Recently, I stumbled upon a link to some work by one of my favorite thinkers, Seth Godin. Titled "Stop Stealing Dreams", it's a 30,000 word manifesto about the current state of this nation's (the US) education system.

Some of my favorites passages are below:

64. Connecting the dots vs. collecting the dots
The industrial model of school is organized around exposing students to ever increasing amounts of stuff and then testing them on it.

Collecting dots.

Almost none of it is spent in teaching them the skills necessary to connect dots. The magic of connecting dots is that once you learn the techniques, the dots can change but you’ll still be good at connecting them.

58. The virtuous cycle of good jobs
Industrial jobs no longer create new industrial jobs in our country. A surplus of obedient hourly workers leads to unemployment, not more factories.

On the other hand, creative jobs lead to more creative jobs. Self-starting, selfreliant, initiative-taking individuals often start new projects that need new workers. In my opinion, the now politicized role of “job creator” has nothing at all to do with tax cuts and everything to do with people who trained to have the guts to raise their hands and say, “I’m starting.” 

An economy that’s stuck needs more inventors, scientists, explorers, and artists. Because those are the people who open doors for…