Check this out:

“…every individual is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not. . . . Average job length is two to four years. That makes you a small business. . . . You are the entrepreneur of your own small business. How do you get to your next gig? How do you do your career progression? All these things now fall on the individual shoulders. And so, they’re essentially an entrepreneur. . . . They’re entrepreneurs in terms of the business of themselves and how they drive that.”

 It’s from this post on Career Renegade (no relation – we just both happen to be renegades), quoting LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman. Jonathan Fields goes on to say that the requirement upon someone setting up their own business or looking for employment:

“...means being willing to cultivate your own identity, trumpeting (in a non-aggressive way) that which makes you powerful, distinct, valuable beyond belief and madly desirable.”

As parents, we are first and foremost concerned that our children go on to live happy, contented and fulfilled lives, whatever choices they make. We already know that in order to achieve this, they need to feel empowered, engaged in lifelong learning (in the broadest of senses) and in control of their own destinies. We are the first people to believe and tell them that they are “distinct, valuable beyond belief and madly desirable.”

The government, however, has demonstrated an overriding obsession with the economic output of our children. So let’s work with this, and tell them where they are going wrong yet again. Our arguments about civil liberties, intrusion and welfare (which is ostensibly where this thing started) tend to be at best misunderstood, at worst ignored. Such arguments are not convincing to a state that seeks to control, or to individuals who seek to protect everyone, regardless of the universal damage this causes. Let's put forward some evidence that fits with their agenda.

The vast majority of our children will work at some point during their lifetime. They might be planning on becoming employed, or they might want to set up business for themselves. Yet concerted state efforts to design a workforce for the future through education are failing miserably. The government is hobbling the economic future of our children and our country, by continuing to screw up the very thing they believe they are in the process of improving.

Last Friday, in the last of my series of myth posts, I made the same point, which really is worth making again, to anyone who will listen:

The learning and skills required for a fulfilling 21st century life and successful contribution to a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy can only be realised through the concept of highly personalised learning... Regardless of the technology used in the process, if schools continue to deliver a standardised, exam-oriented, curriculum-based teaching package in an authoritarian, institutional environment, children, and by default the UK economy, will be inadequate to the demands of the 21st century.

Although the government is convinced that it is its duty to impose “support” through schools, communities and even our own homes in order to ensure that people learn properly, the very suggestion of imposed support is contrary to the emerging principles that will underpin the success of our future generations.

What we want for our children – what we are fighting for as home educators – also happens to be what our economy most needs. A total paradigm shift, against which the most privileged, entrenched (and ultimately doomed) bureaucracies are violently struggling, as described here and here, it entails:

A shift away from -

• Command and control management
• Dependency on hierarchical structure
• Reliance on traditional authority for approved knowledge

A move towards -

• Reliance on the self as creator and arbiter of knowledge; critical thinker and problem solver
• Devoting significant time to personal passions, preferences and development of related skills
• Working towards long-term benefits derived from contribution, community and collaboration
  

So here’s the thing that everyone should understand:

Technology is not the most important thing.

Sure, it precipitated this whole paradigm shift. It exposed the biggest scam of the previous century: absolute authority. But it’s now merely another valuable tool in the armour of people who, first and foremost, operate with the mindset of entrepreneurs. Anyone can learn to use a tool – some effectively, some less so. Most schooled children are not learning the importance of thinking like an entrepreneur. Clue: you can’t teach it!

The diverse ways in which home educating families accommodate the individual learning needs of their unique children, within the community, currently puts this cohort streets ahead of their segregated, state-schooled counterparts when it comes to nurturing entrepreneurial thinking. Whether they have a computer in their own homes is largely irrelevant.  

Successfully leveraging the digital world involves thinking like an entrepreneur, not knowing how to use a computer. In order to survive, an entrepreneur has to establish trust and act with integrity, innovate, continually add value, give before taking and work super hard to build sustainable communities. Most importantly, he or she has to be prepared to change, constantly, to achieve these goals. Sustainable success in business does not imply moral corruption; quite the opposite, in fact. For furthering of this argument, read what the heresiarch has to say.

Business is changing so rapidly, employers and employees need to learn and develop a plethora of flexible, transferrable skills to do the same. Business models are becoming smaller and flatter, so finding people who can think for themselves and make good decisions without direct supervision is critical. Lifelong learning really will be imperative to economic success. A certificate is not the same as a person who can show you what they can do, and how well, before your very eyes.

In order for my business to survive and grow in the 21st century, I want to employ entrepreneurs, not drones. Given a blind choice between a workforce of recently home educated people and a workforce of recently state educated people, I’d go for the home educated option every time. I want the best possible chance of diversity and raw human potential, not standardisation and accreditation.

Note: I asked for the best possible chance, not a 100% guarantee. Entrepreneurs understand this. Home educators understand this. Good teachers understand this. The government needs to understand this, and it needs to let go of something it cannot and should not attempt to control.