It wasn’t until many years later when a teacher showed me the link between school and my life, that both my grades and my aspirations soared.

Years passed and I grew up. Then one day, when I was very involved in a career in the media, something strange happened. A loud, compelling voice within me said insistently and unrelentingly: “Liberate the children”.  At the time, I remember thinking: “What ON EARTH could that possibly mean?” I didn’t have any children and my work at the time didn’t involve kids so I had absolutely no idea what those words could’ve possibly meant…to me or to anyone.

The voice was persuasive enough – and I was curious enough – to go on a quest to find out what it meant. Little did I realize that it would be a journey involving many years through many different worlds.

Today, several decades after having left my career in the media to follow that inner directive, I very much understand the message that prescient voice was compelling me to discover.

Not much has changed in today’s schools. The educational system in the U.S. has been geared for decades to propagate mass learning…modeled after mass production in factories. Individualization of learning has simply not been part of the equation.

With the ubiquitous growth of technology, however, every member of our society now has tremendous access not only to greater knowledge than ever before, but also to the unfettered ability to contribute to that knowledge-base.

And yet, our current educational system – still mired in the factory-like mentality of days gone by – has continued to propagate mass learning in our nation’s schools. And, today, just as when I was in school, it is STILL not working.

Our children have grown up as ‘media babies’ in a very information-oriented society. Technology is so natural to them and such a part of their daily lives that they can’t imagine their world without it.

They are immersed in it…texting, chatting, surfing, listening, watching, experiencing, dreaming – often all at the same time. It allows them choices, channels of self-expression, and freedom to dream of infinite possibilities.

However, when they get to school, it all comes to a grinding, screeching halt. There, children are drilled, marshaled, told what to do – with no choices, no self-expression, no dreams. So, they disengage from the learning experience.

Is it any wonder that there’s a crisis in education when the way we are attempting to school our young people simulates factory assembly lines of mass, force-fed learning?

“Liberate the children” – that compelling command that resonated deep within me many years ago – was never as clear to me as it is now.

“Liberate the children” doesn’t mean to turn our children loose to run wild according to their own whims. It does mean to “free them” from the confines of mass, factory-style learning and conformity.

It means to “free them” to be the individuals they yearn to be. Give them the tools to discover and express who they are, dream about their futures, and find the individual purpose they are each on Earth to accomplish.

The vast world in which we live cannot grow and thrive without our children’s contributions. We must let our children know that they are valued. We must impart knowledge to them that liberates them to live as valued, responsible, accountable citizens. THIS is the purpose of education.

When children understand that their education is essential to accomplishing their dreams for the future, it reframes the way they look at school. They become motivated from within to want to learn. They want to come to school. They want to learn reading, math, and science. They become partners with their teachers in the learning experience.

The educational crisis of today with its declining test scores, soaring drop-out rates, and violence can be solved. But not with more of the same. Not with more drills and passive learning.

Yes, rigorously high standards are necessary. But these must be instilled – not mandated.

The educational crisis of today will only be solved with the individualization of learning. By making ‘education’ an engaging, personal experience using 21st century learning tools COUPLED WITH each child’s own goals and dreams for the future, school as we know it now – and the problems that go with it – will be a thing of the past.

Education without dreams is dead and lifeless. Technology without dreams is just more mind-numbing clutter. Paradigm-shifting transformation is needed.

Schools must no longer be academic prisons where the ‘inmates’ have no freedom or self-expression. Schools must instead be “Dream Academies” where individual freedom and self-expression thrive and are fueled by the knowledge and curiosity gleaned from core academic subjects and the transformational experience learning can be.

“Liberate the children” means freeing our children to dream of what their futures can hold. It means supporting them to discover their contributions to the world by giving them the tools they need to get there.

The answer to making a better world lies within the children. The children are the solution. Nurture them. Support them. LIBERATE THEM. The possibilities within them and for them are infinite.

Their dreams are their rocket ships. School is their fuel. But they are the pilots.

Show them how to steer their rocket ships to reach their dreams. Give them the tools to get there and the sky’s the limit for our children, our society, and our world.

They are taking it back from those who are attempting to maintain the same dysfunctional, obsolete system of stifling innovation that precludes the development of individuality, character, and purpose.

Today’s world is changing at an exponential rate with the ubiquitous use of technology. Our information society has spawned generations of young people who EXPECT to be able to participate in and contribute to every part of their daily lives. When denied this experience, they mentally disengage from whatever obstructs their sense of contribution and self-expression. Nowhere is this more evident than in education today.

One has only to look at the horrific statistics of America’s educational system (declining test scores, soaring drop out rates, increased violence, etc.) to see that massive help is needed to ameliorate the rampant problems in our nation’s schools.

Will the solutions come from government imposing more “rules” and “drills” on students and teachers mandating them to achieve national standards of proficiency in core academic areas? Not if past decades of student performance are any guide.

No, the answers are coming (and will continue to come) from the stakeholders themselves: concerned educators, parents, citizens, and the children themselves. Just look at the statistical growth of home-schooling, charter and alternative schools. Change is happening now.

Technology has supported the growth of a more inclusive way of citizen participation in every day life. Rather than passively accepting “top down” dictatorial mandates, a new “bottom up” grass roots movement is proliferating and thriving in every sector of society. This is how the solutions to the massive problems in our educational system will evolve.

A more “democratic” system of education is emerging wherein the stakeholders are taking responsibility for and generating a “new” set of rules that promote the individualization of learning.

Instead of the teacher being the “sage on the stage”, the teacher will be the “guide on the side”.

Rather than children being passively force-fed processed information without any understanding of how it is relevant to their lives, students will become equal partners in authoring their own individual learning experiences by linking their success in school to the accomplishment of their personal goals and dreams.

Parents are no longer sitting passively by on the sidelines either. They are demanding a say in what schools their children attend and how they are taught to become fulfilled, productive citizens of tomorrow.

Yes, there is a growing movement to take back education. It is an evolution in thinking…a revolution against outdated mandates that no longer meet the needs of the people. It is a new paradigm, a transformation of our educational system that is coming from all stakeholders contributing to this growing edu-lution of change. Be part of it!

Said to be the most ‘connected generation ever to walk this planet’, they are multi-taskers, many of whom spend 11 hours a day involved with new media on their own time. However, many of these young people feel bored and mentally checked out at school.

They are more sophisticated than many adults acknowledge and are misunderstood regarding what’s really needed to engage them.

There is much discussion about the crisis in American education and its symptoms: declining test scores, increased absenteeism, violence, etc. The current “solutions” for transforming education are greatly focused on “accountability” for teachers and schools, as measured by student performance on standardized tests. This approach has made incremental, if any, progress in transforming the problems of the dysfunctional American educational system.

Perhaps the most fundamental component to creating significant educational reform is to uncover what is causing this disconnect in the education of our young people.

Research has shown that there is a Missing Link in education. It’s not English. It’s not Math. It’s not Science. The Missing Link is inner motivation and purpose.

But the most pertinent question is HOW to engender inner motivation and purpose in our young people.

The answer lies in the ‘Power of Why’. In school – and in life – many “Generation Z” children are missing the “WHY” in their academic experience.

When young people understand WHY they are doing something, it gives meaning to it so they want to do it….they are internally motivated to do it. When the “Power of Why” is missing, there is no meaning, no direction, no connection…and, hence, no desire to do it.

When you think about it, one of the most frequently asked questions by very young children is simply: ”WHY?”. Young children want (and feel a primal need) to know WHY things occur or should be done.

Inevitably, when they ask “WHY?”, they are admonished, “Be quiet and just do what you’re told”. So after a while, children stop asking “why?”. They become disengaged from anything that does not allow them to feel they can somehow make it their own. The number one culprit for doing this to our children is “school”.

Transforming the educational crisis of today and achieving significant educational reform cannot be accomplished without bringing the ‘Power of Why’ into the classroom. This can only be effectively implemented if it is “packaged” (i.e. presented) in a way that speaks the language of and engages this generation of children – so that it meets them on their “home turf”, grounded in new media and customized to show them how their education really connects to WHAT MATTERS TO THEM.

Children want to find out HOW to realize their goals and dreams. WE know that education is an essential component to making this happen.

But many children do NOT know this. And the education crisis will continue until the ‘Power of Why’ and the linkage between the students’ own dreams for their lives and their education become a foundational component of daily life at school.

SKY U is doing this paradigm-shifting work in education with its premier program, The Quest For Excellence.

Here’s how The SKY U Quest transforms the educational experience for children, teachers, and schools by integrating the “Power of Why” into the classroom:

7 STEPS TO ENGAGING KIDS IN THE CLASSROOM

Equipped with the “Power of Why” in their education, along with HOW they can use it to realize their own goals and dreams, children will excel not only in school, but in all aspects of life.

The “Power of Why”. Support it. Embrace it. And pass it on to the children in your life. WHY? Because it works!

There, a professor whom at first I abhorred, showed me a secret: how it all fit together… my education, my life, and my dreams. It was as though someone stuck a stick of dynamite inside of me and blasted a hole so big, the possibilities I could see were infinite…and infinitely exciting.

That professor inspired me. I learned how to turn on the “motivation switch” inside of myself and it was like nothing I had ever experienced before…I was jazzed, I was pumped, I was alive! I LEARNED TO BE MOTIVATED. This was possibly the single greatest gift anyone had ever given me since my birth into this world. My grades skyrocketed…and so did my goals.

To say I was fortunate is an understatement. It was the gift of a lifetime. It is what education should be.

But how do we replicate that ‘gift’ in today’s world? Do we merely HOPE that there are enough teachers who can “teach” like that and students who are open enough to receive it? No, hope isn’t enough.

We must believe and share an unwavering commitment that every child’s birthright is to have the tools to be motivated from the inside… for it is there that excellence lives.

So, how to begin? Recognize that children:

1. Have active imaginations.
2. Have their own goals and dreams.
3. Have a purpose…a reason for being on the planet.
4. Require a “spark” from their imaginations to discover the goals and dreams they have for themselves. (Ask them to visualize what goals and dreams they have… what they want to be in life.)
5. Need to be shown how to make a “bridge” from their goals and dreams into daily life and their education. (If you want to be an astronaut, math and science are essential skills to have.)
6. Are “media babies” with quick bursts of attention who are hungry for ways to further their own agendas: i.e. reach their OWN goals and dreams. (So connect it up for them. Show them how their education furthers the realization of their own goals and dreams.)
7. Want to get there, so empower them with the tools to accomplish their goals and dreams: Motivation, Focus, Organization, Goal-Setting, and Responsibility. (And make it exciting for them to use these tools in pursuit of their own goals and dreams.)

Then, they can and will be motivated to learn reading, math, and science…and most importantly, to go on an inspired Quest to achieve Excellence: at school, at home, and beyond!

Rather, it is intended to shed some much-
needed light on what can be done to assuage the ills currently plaguing the “education” of our young people today.

To perform well on ‘the tests’ many consider to be the benchmark of a child’s success in school, the student must demonstrate proficiency in core academic subjects (reading, math, science). The development of these core academic skills is often thought to be a result of rigorous drills in the intricacies of the subject matter: A teacher “instructs” the students on the requisite components needed to acquire demonstrable proficiency in the subject.

The students know their “job” is to learn. But many children find their job not only boring, but lacking meaning in a world where the rules, influences, and parameters are constantly changing.

So the students sit in class and the teacher “teaches.” And the students’ minds wander. Let’s examine why…

1. Times have changed: This generation of “media babies” has grown up surrounded by media, often listening to music, chatting online with their friends, watching videos and playing games – all at the same time. They perceive the world in quick bursts of attention…and prefer it that way.
2. They grow up quicker: Because they are “media babies,” they are exposed to more…earlier in life than previous generations. They see A LOT. And what they see isn’t all “good.” They see a lot of sex, violence, and broken values; financial turbulence, rampant materialism, divorce, alcoholism, drug use, war, corruption, and a lot more.
3. They wonder where they fit in to it all: If they do what they see, will they fit in? Will their fears be calmed if they wear the right shoes or mimic some of the other behavior they see all around them?
4. They wonder how school fits in to it all? “What’s the point of school, anyway? It’s boring to learn these things. Why should I? Why and how does it matter?” A teacher recently told me that her class was rated #1 in the state in academic proficiency but she felt like she’d been “pulling an elephant uphill” all year. Her students had “no inner motivation” no matter how much she tried to instill it in them.
    
   Why? Because the children knew they had to learn the facts to pass the tests. They didn’t understand how the information they were being asked to learn had value in their lives. So, they had no “inner” motivation to retain it.
5. Educators and parents are searching for answers: Home schooling is growing. “Teaching to the tests” is increasing. More stringent standards are being mandated. “Cash incentives” are being instituted to pay students to learn. Yet there is a crisis in education.
6. Where is the inspiration, the motivation, the excellence? One thing is certain: Many know it’s missing… In the work force, the biggest challenge is finding employees that have it. In commerce, it’s a rare find. In schools, it’s the missing link.
7. How can education be made meaningful so that it works…to inspire and motivate excellence today and in the future? The old paradigm is to “teach down:” to measure and compare; To “instruct” as though the students are lacking knowledge and “drill” it into their brains. Psychologist Abraham Maslow called this “deficiency motivation”… fed by lack. Although it may accomplish the goal in a few, we must ponder and question if it really produces the desired result. Or is it the cause of many of the ills plaguing not only education but our world today?

The new paradigm is to “inspire up” or as Maslow called it “growth motivation,” fed not by lack, but by “potential.” Found not by measuring and comparing, but by seeing the infinite possibilities in every situation and inside every child.

Not one among us can truthfully deny that children have active and endless imaginations. They love stories, fantasy and play. They love music, color and joy. Must they leave it behind when they enter the school house and their “real education” begins?

No, I say. For it is the ticket, the way to connect it all together so that it makes sense and has meaning to our children, to us, and our world.

It begins on the INSIDE. Motivation and excellence come from within. They cannot be “instructed.” They must be inspired.

Only when our society realizes that MOTIVATION IS THE MISSING LINK in education can we begin to find solutions that inspire it. Let us begin now…the sky’s the limit!