Student Employment

Planted 02020-07-27

How can we give the next generation every opportunity we can to solve problems?

Student: A person engaged in study; one who is devoted to learning; a learner; a pupil; a scholar; especially, one who attends a school, or who seeks knowledge from professional teachers or from books; as, the students of an academy, a college, or a university; a medical student; a hard student.

Employ: That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment.

Student employment is a service from people acquiring knowledge on the subject.

We should all strive to be students all the time. Employment helps us find the balance between being happy, smart, and useful.

Maybe because I grew up learning things on my own across the internet, without direct help or direction from anyone else, one of my strongest wishes is a better environment for discovering and exploring ideas.

Liberal education is a common way to promote such exploration through higher education.

However, that has accessibility problems—one that the internet solved decades ago.

We need more opportunities for one to apply themselves. We need lower barriers.

Permissionless gains

Things that you don’t need somebody else’s permission to utilize has stuck with me from Naval.

Historically, learning and education were gated and required permission. Now though? You don’t need someone’s permission.

However, because education flows down from the needs of employers, it’s often more about accreditation than education.

Why accreditation over education? Because it’s a shortcut to answering, “Do you have enough knowledge on this task to trust that you can complete it to my satisfaction?” Even if the person hiring doesn’t know about the task that they’re hiring for.

Accreditation raises barriers in an attempt to raise the quality of applicants.

I’m focused on unlocking the potential of overlooked students. When we think we’re raising the quality of applicants, we’re only lowering our leadership opportunities.

Lotteries are a better selection method.

Listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History Season 5 Episode 3 and see Harvard Limited-enrollment lottery.

For accreditations to mean something, they can’t be given at a low value, so they need permission. You’ll overlook potential.

But the knowledge required for tasks, jobs, and careers? That doesn’t need permission.

And it’s the things that don’t require permission that find the best way forward.

If a company relies on traditional job interviews as its sole or main means of choosing employees, it simply won’t get the best people. And getting hiring right is paramount to the success of any organization.

You, me, and every child across the world can learn anything, anytime. What we need is hope and opportunity to apply oneself.

Learning without doing is wasted.

Opportunity to apply oneself

Employment provides the opportunity to apply one’s learnings.

How can we give the next generation every opportunity we can to solve problems?

For me, this is the key to unlock education, employment, and opportunity.

Whoever gives the most opportunities to apply oneself to solve problems will have themselves new thinking.