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Esther Wojcicki – How to Raise Successful People
Esther Wojcicki is famous for three things: teaching a high school class that has changed the lives of thousands of kids, inspiring Silicon Valley legends like Steve Jobs, and raising three daughters who have each become famously successful. What do these three accomplishments have in common? They are the result of TRICK, Esther’s secret to […]
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Esther Wojcicki is famous for three things: teaching a high school class that has changed the lives of thousands of kids, inspiring Silicon Valley legends like Steve Jobs, and raising three daughters who have each become famously successful. What do these three accomplishments have in common? They are the result of TRICK, Esther’s secret to raising successful people: Trust, Respect, Independence, Collaboration, and Kindness. Simple lessons, but the results are radical. Esther Wojcicki is a leading American educator and journalist. Mother of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Fulbright scholar Janet Wojcicki, and 23&Me founder Anne Wojcicki, as well as a teacher and mentor to James Franco and Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Esther is widely heralded as the most successful parent and educator in the United States. Esther offers essential lessons for raising, educating, and managing people to their highest potential. She is the author of Moonshots in Education (2014) and best seller How to Raise Successful People (May, 2019). She is co founder of Tract.app (2020) an innovative way to empower students by gamifying education using a peer to peer model.
Key Takeaways:
00:30 Esther’s Favorite Thing about Working with Young Learners
09:28 The Challenge for Educators with New Technologies
18:23 COVID and Alternative Education
25:32 Important Skills for Children to Have
35:19 Two Different Kinds of Bad Parenting
37:00 The Courage To Be Different and Vulnerable
45:50 How can Teenagers meet their Social Needs?
47:56 Metaphor comparing Traditional Education with Self-directed Education
Quotes:
“Young learners, they’re incredibly creative and you would never be able to predict what they’re going to ask or do or say. And I love that. Unpredictability and I love their creativity.”
“You don’t learn to be kind unless you are treated with kindness.”
“When you trust the child, they then feel good about themselves. And then they trust themselves.”
“An innovation comes from taking a risk. So you cannot be innovative as long as you’re unwilling to put yourself in this sort of vulnerable position.”
“The social, emotional skills are more important than anything. And those are the skills you, parents, can teach while your kid is at home now.”
Social Links:
Esther Wojcicki
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/estherwojcicki/
Co-Founder- http://tract.app
Dean:HarmonyPlus; Palo Alto High Journalism
Founder: Creative Commons; JournalisticLearningInitiative
Advisory Council: How to Raise Successful People; ThriveGlobal Blogger;
Founder: https://globalmoonshots.org/
Books: Moonshots in Education
Samantha Jansky – Mindfulness and The Learning Environment
Samantha Jansky joined Acton Academy as a Socratic guide in 2012, just a few years after its inception. Leading the Elementary school for 4 years, Samantha created systems that fur-ther empowered young heroes in a truly learner-driven environment. She then moved on to specializing in Learning Design Creation (curriculum) and wrote and published the entire
Samantha Jansky – Mindfulness and The Learning Environment Read More »
Samantha Jansky joined Acton Academy as a Socratic guide in 2012, just a few years after its inception. Leading the Elementary school for 4 years, Samantha created systems that fur-ther empowered young heroes in a truly learner-driven environment. She then moved on to specializing in Learning Design Creation (curriculum) and wrote and published the entire Elementary School Learning Design used by the world-wide Acton network of over 100 schools.
Samantha’s ultimate goal has always been to serve others and she has done so in the public, private, and non-profit spheres. She raised over $3 million to build primary and vocational schools in Haiti, ran a local campaign in Colorado, and was on the ground level of a health and wellness start-up in Santa Monica.
Samantha graduated with honors in International Relations from the University of Denver and studied French and political science at L’institut d’Etudes Politiques (ScienePo) in Rennes, France. As a new mother, Samantha looks forward to rediscovering the wonders of the world through her daughter’s eyes and building a world-changing learning community working side by side with her long-time colleague and close friend, Janita Lavani.
Key Takeaways:
00:18 Samantha’s Favorite Thing about Young Learners
01:33 The Origin Story of Samantha and Acton Academy
08:12 What is more important Mindset or Preparation?
09:52 Role of Parents on the Kid’s Journey
17:31 What does Samantha feel about COVID and the pressure on their local area?
20:20 Strategies for Hands-on Learning at Home
24:12 Tips to Empower Parents to Think Out of the Norm
29:20 Three Words to Describe Ascent Acton Academy
34:28 Metaphor on Conventional versus Alternative Learning
Quotes:
“I think the hardest place for parents to step back is social struggle.”
“A lot of the times we end up projecting from our own experiences from childhood. There’s a lot of fear around. How your child will be impacted emotionally from a social interaction gone wrong or however we perceive it. And, I think some of the most powerful learning experiences are when parents talk through those, they don’t ignore them.”
“This kind of play encourages so much creative thought and innovation. It requires collaboration. It forces really important conflict resolution to happen in a very natural way.”
“(On alternative education) I think less about what would be lost if you did it, more would be lost if you didn’t do it?”
Social Links:
Samantha Jansky LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-jansky-38578611/
Ascent Acton Academy:Website – https://ascentacton.org/
Instagram – https://instagram.com/ascentacton
Blake Boles – Unschooling and College
Blake Boles is an Experiential Educator who has organized big trips for teenagers through his company Unschool Adventures since 2008. He is a California native and a frequent traveler, hiker, and biker. Blake Boles is the author of The Art of Self-Directed Learning, Better Than College, and College Without High School. He hosts the Off-Trail
Blake Boles is an Experiential Educator who has organized big trips for teenagers through his company Unschool Adventures since 2008. He is a California native and a frequent traveler, hiker, and biker.
Blake Boles is the author of The Art of Self-Directed Learning, Better Than College, and College Without High School. He hosts the Off-Trail Learning podcast and has delivered over 75 presentations for education conferences, alternative schools, and parent groups.
Blake and his work have appeared on The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, BBC Travel, Psychology Today, Fox Business, TEDx, The Huffington Post, USA Today, NPR affiliate radio, and the blogs of Wired and The Wall Street Journal.
In 2003 Blake was studying astrophysics at UC Berkeley when he stumbled upon the works of John Taylor Gatto, Grace Llewellyn, and other alternative education pioneers. Deeply inspired by the philosophy of unschooling, Blake custom-designed his final two years of college to focus exclusively on education theory. After graduating he joined the Not Back to School Camp community and began writing and speaking widely on the subject of self-directed learning.
Key Takeaways:
00:11 The Origin of Blake Boles’ Self-Directed Education journey.
6:22 Self-Directed Education in Europe
9:14 Meeting parents who have fears on Alternative Education.
13:22 Homeschoolers Unschoolers, and Alternatively School Students getting into the most rigorous and the most elite colleges.
21:50 Options for Students pursuing Alternative Education.
28:34 Community for Students who go for Alternative Education.
35:26 Popularity of Alternative Education due to Pandemic.
41:08 Metaphor that describes Self-Directed Education versus Traditional System.
43:00 What is Blake’s ideal trajectory for his future kids considering all his experiences?
Quotes:
I don’t want to say, “be more authentic to sell yourself to top colleges,” no, “be more authentic because that’s a meaningful way to go about your education.”
You don’t need a high school diploma to get into any top private, liberal arts college in the United States.
…there’s so much destruction that the mechanics of school can wreck upon family relationships. It turns parents into homework cops. It poisons all of the otherwise casual discussion that might exist around a dinner table.
Its very hard for me to make to make blanket recommendations about “Is it better to homeschool or unschool or to go to an alternative school?” It really depends upon the time and the place and the opportunities available to that young person and that specific young person’s personality and needs.
Any venture into the world of alternative education begins with a research process, that both parents and young people should participate in and you go explore, you go meet people, you go knock on doors. And that is really what’s going to inform whatever we call that the next right step.
You do enjoy this increased level of freedom and autonomy, but you also have to take the responsibility and sometimes, the anxiety that comes with self-employment also. And so that’s what being a self-directed learner is like, it’s a lot like working for yourself.
Social Links:
Blake Boles:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakeboles/
Website – https://www.blakeboles.com/
Podcast (Off-Trail Learning) –
https://podcasts.apple.com/dm/podcast/off-trail-learning/id976183057?mt=2
Unschool Adventures:
Website – https://www.unschooladventures.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/unschool.adventures/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/unschooladventures/
Books:
Why Are You Still Sending Your Kids to School?: the case for helping them leave, chart their own paths, and prepare for adulthood at their own pace
The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education
Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree
College Without High School: A Teenager’s Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College