“What Makes one Graduate Wealthy, and the
others ‘only’ Average?”
· 1. Me: “This
is new research, December, 2013, by experts at MIT and Harvard. They say stuff
about education that is brand-new. This is relevant to parents who care about
their kids’ future.”
· 2. You:
“Does it apply to adults too?”
· 3. Me: “Yes,
if they are willing to learn a new approach to making knowledge pay-off in
their career. Interested?”
· 4. You: “But
no Theory or Philosophy, just practical stuff I can use to help my 6 and 9 year
old kids, right?”
· 5. Me: “They
have solid information based on 1,400 kids in 8th grade, in the
Boston public school system. They will follow their students for the next 20
years.”
· 6. You:
“Could you summarize their findings to see where they are headed?”
· 7. Me:
“Regular school teaching is to PASS the big state & Federal tests. The
schools can train you kids to even ACE these (Standardized) exams. But, that
does not teach students the knowledge & skills required for personal and
Career success. Clear?”
· 8. You:
“They get great marks on the SAT or standardized exams by the government, but
they cannot get or keep a job? That’s stupid. Tell me more.”
· 9. Me: “Let
me say it their way. “Schools can raise knowledge and boost test scores, but
this does not raise the skills required for career success.”
· 10. You: “In my company they hire graduates from business schools like
Harvard & Columbia, who know absolutely nothing about business in my
industry.”
· 11. Me: “What happens to them?”
· 12. You: “They quit or get fired within a year. They are school-smart,
but not “career-wise”. The worst thing I can picture is going back to live with
their parents.”
· 13. Me: “There are two professional terms you have to know to understand
their conclusions. “Crystallized- Intelligence” and “Fluid-Intelligence”.
OK?”
· 15. Me: “Crystallized-Intel is ‘how-to’ stuff to pass the exam. You have
to read and write, and do simple math.
But that is different than having a
creative mind to solve NEW problems as they occur.”
· 16. You: “Crystallized” means feeding back the answers just the way they
taught you, right?”
· 17. Me: “Yeah, now for the other stuff called, “FLUID”
Intel. That’s harder. Teaching
students to use their mind to think logically and using reason. Same for
applying skills you have.”
· 18. You: “Be specific. What kind of knowledge and skills are under
“Fluid”?”
· 19. Me: a) “Working-Memory capacity, b) your SPEED of
information-processing, and the c) ability to solve complex problems,
not just the common, easy ones.”
· 20. You: “Which do you teach in SpeedReading101.org?
Please – no commercials.”
· 21. Me: “Both. First, how to ace both exams and your grades at school.
Second, how to double you long-term ,
· 22. You: “That second one is called Speed Reading, right?”
· 23. Me: “Yeah. We focus on FLUID stuff like learning faster and
remembering twice-as-much. “Fluid” means “flowing” along and increasing your
knowledge by study.”
· 24. You. “Sounds like you got what MIT & Harvard call
Fluid-Intelligence. I’ll ask you later about my kids.”
· 25. Me: “Call it Mind or Cognitive-Skills. How to think and solve
problems at school and in you career.”
· 26. You: “Will my kids still ACE school and win promotions at-work? After
graduation they live on their own, and I rent out their room. Right?”
· 27. Me: “Damned right. We send them to school to become independent, not
to come back home to live.
· Amy Finn, of MIT says, “Successful students use their reasoning skills in
unique patterns. Where you would never expect them, and they solve problems.”
· 28. You: “Still they need Math skills, spelling, reading & writing.
That’s “crystallized-skills, right?”
· 29. Me: “Now you got it. You need both, and school should not spend 90%
of the time on passing the Standardized exams, right?”
· 30. You. “My kids are going to have both sets of skills.”
· See ya.
· Copyright © 2013, Bernard Wechsler
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