Seriously good essay. I think you are onto something about how afraid we are to hold younger people to a high standard. I also agree that does them a huge disservice. And your comment about creating good foundations on which to build maps to my instincts! You cannot think 'outside the box' if you dont know what a box looks like.
Thank you Karena. I see it in my own family all too often. I used to think something like a classical approach was the answer, but more and more I think it's about setting a really high expectation in our own home, regardless of the approach.
Great story. I can see the inspiration and lessons in it parallel your own approach. I was particularly intrigued by the understanding that community matters a great deal.
That community piece was really eye-opening for me. It's something I'm starting to think really deeply about for my own family. It doesn't come naturally, but I'm trying to create a scene that they can be a part of from a very young age.
Hi Latham, Deborah current write of passage student here.
This is a really great essay.
The simplicity with which depth and research is conveyed is admirable.
I love your take on encouraging learning, I find it very insightful. As someone who building an education company, I’m happy to read and learn from your experience
Super interesting story! My son has been quite interested in robotics from a very young age, and it was thought provoking to think about what it would mean to really support & nurture this interest in him. Today we fit in our robotics projects around the constraints of his school day and my work (which means in practice we don't have very much time to work on them), but perhaps those constraints are mean to be broken rather than respected.
My son has also expressed a lot of interest in robotics. It’s something I haven’t worked to nurture in him as well as I would have liked. How are you thinking about it now? What do you do when you do have time?
I don't know that I'd say Picasso's father determined his path. He just took his son seriously, something far too few of us do these days. I wonder if we didn't leave ourselves open to the idea that what our kids are saying could actually be true, and help them pursue it rigorously and feverishly, what would happen? Too often I'm guilty of thinking "they'll grow out of that" which shortchanges them.
I think the big lie is that you miss out by investing at a certain excellence. If you were maximizing your chances at being a diplomat (one of my son's recurrent desires) by optimizing studying languages, history, political sci, psychology, as well as some of the important skills of writing and numeracy (Statistics and the like) he could be overqualified by 21- and he would lose virtually no optionality in switching to engineering if he wanted to at that point.
I do think 8 is a little young to lock in, but by 12-13 I see no reason not to (at least not now).
Seriously good essay. I think you are onto something about how afraid we are to hold younger people to a high standard. I also agree that does them a huge disservice. And your comment about creating good foundations on which to build maps to my instincts! You cannot think 'outside the box' if you dont know what a box looks like.
Thank you Karena. I see it in my own family all too often. I used to think something like a classical approach was the answer, but more and more I think it's about setting a really high expectation in our own home, regardless of the approach.
Great story. I can see the inspiration and lessons in it parallel your own approach. I was particularly intrigued by the understanding that community matters a great deal.
That community piece was really eye-opening for me. It's something I'm starting to think really deeply about for my own family. It doesn't come naturally, but I'm trying to create a scene that they can be a part of from a very young age.
Hi Latham, Deborah current write of passage student here.
This is a really great essay.
The simplicity with which depth and research is conveyed is admirable.
I love your take on encouraging learning, I find it very insightful. As someone who building an education company, I’m happy to read and learn from your experience
Thank you for sharing Latham.
Thank you Deborah. I'm glad you liked it.
I'm excited to see what you're building as you share more.
Excellent and helpful Latham. Embedding and demonstrating the principles of mentorship in this real life example was very useful and inspiring.
Thank you Rick.
Super interesting story! My son has been quite interested in robotics from a very young age, and it was thought provoking to think about what it would mean to really support & nurture this interest in him. Today we fit in our robotics projects around the constraints of his school day and my work (which means in practice we don't have very much time to work on them), but perhaps those constraints are mean to be broken rather than respected.
My son has also expressed a lot of interest in robotics. It’s something I haven’t worked to nurture in him as well as I would have liked. How are you thinking about it now? What do you do when you do have time?
This was a bang-up post!
Thank you Justin. I'm grateful you liked it.
How many people are willing to determine a path for their child at such a young age?
I suspect far too few. I remember reading this speech a while back on the trouble with optionality in our lives (https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/25/desai-commencement-ed/) and it kind of strikes the same cord.
I don't know that I'd say Picasso's father determined his path. He just took his son seriously, something far too few of us do these days. I wonder if we didn't leave ourselves open to the idea that what our kids are saying could actually be true, and help them pursue it rigorously and feverishly, what would happen? Too often I'm guilty of thinking "they'll grow out of that" which shortchanges them.
I think the big lie is that you miss out by investing at a certain excellence. If you were maximizing your chances at being a diplomat (one of my son's recurrent desires) by optimizing studying languages, history, political sci, psychology, as well as some of the important skills of writing and numeracy (Statistics and the like) he could be overqualified by 21- and he would lose virtually no optionality in switching to engineering if he wanted to at that point.
I do think 8 is a little young to lock in, but by 12-13 I see no reason not to (at least not now).
https://substack.com/home/post/p-150356879?source=queue
see this too
this was a great article. Thanks for sharing.