyst behind my educational compounding.
For those that answered not educationally motivated, I empathize with you. Had I not had the teacher’s I was exposed to, had I not been able to afford college, had I not been sponsored by my employer for graduate school; I may have treaded a similar path. My curiosity could have been stunted so early in life. Proof of how I empathize is as follows. I abhor standardized testing. It has such little correlation to skills that get the job done. It has no section where resiliency or grit can be properly proven out. Also, why do we not all have to take a standardized aptitude test for skilled trades or hands on talent’s? Had I scored higher in a test like that my trajectory may have been quite different. And for those that love working with their hands, they may have been far more celebrated and motivated at that early age. My ACT test scores were average and that whole process slowed down my educational compounding. Dry and outdated textbooks also have a drudgery to them that slows down educational motivation. The key for me was starting forward momentum early enough to get past these roadblocks and still have a love for learning into adulthood. It only keeps increasing. Money begets money just as knowledge begets knowledge.
The dual reality this ultimately exposes is the vast array of experiences-quality in early childhood and K-12 education in America. School districts that have fantastic funding are at a technological, teachers compensation and infrastructure advantage. Regardless of funding, school districts with brilliant, caring, and persistent teachers-administrators-staff are at an advantage. When you combine both, which is what I believe I was so fortunate to experience, then the seeds of educational compounding germinate and thrive.
How can we ensure more of our children get an excellent early education? A complex and interwoven issue that many are tackling, have grappled with and are mapping out future solutions for. A question worth revisiting often, at both the societal level and at a personal level.
Overall, if we all utilized our local public library to the fullest, at any age, then our self-induced momentum would reach new heights. I don’t currently have that type of motivation or drive. Though I strive to read and grow, my local public library has not seen nearly enough hours from me. The vast majority of us need a nudge. We need a carrot. Such as a summer full of sports or video games, a summer break hanging out with our buddies, a summer break simply relaxing with our family, a graduation amongst our peers, a college to get into, an apprenticeship to qualify for, a job to obtain, a career to begin or a more lucrative industry. That initial nudge comes from our earliest days of education. The earlier you see the value of learning the better off you should be. In education and in interest, time has always been Man’s best friend.
Action Request:
Do your best to get young children excited about learning as early as possible. Whether that be through traditional schooling, through field trips to museums, through traveling, through reading, through writing or simply through teaching them all that you know. Build the young people in your life a platform to spring from. Start their educational compounding early and the dividends will flow to them for a lifetime.