We stopped making heroes
How school kills the heroic impulse in kids.
Kids play as if the fate of the universe depends on it.
They put on capes. They fight the forces of evil with a sense of higher nobility. They worship Superman, who would never hurt the innocent. Why do kids love that?
Traditional school teaches us that none of that is important. Or real.
But, it's more real than whatever motivates adults to do jobs we hate to pay for things we don’t want to impress people we don't even like.
Children are being taught to see the world as mundane with bizarre aggressiveness. The motivations range from ignorance to malevolence.
The world is not mundane. What kids do with their life really matters. One hero could change the entire world. That hero is in all of us.
Kids already know this. They act it out when they play. Just watch them.
But most adults have forgotten.
Help your kids to remember who they are.
All societies need heroes
In ancient Athens, kids were educated much differently.
First, they were expected to be strong physically. They exercised their bodies so that their minds would have fortitude. The younger ones played games all day. The older boys focused on military training mixed with philosophical discussion. The imminent threat of a barbarian invasion kept them focused. They were actively training to be heroes of their community.
Next, they were expected to read. A lot. But not like today. They read mostly poems and epic literature, like Homer’s The Odyssey. These works connected kids with the cultural context of their society and gave them a heroic vision they wanted to take part in. In today's terms, it would be more like reading Superman comics than studying Shakespeare.
Only after they had mastered their bodies, played with other kids, and read about great heroes did they begin to learn the specifics of whatever field interested them.
The details were always in service to the whole.
Today, we do this totally backward. Without context, (heroic) cultural myths, or any framework to guide kids' motivation, we force them to learn the awful, mundane specifics—not just one field, but all fields.
No wonder kids pretend to be sick to escape this drudgery.
Hero education
With the expansion of the alternative education space, there's less need for anyone to put up with this.
We can rebuild education the way that makes kids into the heroes they naturally dream of being. We have known this works for thousands of years. We have stopped doing it in the name of standardization and institutional pressure, among too many other reasons to mention here.
Whatever the cause, it does not have to happen to your child. Schools like gt.school and Alpha School adopt more powerful, proven frameworks. Acton Academy outright calls its students "heroes." There are plenty of others following suit.
Given the technology kids now have access to, who knows what kind of heroes we could produce?
The positive upside is practically limitless.
Give your kid the dream of becoming a hero.
The world is starving for more kids like that.
Thanks for reading,
Taylor + rebelEducator team
Share this with anyone who still believes in heroes
P.S.
Here’s what we’re looking at:
This thread by Michael Strong on how they structure health classes that kids care about at @Socraticexp.
This thread by gt.school on building mastery.
This list of books to get started on alternative education (and where we draw a lot of inspiration).
Quotes we’re pondering:
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” — Socrates
“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds.” — Plato
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” — Aristotle