Do This Instead of Making Your Kids Study and Stay Off the Internet

Have you heard the news that higher education is in question? Yeah, The New York Times says so, in End the University as We Know It.

Maybe you have heard the news. But you are still telling your kids that their best bet for success in life is to study for the next test, get good grades, go to college, rack up the $100,000 in debt... for the good cause of a safe financial landing that may or may not ever materialize.

Or maybe you are beginning to raise your own questions about what's best for your kids. I know I am. And it's got me in a bit of turmoil, to be honest.

When I'm in this kind of sticky spot, I often take a two-pronged approach. Which means my kids are studying and are (for now) thinking that college is non-negotiable.

But on the side, I've opened up a new path of inquiry. What if? What if higher education isn't going to be their best bet for success? What should I be doing to prepare for that possibility?

As you know, I am answering that partly by pursuing Kids in Business, an informal program between us girls, to teach them about entrepreneurism.

Somewhere along their high school way, I'm also going to ask them to read The Education of Millionaires.

Jane Friedman sold me on this title, and now the book itself sold me, and after that I just bought something else:

Domain names for each of my girls, using their true names. Because if their internet brand is going to be their ticket (as opposed to their education-laden resume), then they are going to need their own internet real estate, with their names on the door.

That is one of the suggestions in this excellent, excellent book.

What are you waiting for? Get your kids on the internet in the way they need to be. Teach them how to make a Google trail that will someday sell them to employers or help them have a successful freelance or other business.

Don't let education be their sole end.



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from the New York Times: A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College