Wonderful photo! Recently I took a short cut through an unfamiliar neighborhood in town. In someone's front yard near the sidewalk they had built a giant bird house with a glass front that opened, I could see the books inside. The sign said "Take a book. Leave a book." I just wanted to buy the house next door so I could be neighbors with those people.
Watch now as I attempt to tie together some of our recent posts so that we don't look quite so adrift and focus challenged.
Harkening back to the original problem that you brought up at the beginning of this somewhat frayed thread of posts I have some resources to offer up, not just for boys but for all young people and any adults who care to listen.
First, wouldn't you know it but before I outlined my idea for an ideal school system some 13 year old hipster skier has gone and given a TED Talk about it. Well not exactly but he makes some of the same points.
Surely our invitation to speak at TED on "How to Carry on an Endless Discussion" or "Who Says You Have to Settle on a Topic?" simply hasn't arrived yet.
Second, Sir Ken Robinson has a wonderful book out that I'm reading now, Finding Your Element. It is complete with exercises to help anyone work through the process. Of course Sir Ken doesn't fail to include lots of the kinds of stories that we've come to expect from him about the late bloomer and misunderstood genius. We can't ask teachers in the current system to add teaching in every student's preferred style to the endless list of things already required of them. But the more we understand about how differently people's brains process information, learning styles, and various intelligences hopefully we'll come to see how flawed the present system is and how unsustainable. If the point of education isn't to maintain a system but to educate individuals to be free thinking problem solvers then much change is needed.
Third, is a no-nonsense kick-ass book by Steven Presserfield. The War of Art has a deceptive title because it is advice that would apply to any venture that people find difficult to begin and stick with to the end. There isn't any hand holding or self esteem building going on here but practical advice from someone who comes across as the crusty uncle who wants the best for you and will tell you the hard truth that coddling parents won't. A young man who might reject anything that looked like "self help" would find a useful resource in this book.
One thing we need to relate to any young people we have influence on is that, as Sir Ken says, life isn't linear, it's organic. It's perfectly okay not to have it all figured out at the beginning. It's okay to make your own path and take chances. It's okay to try lots of things. It's okay to fail. Just keep getting up and heading in the direction you want to go. Keep learning. You'll find your way eventually in ways that may not even exist yet. You may even have to make a way that's right for you. That's what all the great innovators do. They all start out looking crazy and lost. In the end they look like geniuses and maybe they are. But mostly they are just brave.
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