Altucher's Thoughts on Education

James Altucher, a book author who keeps a thoughtful, provocative, and profoundly honest blog, detailed 8 educational endeavors as alternatives to the traditional college path. These experiences include traveling the world, creating art, making people laugh, writing a book, working in charity, mastering a game, mastering a sport.


What's interesting about Altucher's piece is that it is less about college, indeed -- 

"Whenever I suggest “don’t send your kids to college” a lot of vey smart people invariably come back with the response, “well what else should they do.” And this amazes me. I guess its really hard to figure out what people of the ages 18-23 should do during the most vibrant, healthy years of their lives when they grow from being a child to an adult."

and more about what abilities an educated person should develop-- namely, 1) practical skills (making a living, mastering a game) 2) social experiences (playing sports, working in charity, starting a business) and 3) personal reflection (making art, writing a book).


Altucher's suggestions shouldn't merely be alternatives; they should be included in a holistic educational experience. Schools already offer some of them (e.g sports, art, charity). In the future, though, I'd like to see experiences such as writing a book, performing a stand up routine, starting a business, traveling the world, and mastering something rare and valuable, to name a few, as part of the normal educational experience, starting as early as high school. I'd wager that most adults would agree, in retrospect, that they would have enjoyed and gained much from undergoing these experiences during their adolescent years.