In a country as diverse as America, it seems strange that our education system is so rigid.

In fact, this lack of specialization hurts students on all sides of the spectrum.

The slow students that don’t meet the deadlines at a quick enough pace lose confidence in their abilities. And the gifted students, confined to the set pace of every other student on the assembly line, become bored and slowdown. This structure doesn’t allow room for either side to practice their creativity or intellect.

I believe there are 3 basic education structures.

Conveyer Belt Education: Uniform Treatment

Prescription without a diagnosis.

Every child is given the same treatment. If you learn visually or through audio it doesn’t matter you are confined to a classroom. There is an overall lack of time and resources allocated to address the needs of the student. Non-measurable exams determine your “success” rather than developing the skills needed to succeed in life.

It is the fault of a 19th-century factory model that worked great for cars but doesn’t work so well when “the product” has a heartbeat. This education model tries to prepare everyone for a job, any job, by teaching them what to think.

Professional Education: Specialization

The purpose of this type of education is to create specialized workers.

The most common form of specialized education used to be college. Where you gain a more in-depth understanding of a certain skill. However, I find the information taught at the college level to still be extremely vague and unuseful.

Professional education is meant to create experts in their field of knowledge from medicine to law, to trade schools – by teaching them when to think.

Leadership Education: Independent Thinkers

This is the best form of education because it empowers the student.

Leadership education teaches the student how to think and prepares them to be leaders in their homes, communities, entrepreneurs and statesmen.

I think we could really benefit from a greater variety in our education system. Afterall, we are not all common.