Oliver's Update

We are witnessing massive changes in all aspects of our lives as we shift into the fourth turning. How can we make the shift most successfully?

(If you haven’t read the excellent book The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe, it is a must. See my review here.)

The constant changes of our times are causing everyone to re-evaluate our focus in so many areas of our lives. Clearly government and businesses are re-evaluating, due to the natural economic shifts of an emerging fourth turning. Education, health care, entertainment and finance, industry and transportation, and just about everything else is going through a big re-evaluation and re-focusing period.

So are most TJEders, homeschoolers and parents in general. In fact, the growth of non-traditional private, charter and cooperative schools is natural to this Fourth Turning trend. Here are a few ideas on how to make this time of change really successful for you and your family—and not be left behind!

1. Stay Positive. Relax, enjoy and be grateful for the opportunity to re-evaluate, re-focus, and really emphasize the truly important things in your life, family and education.

During challenging times, there is great opportunity for innovation! As the status quo becomes ever shakier and the grand institutions begin to back-pedal on their promises of our deliverance, the mores and the constraints of popular opinion are relaxed as people turn to hope that something—anything—will help. That means your innovative idea is as worthy of consideration now as it ever will be. If people are too afraid or too entrenched in the past to look around and see the new opportunities for progress, they don’t learn or grow. But those who do see the great potential to improve during times of change can really make a difference. Take a pro-active leadership perspective and consider how you can improve your life, education, family and community right now.

Some people respond to changing times with fear, worry, blame and often even anger or stress. Be one of those with a calm demeanor and a reassuring smile who listens, lifts, and leads! Immerse yourself in the gratitude and optimism that make your attitude infectious. Positive opportunities are all around us.

Fourth turnings are great for family strength, improved marriages, and building strong relationships with friends and community. Now is the time! What is needed are people with the right attitude to look around, see the opportunities, and get to work on them.

2. Be Inclusive. The shift to a fourth turning highlights polarities—in politics, business, families and almost all relationships. Pressures tempt us to be more self-absorbed and negative in general. Don’t be one who defines this trend with divisiveness. Instead, reach out even more to any and all! Build friendships even more than usual with those who have different views, politics, religions, ethnicities, etc. Everyone is shoring up their Core. On a superficial level this is can be perceived as pulling away from one another. I prefer to think of it as a universal, renewed interest in getting back to basics. You and I may differ in application of the specifics; but the fact that we’re both moving beyond the mundane, the commercial, the cosmetic, in favor of our more basic motivations and values is essentially a thing we actually have in common. It’s all in how we look at it. As leaders, statesmen and stateswomen, we get to decide if this important and critical societal trend divides or unites us.

TJEders have hopefully read enough history and great ideas to not get caught up in the political divide that unnecessarily separates the nation—many nations. Our world needs great, classic-based leadership in and from all arenas, thought-families, creeds, tribes, cultures and nations. The classics and leadership education need to inform and improve all paradigms!

Sometimes religious or secular TJEders, or politically diverse TJEders, point accusing fingers at each other and even wonder why TJEd promotes the classics to “other sides.” Sometimes people with a certain viewpoint wonder if they can use the TJEd principles unless most or all TJEders share their predominant political, religious or world views. This is sad, and in fact points to one of the major conveyor-belt pitfalls of our century: people have become entrenched in fighting other views instead of learning from them, in vilifying proponents of competing ideas instead of celebrating the common values that allow for true communication and cooperation—which lead to meaningful conflict resolution.

It is wonderful that many views and perspectives are benefiting from the classics, mentors, inspiring-not-requiring, etc. If only more religious, secular, liberal, conservative, libertarian, blue, red, green, pink and others could benefit even more by learning the classics and applying the great principles of leadership education! I believe our world needs this.

The more TJEders from varying views and walks of life, the better. The principles of great leadership education are so needed. Whoever learns from them can benefit from them. The more diversity, the better!

If you want to develop, expand and strengthen your thought/values community, use the 7 Keys, the 4 Phases, etc., share the seminars, books and audios with more, get them more involved, invite them to events and Forums, etc. Classics are for everyone.

I know from my interactions with thousands of TJEders over the years that a major challenge to this ideal is that the “Get-off-the-conveyor-belt” transformation is so exhausting when we have one foot on and one foot off, that in some cases an internal renunciation has to take place in order to embrace the ideals that are more in keeping with our new goals. Sometimes this renunciation goes beyond personal change and includes some judgment and finger-pointing to others who are perhaps completely content with the things that the new TJEder has had to renounce in order to be true to him or herself. This temptation to generalize personal ideals to apply them to others is what we call the TJEd Conveyor Belt.

I have noted in my study of society many examples of communities where Core-level differences of application serve not to divide, but to add texture and flavor to the discussion of the commonalities.

First, I’ve noticed that ESPN and other sports media does a great job of including rather than excluding, and of celebrating differences rather than mistrusting or denegrating people who are different. In the third turning, sports were often used as an example of what is wrong with society, so it is especially appropriate to consider another side of this in the fourth turning. For example, when ESPN or Sports Illustrated cover Notre Dame or Texas Christian University or Southern Methodist University, they speak of religious differences with respect and support.

When they speak of BYU, they mention the unique dynamic that being a religious school brings to its sports teams. It is often noted that BYU’s teams frequently include athletes who are older than their peers from other universities due to a two-year break to serve a religious mission for the LDS church. Additionally, athletes are often not only husbands but fathers, and they bring a gravity and commitment to their play that some playboy partiers lack.

On the flip-side from conservative to liberal: when sports teams at Cal-Berkeley are highlighted, mention is often made of Tightwad Hill, where “treehuggers” and “liberals” (terms used casually, frequently, and with respect on one travelers’ review website with comments about of the complimentary skybox) can catch spectacular views of the bay, wander around and maybe view some NCAA football action—all free to whomever is willing to make the climb. Tightwad Hill is hippie democracy in action—and a time-honored sports tradition.

Sports anchors do exactly the same thing whether they feature private, religious BYU as they do when they profile the sports teams at Cal-Berkeley with its secular, liberal and counter-culture traditions. Interviews with Jewish, Muslim and New Age athletes likewise emphasize how the individuals’ beliefs animate their lives and their quest for excellence. Coaches using Buddhist meditation or inner-child counseling are reported with interest. Visits to the White House by athletes and comments about sports by politicians are treated equally and positively regardless of party or ideology.

The commentators at ESPN seem just as glad to report the human interest of the BYU story as the Berkeley one—as well as the stories of foreigners realizing their dreams at a U.S. university, kids from the ghetto getting a leg up, one more generation of a family sports dynasty, children of celebrities performing on the sports field, underdogs and undefeated champions, etc. Nobody seems particularly conflicted by the differences. They want to play it out on the field and see what commitment, sacrifice, teamwork, talent and character can get you. That’s their common paradigm.

In short, the top sports media outlets emphasize athletics, and celebrate and enjoy a wide diversity among those for whom sports is an important part of their life. Classics, even more than sports, are for everyone; perhaps we can apply some things from this example.

Other societal niches—from rock climbers to 4-H, sci-fi buffs, quilters, Harley Davidson caravaners, etc.—have unifying interests and activities that in many ways define their lives in similar terms; but these do not define them in every way. One is no less talented a quilter for being a ovo-lacto-vegetarian quilter, no more knowledgeable a 4-H’er for being a secular 4-H’er, and no more committed a climber for being a Korean climber. The differences only serve to illustrate the universality of the thing that unites them. TJEd can be a unifying element across a diversity of peoples, creeds and lifestyles. And in fourth turnings, more than any other time in history, we all need to be positive and more inclusive.

3. Be Understanding. Times of shifting like fourth turnings bring major changes. But most of us struggle with change, so we often try to resist it whenever it comes. During such times, people often struggle to figure out what is best for them and their families, and to adapt to the shifting realities; and once they do figure out what their ideal is, implementation of change brings on a host of other issues in terms of priorities and execution. Be understanding!

Some of our best friends, for example, long-time TJEd homeschoolers, are putting their kids in public school this year so dad can change careers (the economy left him no choice) and mom can go to work to help the family fund the changes. They are some of the best parents we know, and they will be great TJEd public schoolers now! This is the right change and time for them, and we’re so proud of them.

The bigger trend is more people moving, having to start over in building community, and even more people joining the ranks of home schooling. Many are facing naysayers on all sides. Be understanding. Listen. Care. Trust people to do their best and make the most of available choices; trust Providence to make up the differences when the ideal seems out of reach. Focus on getting your own choices right, and supporting others as they struggle to adapt to the new economic and world realities. Give a lot of support and less of opinion. That’s what the fourth turning needs right now.

The biggest trend of all in education during this shift is the explosion of new, small alternative schools and schooling options and co-ops! I expect we’ll see a lot more of this in the years ahead. Many parents, from both the public and home school ranks, are starting to choose alternative schools. TJEd is great for many of these parents and schools. If it is right for your family, be understanding of those who stick with other options.

If you are staying with home school or public school, be understanding of those who are choosing alternative models. Community, friendship and getting the principles of leadership education into all educational arenas are more important than picking sides and judging the choices of others.

In short, be understanding of those who do things differently than you. Right now, with our third-turning hangover view of what is “normal” (meaning what we lived during the 1980s and 1990s), it is easy to unfairly judge others. But many who are making changes are leading the new trends. In twenty years we’ll look back and see that these changes built foundations for a much better world ahead. Be understanding!

By the way, be understanding of yourself as well as you go through this time of shifting, re-evaluation and re-focusing!

4. Be excellent. Quality-not-Conformity is still a key principle. All 7, indeed 8, Keys are universal and vital in all four turnings. You will undoubtedly need to consider course adjustments to apply them a little differently, but all of us can benefit from applying all 8 keys more effectively and with more attention and focus. And let’s give a nod to some other virtues of worth in this time: the teachableness of humility and the courage of tenacity.

While there is a lot of change that is affecting us all, for the most part we are still in the calm before the storm (see A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion, pp. 161-163; or click here to read it online; see also this article by Stephen Palmer). With the growing awareness of the Unraveling, we are moved by an urgent sense to be doing something.

Step back; take a deep breath. Caring for your families is doing something. Building a business is doing something. Refining your character and habits, improving your people skills, financial independence, physical health, important relationships—each of these—is doing something. Getting a world-class leadership education—for you and your children—is doing something. Know what today is for; do it well. Then do the next right thing.

Now is a truly great time to re-read A Thomas Jefferson Education and seek new insights that apply to you now. Reading it again, now in the fourth turning, will be like reading an entirely new book! The basics take on a whole new ring and meaning when applied to a new fourth turning. The longer you’ve been using TJEd, the more you’ll benefit from this review.

The quality of your education during shifting times —and what you pass on to your children and grandchildren—is more vital now than at any other point on the cycles of history. The educational quality of those getting a leadership education in the next twenty years, between 2009 and 2029, will literally determine the future of freedom, prosperity, and morality—all through leadership.

Big changes occur most during FIRST turnings, and they are determined by the education of leaders during FOURTH turnings. This means that we have until somewhere between 2021 and 2035 to educate the leaders, entrepreneurs, statesmen and parents who will usher in the next big thing—whatever we decide to make it.

Note that today’s five year old will be 25-30 when the next first turning hits, while today’s fifteen-year-old will be 35-40. In other words, when the biggest changes in our modern history arrive, our kids will just be getting ready to be leaders. We have a limited window of time in which to help them get a great leadership education; and if we do, the future of freedom, prosperity and morality is bright.

In Conclusion: Shifting times are met by most people with fear and worry, but leaders see them as great times of opportunity! We can make the most of the current world, and show others how to do the same. The way to do this is simple: stay positive, be inclusive, be understanding, and, in the classic words of Bill and Ted: be excellent. These are some of the deepest, most profound, and most useful lessons of the classics and great mentors.

The 7 Keys are needed now more than ever, and leaders are needed to apply them in innovative and increasingly effective ways in our homes, communities, schools and society. Be one of those leaders. You were born for such a time as this. Let’s all make the most of it.

The Renaissance of the Family

In crisis periods of history like the one we are now experiencing, almost everything changes. Economies change, as do governments, businesses, schools and societies--often in major and surprising ways. Since few of us want to admit that the cycles of history are driving things, most people are frustrated and feel vulnerable and even victimized by widespread changes. Many turn to government to solve our most pressing problems, hoping it can work miracles. Others turn to other institutions or their own efforts for solutions.

Indeed, increased financial challenges and difficult world events often amplify the pressure on marriage and family relationships. Divorce rates increase, family dysfunction grows, and people look outside the family for more and more help--at the very time family members need each other and can help each other the most.

“But the crisis is over,“ some say. When economists measure an economy to determine growth or recession, an preferred indicator is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is calculated by combining several factors including private profits, capital values and government spending. GDP has been in recession for the past year, but it showed small growth in the third quarter of 2009, causing some to that we are in a recovery. The fact is, this “recovery” was actually one more quarter of decreased profits and capital values—no change in the trend of economic slowing there—masked by the other factor: government spending in the form of Cash for Clunkers and other bailouts.

The problem with this is that since government gets its money either by taxing the private sector or printing money, it can’t keep spending like this and maintaining a “recovery” for long without drastically raising taxes or causing inflation.

In short, reports that a recovery is here to stay are, let us say, premature. A lasting recovery will only happen if profits and values also increase. One of the better indicators of where we are is the unemployment rate, which continues to worsen.

This means that pressure on families is almost certain to increase for the months and probably years ahead. Crisis Periods in history are preceded by Good-Times Periods and then followed by Rebuilding Periods. If the cycles of history hold true and we face major military conflict and even the draft in the decade ahead, or even if unemployment continues to worsen, families will face even more challenges.

I am an optimist, and I’m convinced that great things are ahead for America and the world. And whether or not you share my hope for the future, I believe we can agree on one thing: Our nation and our world will rise no higher than our families. If the family continues to decline, so will peace, prosperity, freedom and happiness.

The experts have studies and graphs outlining the details, but history is absolutely clear on this point. The future of the family is the future of our world. Higher numbers of single-adult, single-parent and other non-traditional families are included in this great opportunity.

In past Crisis Periods, layoffs and failed businesses have resulted in the family pulling together--planting gardens, starting businesses, chopping wood to save on fuel and otherwise facing and working to overcome challenges together. In our current world, with its urbanized and technologically advanced lifestyle, we aren’t following this pattern of family retrenchment. We aren’t relying less on paychecks and more on the family farm, or even leaving the family farm to find opportunity in places like the New World (1780s), the West (1860s), or California (1930s). In our times, no geographical Promised Land has arisen to deliver us.

At the same time, the modern world keeps us busy and separated from each other--kids at school, youth with groups of friends, mom and dad holding down multiple jobs or seeking employment, etc. Even where both adults in some homes are unemployed, they don’t necessarily spend more time together, but rather cope with their stresses and seek solutions independently.

Diminished finances for vacations, no time off at a new job, productivity-related compensation and workplace competitiveness all bring pressure to emphasize less family time and more work time. And the technologies that used to be tools to help connect us have turned on their masters. No longer luxuries, they have gone from being pervasive to invasive to divisive; each family member has his own unique and virtual social life, and family life suffers as a result.

The average American couple in 2009 spends only 16 minutes a day talking with each other, according to a report in Men’s Health. Half of that time is spent discussing things like household chores and finances, leaving very little time to build relationships. The same Men’s Health reported that “lack of quality time” is the number one cause of tension in couples’ relationships in 2009, more than finances, work issues or other challenges. Unlike past Crisis Periods, we are spending less time together just talking and having fun as couples and families than we did even in the past two decades. Rather than refocusing on our marriage and family relationships during Crisis, we are pulling even further apart.

The simplistic reason that Good-Time Periods turn into Crisis Periods is that families turn away from each other to serve the agendas of corporations, marketing firms, schools and others. Crisis Periods are all about recapturing the most important things--especially happy and successful families.

If families don’t come together, strengthen communities, entrepreneur new enterprises and begin to rebuild society, we won’t see the benefits of a great Rebuilding Period ahead. This is a potential tragedy of Dark Ages proportions. Just consider Rome in the first century, France in the late Seventeenth Century, the South after the Civil War, or modern Cambodia, Bosnia or Rwanda. A society has no destiny that is not tied to the strength of its families. Without a family renaissance, no society rebounds from crisis.

The good news in all this is that the bad news is good news: If the biggest challenge in our families is lack of quality time and taking the time to really talk, then the solutions are simple. What if you spent a lot more time with your spouse talking about less urgent, more important, more fun things and enjoying each other? What if you did the same with each of your children, siblings and/or parents? Not everyone has all these options, but clearly not enough of those who do have families are giving them enough attention and effort.

What if families spent two or three evenings a week and half a day each weekend doing fun things, entrepreneurial ventures and/or service projects together? Together is the key word here. This is truly the way that Crisis Periods in history are solved at the grass roots.

Usually economic or political realities force family unity and mutual cooperation in surviving and making a living. In our day it is still as vital to ending the attitudes, behaviors and habits that brought on Crisis; these same elements will keep the Cultural Renaissance progressing until things change.

Of course, this only works where families both bond within and connect without--not isolating themselves but strengthening their relationships with each other and the rest of the community. And it works most effectively where families reject the temptation to draw factional, us/them lines and instead reach out and build new relationships.

Here is the pattern: improve marriages, strengthen family relationships, make new friends, and build stronger connections with friends and community. This naturally overcomes Crisis, and without it Crisis Periods persist and worsen.

Whatever happens in Washington, Wall Street, Main Street, Hollywood or Silicon Valley in the next ten years, it will all be irrelevant until our families come together at a much higher level. Ironically, it is the little things that will most likely win (or lose) this battle.

In the next decade, improving your marriage one-hour-a-day-at-least may be the most important thing you can do for society. Same with many-hours-a-week spent actively talking with and doing activities together with children and grandchildren. Seldom has so much depended on such little things!

Will we follow the course of societies past that have lost their way and crumbled under the devastating forces of economic upheaval, war and other crises?

Without a Renaissance of family, no new candidate can rise to save us; no new legislation, policy or program will heal our land.

On the other hand, the buttressing and revitalization of our society at the most basic level of family, though it be quiet and virtually ignored, is the incredibly powerful secret catalyst to the revitalization of our freedom and prosperity.

If we get it right, we’ll also see a Renaissance of America and, hopefully, watch it spread to the world. No matter what experts may say or what historians may someday write about our times, it will certainly be defined by either the Demise or the Renaissance of the Family.

The Leadership Alienation Principle

A friend recently told me how hard it is to teach leadership education in her new town.

“It was so easy back in California,” she said, “we had so many friends doing this and so many activities to choose from. But here in this small Montana town we just don’t have anyone to work with. Nobody likes homeschooling, much less Leadership Education. They alienate us, and it’s almost impossible to stay inspired. We feel so alone.”

That’s hard! And this family isn’t alone.

Another friend, a Buddhist, lives in a mostly Evangelical Christian environment. She ran into the normal challenges of Thomas Jefferson Education, turned to the community for help, didn’t find it, felt frustrated, and blamed it on the differences between her and the community around her. A Catholic friend living in New England called with similar frustrations. He blamed it on the secularized environment. “These people just don’t get it,” he said, “they’re close-minded and intolerant.”

I heard the same message from a Southern Baptist friend who moved into a Mormon community, and the same comments from my own children about the non-home schoolers in our church unit. A Mormon family doing TJEd in Texas said the same thing about the Baptist community. Another friend moved from the South to the West and felt alienated because he was a Democrat surrounded by Republicans.

Upon discussing this, Rachel and I discovered that we had both felt the same in high school: I blamed my alienation from certain groups of kids on the fact that I was overweight, and Rachel blamed hers on the fact that her family moved a lot and she was always the new girl.

This list goes on and on. But amazingly, the similarity in all of these experiences, and dozens of others that people have told me about, is that in each case the problem was the same — the person was feeling alienated from a larger group because he or she was passionate and committed about something the larger group didn’t share.

So when she ran into roadblocks and went looking for a community to help, she found…that she was alone.

I call this the Leadership Alienation Principle. When you come up against challenges, you see many of them rooted in the differences between you and the larger community around you.

People who are mission driven tend to look around and feel isolated, misunderstood, misjudged and even criticized because their whole life is lived in the context of an overarching passion. When the people around them don’t identify with this passion, they naturally feel isolated. They use this as an excuse, sometimes as the excuse.

They seldom stop to realize that the real issue is the fact that they are passion driven, mission driven, and their whole life is going to be different than most of the people around them. This naturally causes an “us-them” feeling about anyone who doesn’t share your passion, or disagrees with your deepest views, or is just in a bad mood.

This happens to everyone in the areas of their passion, but for those doing Leadership Education the two hardest areas are “Classics, not Textbooks” and “Inspire, not Require.”

When you get passionate about classics, people often think you are stuck up, elitist, cocky, arrogant. They think this even if you aren’t any of these things, and you have to work four times as hard to be their friend as anyone else.

As for “Inspire, not Require,” this is a problem because the easiest and quickest way to inspire is to get your youth working with a larger peer group that shares their passion for great education. When you can’t find such a group, natural feelings of frustration arise about all these people around you who just don’t get it. You need them, and they don’t seem to care, or worse, you get a sense that they aren’t ever going to accept you into the group.

So, what is the solution? Well, first of all, it helps a lot to realize that this is just plain normal. This is what almost everyone is feeling, or soon will be, in one part of their life or another. So, relax.

But secondly, people you know right now are feeling this about something — and you may be able to help. Look around and see if you are needed, and you will find people reaching out for friendship. See how you can help them, even though it isn’t directly related with your challenges.

Once these two steps are accomplished, you can get started on the third step: Get very clear on what you need to do to build your community, help your family, whatever it is you need to do, and get to work. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to take some time, not everyone will join you at first, or ever, but if it’s your role and your mission then get to work.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is a lot easier done than sitting around worrying, feeling isolated, fretting, wishing or whining. If something needs done in your community, and you feel called to do it, get to work.

The truth is, once you do step three, you will naturally proceed to step four: having a lot of fun making a difference.

When you run into Leadership Alienation, follow these steps and success if right around the corner.

For more help with Leadership for Executives and Community Leaders, see www.thesocialleader.com and www.thecomingaristocracy.com.

The Six Steps Off the Conveyor Belt

Getting off the conveyor belt is harder than it sounds. At first, it sounds like such a great idea that many people can’t imagine it will be difficult. But as we try, we learn that the Conveyor Belt is almost hard-wired in most of us, and even after years of applying Leadership Education principles we still find ourselves falling back on old conveyor belt thinking. I'd like to suggest six stages in this process. Perhaps considering them, knowing what they are, which one you might be in (and how to move to the sixth stage where you’re really off the conveyor belt) can help.

When they first hear about Leadership Education, Professional Education, and the Conveyor Belt, many people are downright skeptical. They think, “Will anything work as well as the conveyor belt? How could it?” Some people are already past this step when they hear of Leadership Education, but it seems we all go through it at some point or another. The majority of American education is conveyor belt, and the majority of us experienced the conveyor belt for most or all of our formal schooling. We just struggle to envision anything else.

I recently talked to a retired public school teacher who strongly told me, “homeschool is no school.” I laughed out loud. Not because the phrase was catchy or even funny, but because of the man saying it. I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. He was a teacher at the small elementary school where I went from Kindergarten through Sixth Grade, and I’ve never known a person more critical of public schools. He hates the conveyer belt in dozens of ways, which he told to most of his students and their parents and all of his colleagues (administration and faculty) year after year. Yet he still dislikes home school. The truth is that many home schools leave much to be desired, just as many private and public classrooms do—but the problem is usually being too conveyor belt.

I know of dozens of great public and private school teachers whose classrooms aren’t conveyor belts, and of many home schools who are using leadership principles very effectively. I think that most people today have not considered the paradigm of the three types of education (leaderhip/professional/conveyor belt), so they are naturally skeptical.

The solution to Stage One is to do the research. Do it well and do it objectively. Take a fair look at all three major types of education, and you’ll find people and institutions who do them well and also those who do them poorly. You’ll find people who are incredibly poorly socialized after twelve years of public schools, as well as private school classrooms with high tuitions that are very low quality. You’ll find it all.

But you’ll also find that the principles of Leadership Education work in all educational settings--public, private, home, elementary, secondary, college level and in corporate training. If you’re in this "Skeptical" stage, just do the homework. At the least, you'll have a more informed opinion, and with any likelihood, you'll end up discovering a new way of looking at how to improve education.

When your research shows you what Leadership Education really is, you’re bound to get really excited. You’ll say, “Wow! The classics are incredible. Mentoring is such a great concept! This just resonates. Why doesn’t everybody know about this?”

This stage usually doesn’t last long. Stage 3 sets in within weeks of trying to apply the principles of Leadership Education in your home, classroom or your own studies. If you’re in Stage 2 right now, enjoy it and bask in the feelings of euphoria and excitement. And--start studying the classics.

“This is way too hard!” I think maybe that’s how we all feel at this stage. Many people get so zealous in Stage Two that they want to transform their whole house, family and schedule at once to achieve their ideal. When idealism collides with realism, Leadership Education feels more like Pandora’s Box than an educational utopia. Unfortunately, some people never get past this stage. They decide it’s hard, so they quit. Then they justify their decision by finding fault with Leadership Education. This is just human nature, but you don’t have to be fooled by it.

Probably most people who engage a great education run in to this stage, where they feel like it’s just plain too hard--or to use other terminology: impractical, expensive, time-consuming, etc. Fortunately, there is a simple solution: get focused!

The negative stages like “skeptical” and “overwhelmed” seem to happen naturally, but the positive stages like “excited” and “focused” require us to do some work. Take inventory of your situation and set realistic goals. Determine two or three things you want to implement (a twice monthly library trip for the family, for example; or using audio books in the car on longer drives) and commit yourself to a long term incremental "fix" as opposed to a radical demolition of your previous life. If you are single, or your family is small and your spouse is more passionate than you about the changes you want to make, perhaps a complete overhaul might be accomplished. But for most of us, the more effective and lasting changes are the ones that flow naturally and are implemented over time. Don't let your fear of lost time short-change the effectiveness of the transition you want to make. Trust the process! Let little things work their magic, and little by little, as you periodically re-assess and bring new tasks into focus, you will find your capacity for great change will increase.

When you’ve finished your twentieth classic, you’ll be saying, “Yes, this is hard, but it is so worth it!” By the time you are into your fortieth classic, you’ll likely be feeling and saying something like this: “I am truly getting a great education. I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner in life. I love this!” When you feel overwhelmed, hit the classics. Get your Scholar Phase! Get focused. Stay focused.

There are many ways in which you might revamp your momentum and focus--attend a Face-to-Face with Greatness seminar (or host one!); start a blog or participate in the TJEdOnline Community discussions; start a book discussion group, a LoL club or a Momschool; the list could go on.

This is the worst of the stages. When you find yourself in this stage, get past it quick. You’ll know you’re here when you find yourself saying or thinking things like: “Other types of education are so inferior,” “Well, she just needs a real education,” or “Let’s not invite them—they just don’t get what great education is.” Wow! That’s arrogant. It’s smug, it’s cocky, and it’s not even true. Who are we to know what’s best for her? We’re all trying to do our best, and none of us are all that far ahead. Get real. We all struggle, and we all need each other to help.

Unfortunately, the Prideful Stage often kicks in the most when we’re talking to somebody in Stage 1! Now that’s ironic. Think of it: Your friend is in the Skeptical Stage, and all you have to do is relax, tell her you respect her choices and ask her if she’s really done a fair study of the three types of education? You share the story of your own skepticism, and then how you really studied education and what you learned. You express confidence that she has been making the right choices for her family and will of course continue to do so. “You’re the expert on your family,” you tell her. Then you invite her to read a book, an article, attend a seminar or otherwise really study the three types of education so she can make a fair assessment. So simple, so easy, so helpful.

But instead, too many of us just hear the critical note in her voice and turn defensive. To validate ourselves in her eyes, we turn arrogant and exclusive. That’s a tragedy. If you ever find yourself in the Prideful Stage, get out fast. How? Apply Stage 6.

Note that the first five stages are adjectives, but Stage 6 is a verb. You aren’t in Stage 6 unless you’re actively serving. Also note that in Stage 6 you’re not skeptical, overwhelmed or prideful, and your excitement and study are done with an eye toward serving. Indeed, in Step 6 you’re really on the path to conquering the negatives and you are actively engaging the positive stages.

You study hard, and use what you learn to serve. You are excited and enthused, and use your positive energy to serve. You serve at work and away from work; you serve members of your family and people outside your family. You are constantly looking for opportunities to serve, and you use the 6-Month Inventory, 6-Month “No” and weekly FEC to be sure you are focused only on the service that is right for you at this season of life. That’s Leadership Education.

Whatever it takes, get to Stage 6 as soon as you can. Do stages 4 and 6 together. And skip Stage 5 altogether if you can. It may be said that Stages 1-5 are still on the conveyor belt. If you want to get off, get to Stage 6. Of course, when you’re in Stage 6, it’s possible to back up and revisit the negative stages--but you don't want to go there, right?. It’s also possible to go too fast, say “yes” to too many things and burn out. Get back to your Inventory and your "No", and make the necessary course corrections.

Learn the balance that comes from doing Stage 6 right: excited about the right things, focused on the right things, and serving the right way at the right time. That’s off the conveyor belt! Our society needs so many more people to get there! The word for this type of person is “leader,” and you were born to be one. Let’s all get off the conveyor belt.

The Tuition Bubble Has Hit

First the bad news, then the good news. Or, if you’re tired of the negatives in the nightly news, skip down to the section titled “Good News” below. This letter is a little long, but it introduces one of the most exciting things I think has happened in the history of freedom! Seriously. It’s worth the read!

The tuition bubble has hit across America. The New York Times reported that the University of Florida eliminated 430 jobs last year and is cutting its budget by 10% more this year which will probably require more layoffs.(1) The University of Arizona cut about 200 instructors,(2) the Governor of California asked for over $100,000,000 in cuts to the University of California,(3) and there are many similar layoffs, budget cuts and other economic challenges at schools across the country, including Boston University, Cornell, Brown, Tufts, the University of Massachusetts, and many others.(4)

The cause of this is the tuition bubble, which msnbc reported may be the next bubble after the real estate bubble and the banking crises.(5) The tuition bubble is occurring because the economic crisis, layoffs, unemployment and the recession have drastically impacted students’ ability to pay tuition.(6) Even Harvard has faced concerns, as the Times reported: “In a sign of the economic times, Harvard has sent a letter to its deans saying that the university’s $36.9 billion endowment fund lost 22 percent of its value in the last four months and could decline as much as 30 percent by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.”(7) The managers of Harvard’s endowment have cut 50 employees,(8) and Harvard is selling off 38% of its private equity holdings.(9) The tuition bubble has hit Harvard and almost every other institution of higher learning.(10)

Colleges and universities hit hardest have been those with traditional on-campus programs.(11) For example, Antioch College in Ohio has suspended operations of their on-campus program, keeping just distance and adult enrichment programs.(12) This is the worst economic challenge in Antioch’s 157-year history.(13) Many schools are raising tuition, and many are following Harvard’s lead and using up part of their endowment.(14) Brandeis University has angered donors and supporters by selling off 6000 pieces in its art museum in order to meet budget deficits. North American university endowments fell an average of 22.5% during the final months of 2008, and this higher education crash is expected to continue.(15)

Most institutions of higher learning are scrambling to deal with this situation, and even Congressional proposals to increase Pell Grants aren’t nearly enough to solve the problem. As the New York Times printed: “‘Given the economic strain on state budgets, the pressure on state governments to shift the cost of education to students and families may prove irresistible,’ said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, which represents 1,600 colleges and universities.”(16)

In another article entitled “College May Become Unaffordable for Most in the U.S.,” the Times discussed the decreasing numbers of lower and middle class students who can afford higher education: “When we come out of the recession . . . we’re really going to be in jeopardy, because the educational gap between our work force and the rest of the world will make it very hard to be competitive. Already, we’re one of the few countries where 25- to 34-year-olds are less educated than older workers . . . . The middle class has been financing [college] through debt,” and between the crisis of credit, the rise in joblessness and the uncertain prospects for the future, this is no longer a viable option.(17)

If the recession is short, reports say, most schools expect to bounce back by raising tuition now and during a future economic recovery. But if the recession lasts more than a year (as all indications predict) schools, students and their families are in for a difficult time. The traditionally elite schools will likely raise tuition and weather the storm with affluent U.S. and international families affording these increases. But this will widen the class gap in America as the middle class shrinks and fewer and fewer students are able to afford college. For example, a 2008 report showed that “the net cost of a 4-year public university amounted to 28 per cent of the median family income, while a 4-year private university cost 76 per cent of the median family income.”(18) The tuition bubble is real, and it has hit higher education around the nation.

The recession has impacted enrollment at George Wythe University as well. Our enrollment is half what it was one year ago. We have spoken with nearly every student who hasn’t returned, and over 95% of them cite economic issues as the reason. Our distance program is still in the black, as are the extension programs, seminars and the Monticello development project. All of these have helped provide income to help maintain our on-campus program; the Monticello project has especially helped our finances. Still, half enrollment has caused us to revisit our business model and consider what will work best in this new economic environment. We have been trying to offer an Ivy-type curriculum in the great books, with the focus being the on-campus program. This has driven our costs up for years, and in this recession we have had to make cuts, layoffs and really tighten our belts for the months ahead.

In truth, we should have seen this coming. We’ve been teaching about the Fourth Turning for years now, and telling people to prepare for a major downturn. Still, we hoped it would hold off long enough for us to build an endowment. It didn’t. The tuition bubble is hitting now. And a tuition increase is not the answer; many of our students come from large families who live on one income so mom can be highly involved with the education of their children. We have no endowment to turn to for help, and as tragic as this is, even schools that are relying on endowments are being hit hard—perhaps even harder because of the huge cost of maintaining their infrastructure. That’s the bad news.

The Tuition Bubble has helped us step back and look at the real needs in the future, and redefine how George Wythe University can deliver its unique mission in a way that is both affordable and offers the highest quality of leadership education. If The Fourth Turning(19) is accurate (and so far it has been right on) we are in for a real depression or at least a deeper recession. In such times, when statesmanship and leadership education are critical, the George Wythe University mission is more important than ever! But how can we make this affordable for our students and their families? The Ivy-League model of classics and mentors with the huge cost of bricks and mortar is becoming less and less affordable for more and more people, and we have decided to stop focusing primarily on this model. With even Harvard scrambling to meet budget deficits, the old model is struggling.

History teaches us that in such times of challenge, new models inevitably emerge. George Wythe University is uniquely and ideally positioned to capitalize on the new momentum. The things which meant credibility and viability in the old model created huge infrastructures, obligations and liabilities, which make it difficult for old institutions to respond to the new realities. Also, the cutting-edge technology which is creating an emerging model of Information Age education that didn’t exist even five years ago.

Traditionally, the Ivy-type campus model was the only way to get truly high-quality leadership mentoring in the great classics and to train leaders for a society that desperately needed them. In that era, distance programs were simply inferior—they provided little face-to-face instruction from great mentors, little one-on-one feedback, hardly any group discussion with mentors or peers, and the in-class transformational impact on students was low. Schools like the University of Phoenix provided more affordable and accessible training, but little leadership education in the classics or liberal arts occurred except in Ivy-League campuses and schools that copied the campus model.

Technology today has changed all of that. Numerous software platforms allow a mentor to hold a class in real time with students from around the world. Classes can run several times a week like the old campus model, and students hear lectures, ask questions and receive immediate mentor feedback, discuss openly with everyone else in the class, work in breakout session, engage in group study and interact with their mentor in one-on-one meetings—all from their own home or laptop!

With GWU mentors and our leadership curriculum, the quality of the learning is much better through this medium than it is in most on-site college and university classes, and in fact it can come very close to the quality of the George Wythe campus courses once these technologies are fully implemented. This model cuts a student’s costs in half immediately, by removing away-from-home housing, meals, travel and other living expenses. It also allows George Wythe to significantly reduce tuition for students while empowering them to get a superb, quality George Wythe education with attentive and qualified GWU mentors.

Our plan is to keep the Cedar City on-campus component for students who want an on-site experience for any or all of their college years, and to build a small but excellent campus in Monticello that will grow beyond this recession and provide leadership education far into the future. As we grow this, we plan to supplement the online courses with classes and seminars in metropolitan centers like the University of Phoenix has done. Our vision is of a program that is the “accessibility of University of Phoenix meets Ivy-League curriculum meets the Teaching Company lectures meets George Wythe mentoring”—all available in an affordable, personal, virtual format, with small on-campus options for those who can afford them. We are working out many of the details right now, but this vision is powerful and we feel that it will become the norm of quality education in the emerging Information Age.

These changes naturally improve GWU in a number of arenas where we have historically been weak. For example, this will almost surely bring an immediate increase in the diversity of our students, since participation in our current off-campus programs is already much more diverse than on-campus. We expect diversity to increase even more as international students attend classes with us. Also, this new model immediately hurdles the problem we have faced with international student visas, where some of our best applicants were unable to attend on campus and receive George Wythe mentoring because they weren’t U.S. citizens. This new structure also speaks the language of the younger generation, the bulk of our students, who learn well and even engage in healthy social interactions using online formats.

Of course, none of these benefits alone would justify making the change if the quality of teaching and mentoring were significantly lower in the online format. Personally, I have been skeptical of distance programs and a strong believer that campus learning is much better than distance. I grew up during a time when this was unequivocally true. However, and I challenge anyone who is old-school like me to test this, I have been surprised by the high-quality education that occurs using the technologies created in the past few years. They have revolutionized education, even though most educators and institutions haven’t yet adapted.

Students in our new online programs (to be rolled out this summer) will attend class and listen to lectures, ask questions and discuss ideas with their mentors, get personalized mentor help and instruction, and do everything their peers who attend class in Cedar City will do—at a much more affordable rate. They can supplement their classes by attending webinars on their own computer, extension courses in many cities, and online discussions for those in specific areas of learning. For graduate students, this will make everything easier and more directly applicable to career and family—minus the travel times and greater expense.

But that’s just the technical part. Here’s the really exciting thing. I am convinced that this economic crisis—and the tuition bubble pain it caused—is a blessing. George Wythe University has the opportunity to help lead out in this emerging educational model, and to literally be an Oxford or Harvard of the new Information Age university structure. Most important to me is that this model will allow us to take leadership education to many, many people who just couldn’t afford the time or money to do on-site programs or even the inferior distance studies of the past. We can take great, quality leadership mentoring in the classics to almost anyone—at a fee structure the lower and middle classes can afford.

In addition, I am more excited about the impact we can have on freedom than ever before! At first I was shocked by the economic crisis and stressed about its negative impact on tuition; I was concerned, worried, and even angry. But as our team has worked through this, asked the hard questions, brainstormed the real needs of the world, and realized that a new type of education is emerging in this new Information Age, and that George Wythe is ready to make this shift quickly and effectively while solving a number of our biggest challenges in the process, I have thanked heaven that we have this opportunity at this time in history.

This has given me more optimism about the future of freedom than anything I’ve read, studied, witnessed in world events or seen since we founded George Wythe College many years ago. If this comes across too gushingly positive, it is only because I am sincerely excited. Forget education for a minute, and forget George Wythe University and any other school or organization—I am so energized right now by the potential I see for this new type of learning to impact freedom. I am not exaggerating when I say that this may be as big for freedom as the invention of the printing press. Imagine what will happen to the world if nearly every family can afford elite-quality education for its children. Not just in the U.S. middle class, but in Africa, the Middle East, and places all around this world of ours. And although computers aren’t as widespread in some places as others, imagine the impact on freedom if not just internet information but actual mentored leadership education is available to anyone with a computer! I have said for years that freedom is losing ground, and that it will take a miracle for true freedom to make a comeback in our world. I believe the miracle is here.

For those of us who work with George Wythe University, the economic crisis and onset of the recession has been like the “fleas” in Corrie Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place. Locked away in a Nazi prison camp, Corrie was housed in barracks full of fleas. Everybody complained about the bites, the itches, and all the problems fleas caused. Then one day the prison guards raided the camp, taking away precious personal possessions. But the guards refused to go into Corrie’s barracks, because they didn’t want to get fleas. This allowed Corrie and her companions to keep their most prized possession: a worn copy of the Bible which brought them a ray of comfort in the darkest of places. While we haven’t experienced anything like that, I have been inspired by watching our team go from being stressed by the economic downturn, to working hard on solutions, to being incredibly excited about what we all realized: the future of freedom has never been brighter, and we are in a place to make a huge difference in that.

Since I was in college and got married in 1989, I have never believed in the chances for real freedom as much as I do now. Everyone who knows me well knows that I am an optimist, and that I’ve always felt that freedom would win out in the end. But today, knowing what a miracle great, mentored education will be for freedom (not just from George Wythe University but from many others), I am more sure of the cause of liberty than I have ever been. Freedom will win. All we have to do is inspire the greatness in others. A new type of schooling is emerging—some see it and some don’t. But it will revolutionize the world, because it will take the greatest ideas from the greatest books and greatest mentors to the masses of the world! This will do more than the printing press; it will free the leadership potential and gifts of millions, maybe billions, who before this would never have had an education or any influence.

Thank you for reading my long letter. I just had to share with you these thoughts, and especially this incredibly exciting news. Thank you for all you do to move the cause of liberty—in your family, community, work and life. The leaders of the future, a future of freedom, live in your homes. Thank you for giving us at George Wythe University the opportunity to help you educate them for leadership. We are going on a journey to take leadership education to all socio-economic classes of the world, in a way that affordably educates leaders and changes the future of freedom. The new schooling models of the Information Age will change everything, and we are so excited to be one of those making it happen. The smaller but highly intensive campus programs will become support hubs and mentor training programs to help take great mentoring to those in the world hungry for education, opportunity and freedom. Thank you for your help in this mission. More details will be announced on our website in the months ahead.

Resources

Free Resources

Subscriber Resources

Changes, Changes Everywhere!

The Renaissance of the Family

The Leadership Alienation Principle

The Six Steps Off the Conveyor Belt

The Tuition Bubble Has Hit