"What makes one graduate WEALTHY, and the others only AVERAGE?"

“What Makes one Graduate Wealthy, and the others ‘only’ Average?”

• 1. Me: “This is new research, December, 2013, by experts at MIT and Harvard. They say stuff about education that is brand-new. This is relevant to parents who care about their kids’ future.”

• 2. You: “Does it apply to adults too?”

• 3. Me: “Yes, if they are willing to learn a new approach to making knowledge pay-off in their career. Interested?”

• 4. You: “But no Theory or Philosophy, just practical stuff I can use to help my 6 and 9 year old kids, right?”

• 5. Me: “They have solid information based on 1,400 kids in 8th grade, in the Boston public school system. They will follow their students for the next 20 years.”

• 6. You: “Could you summarize their findings to see where they are headed?”

• 7. Me: “Regular school teaching is to PASS the big state & Federal tests. The schools can train you kids to even ACE these (Standardized) exams. But, that does not teach students the knowledge & skills required for personal and Career success. Clear?”

• 8. You: “They get great marks on the SAT or standardized exams by the government, but they cannot get or keep a job? That’s stupid. Tell me more.”

• 9. Me: “Let me say it their way. “Schools can raise knowledge and boost test scores, but this does not raise the skills required for career success.”

• 10. You: “In my company they hire graduates from business schools like Harvard & Columbia, who know absolutely nothing about business in my industry.”

• 11. Me: “What happens to them?”

• 12. You: “They quit or get fired within a year. They are school-smart, but not “career-wise”. The worst thing I can picture is going back to live with their parents.”

• 13. Me: “There are two professional terms you have to know to understand their conclusions. “Crystallized- Intelligence” and “Fluid-Intelligence”. OK?”

• 15. Me: “Crystallized-Intel is ‘how-to’ stuff to pass the exam. You have to read and write, and do simple math.
But that is different than having a creative mind to solve NEW problems as they occur.”

• 16. You: “Crystallized” means feeding back the answers just the way they taught you, right?”

• 17. Me: “Yeah, now for the other stuff called, “FLUID”
Intel. That’s harder. Teaching students to use their mind to think logically and using reason. Same for applying skills you have.”

• 18. You: “Be specific. What kind of knowledge and skills are under “Fluid”?”

• 19. Me: a) “Working-Memory capacity, b) your SPEED of information-processing, and the c) ability to solve complex problems, not just the common, easy ones.”

• 20. You: “Which do you teach in SpeedReading101.org?
Please – no commercials.”

• 21. Me: “Both. First, how to ace both exams and your grades at school. Second, how to double you long-term ,

• 22. You: “That second one is called Speed Reading, right?”

• 23. Me: “Yeah. We focus on FLUID stuff like learning faster and remembering twice-as-much. “Fluid” means “flowing” along and increasing your knowledge by study.”

• 24. You. “Sounds like you got what MIT & Harvard call
Fluid-Intelligence. I’ll ask you later about my kids.”

• 25. Me: “Call it Mind or Cognitive-Skills. How to think and solve problems at school and in you career.”

• 26. You: “Will my kids still ACE school and win promotions at-work? After graduation they live on their own, and I rent out their room. Right?”

• 27. Me: “Damned right. We send them to school to become independent, not to come back home to live.

• Amy Finn, of MIT says, “Successful students use their reasoning skills in unique patterns. Where you would never expect them, and they solve problems.”

• 28. You: “Still they need Math skills, spelling, reading & writing. That’s “crystallized-skills, right?”

• 29. Me: “Now you got it. You need both, and school should not spend 90% of the time on passing the Standardized exams, right?”

• 30. You. “My kids are going to have both sets of skills.”

• See ya.

• Copyright © 2013, Bernard Wechsler
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