You've Got One Chance

It Comes Down to You

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado.

Every time I come back to the U.S. things seem worse than they were 6 - 9 months prior. In terms of being able to measure notable changes it has been helpful to only visit this place every once in a while.

A trend I have been seeing (which is not exclusive to Denver) has been increasing amounts of rude behavior, social anxiety, and awkwardness.

The factor of rude behavior may be a byproduct of city life, but one thing that definitely is widespread is social anxiety and awkwardness. Especially among younger people.

A lot of us, as younger people, have no idea how to talk to people and little desire to do anything uncomfortable.

As time marches on, many of us are staying like children even as we are knocking on the door of adulthood or have entered it already. Children under 18 make up 22% of the U.S. population (74 million). Of that 74 million let’s say that 30 million are nearing adulthood.

Are these kids going to be prepared for the world?

Unlikely.

Not to mention those who are a few years over 18, but are far from being adults. No initiative, no motivation, no direction, a poor understanding of the world, and no one willing to give them a push off the cliff.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.”

-Mark Twain

If you don’t find out why or at least get a glimpse of it when you’re young, your life will be taken out of your own hands and you’ll drift through the world living a far less wholesome life than you would otherwise.

Set Up For Failure

There are more factors than imaginable as to why people are staying children - with no direction, no aim, and no personal character-based foundation to gain any confidence from.

Culture is a part of it, no doubt. But, in my view, the education system has a lot to do with it.

John Taylor Gatto (who wrote several books on the education system like Dumbing Us Down and The Underground History of American Education after being a public school teacher in New York for 30 years) realized just how harmful the education system is. It takes the child out of the home, away from parents, and separates them from a natural local community.

The values of the parents are replaced by the values of the system.

All the while, the parent being busy and only having a few hours a day with their child, has no idea that their child’s mind is being molded like clay.

Sure, the child may gain more of a book-based education, but the skills which the parents use to provide value and make money are never passed on to the child. Plus, after sitting in a classroom all day, the kid doesn’t want to do anything else.

Now, imagine this cycle repeating over several generations while, at the same time, literacy rates drop and general education becomes increasing worse.

What happens then?

When you add in the fact that school as an institution directs kids to being dependent on authority figures to tell them what to do, how to do it, and where to go - it’s really no surprise that people have become awkward, anxious, and unsure.

This topic requires a much deeper dive in the future though…

A Different Way of Doing Things

Over the past year I was able to meet two guys around my age who read these posts and reached out to me.

I met one of them after working on wildfires in Oregon, and I met the other just recently in Montevideo, Uruguay. They are both great guys and I’m thankful to have met them.

Both of these guys have something in common: They were raised in a very different way from most. Both of their fathers have a view of the world which, in my opinion is much more sober. I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I believe both of them were homeschooled at least for a period of time.

Their fathers’ views of the world lean heavily toward becoming a competent, self-directed, educated, and informed individual.

This provided for a very different type of education than any public or private school could give.

Because of their fathers, and now their own initiative, they are going down unique paths and are much better prepared for the world. In fact, they engage with it directly.

I am not a parent, but it seems to me that you really only have one good shot to ensure that your kids get on a path which prepares them for the world. One in which they gain valuable skills, strong character, confidence, and ambition. The alternative to that, which is widespread in the U.S. now, leads to a dull future.

This is another great instance of, “If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.”

If you want to give your kids a fighting chance…their education has to come from you. Your values. Your dedicated time to teach them. Your help in getting them on their path.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith