Edu-Hacking?

In my work I address the reality that, from kindergarten to college, mainstream schools often fail to satisfy. Whether you’re a bored high schooler, directionless college student, or disgruntled parent, it’s easy to get angry at the education system.

So what can you do about poor schooling—today—without waiting for institutions or lawmakers to change their ways?

The answer: You can hack your education.

Edu-Hacking Explained

“Hacking” in the broadest sense means doing something clever in order to beat a system. Hackers are driven by curiosity and the satisfaction of focusing on a hard problem. And it is extremely difficult to make a hacker work on something that they don’t want to.

Correspondingly, edu-hackers are those people whose curiosity and desire to work on hard & authentic problems are not being addressed by school—so they do something clever to beat the system. They find a way to give themselves an education, with or without school.

Who are the edu-hackers out there right now?

Homeschoolers are the original edu-hackers. They and their less traditional, more self-directed offshoot—unschoolers—are 3+ million strong in the United States.

Alternative schools—from Montessori to Sudbury to North Star to innovative charters—provide parents and students with edu-hacking options.

Teachers and students within the public system can be edu-hackers. John Taylor Gatto, Jaime Escalante, and Marva Collins each subverted the traditional system with innovative methods (usually bringing harsh retribution from the school authorities). Students who find ways to give themselves a personalized education despite the standardized curriculum are edu-hackers.

College students who take special advantage of their college’s resources to follow their passion are edu-hackers, as are college drop-outs who courageously leave college (or never go in the first place) to better teach themselves.

Finally, parents who make life-long learning a priority for themselves and their children are perhaps the most important edu-hackers of all.

As you can see, it’s a pretty big community.

The Edu-Hacker’s Toolkit

What does edu-hacking look like? What do edu-hackers actually do?

Edu-hacking methods vary, of course, depending on whether you’re teaching your 4-year-old to read or self-desinging a college experience. But a a few tools and principles tend to unite the majority of edu-hackers.

Edu-hackers take advantage of high-tech resources. Google, Wikipedia, and Youtube help edu-hackers quickly research any new topic of interest. Social networking sites connect them to other learners, blogs and TED talks introduce them to big ideas, and online courses (like Khan Academy or Academic Earth) grant them access to traditional academics. Technology is the edu-hacker’s friend.

Edu-hackers also practice low-tech, old-school learning. They talk to strangers. They do internships and apprenticeships and volunteering. They read a lot. They conspire with friends, and they seek out the best tutors and mentors. They tap the wisdom of their local communities. They realize that technology can only teach you so much.

Edu-hackers motivate themselves. They acknowledge that it’s your own job to make the world interesting—not your teacher’s or parent’s. They set goals, get excited over big projects, and avoid boredom like the plague.

Edu-hackers are entrepreneurs. This doesn’t mean that they all want to start a business (though many do); it means that edu-hackers don’t expect a free lunch. Self-education teaches value-creation, and value-creation is the heart of entrepreneurship. Edu-hackers pay their own way and use trade—not theft or coercion—to achieve their goals.

Edu-hackers always look for the back door. They love evading society’s gatekeepers. Need a diploma for that job? An edu-hacker finds a way to prove her competency without a diploma. Everyone goes to college to learn that field? An edu-hacker looks for the same resources and opportunities at a lower price. Edu-hackers obsessively seek second right answers: multiple solutions to a problem which most people consider to have only one solution.

The best thing about the edu-hacker’s toolkit is: the tools are cheap or free. Edu-hacking is largely about adopting an attitude; that’s why edu-hackers exist in every social class. In this club, membership is free.

Hacking High School

High school sucks. So what can you do about it?

First a few principles to keep in mind:

Hacking high school is not about avoiding hard work. Do you know any computer hackers? They work really hard—but always on problems of their choosing. Edu-hacking is about finding the times, places, and subject areas where working hard feels effortless.

Put your money (effort) where your mouth (complaining) is. Hacking high school requires action. If you just want to complain about your classes, teachers, or other students, then you won’t find much help here. Edu-hackers boldly act to change their situations and take control of their educations.
You don’t have to drop out of school to edu-hack. While I mostly work with teenage unschoolers who have chosen to drop out of (or never go to) school, I was a high school student myself. I understand that not everyone can make the choice to leave school. But you can still learn from those who have dropped out.

Now, here’s what you can do.