What if all kids didn’t go to schools?
What???
I know… it’s outrageous…
What if they went to office buildings? What if they were taught algebra by professional engineers and biology from biologists? What if they walked through the glass doors of an office building and had to interact with adults in suits in the hallways?
In the current design we build infrastructure to house children, then we build places to house adults. Separately. In the 80’s and 90’s it was popular to de-silo industry. We took a product and found the purchasing agents, distribution folks, engineers, and managers related to that product and arranged them in offices by product and not job function. Things sped up. Efficiency happened. What if we dismantled the silos that keep our students out of the marketplace? I know it sounds pretty radical, I mean, kids and businesses? Won’t that slow down corporate America?
Why do most girls want to be teachers? I have a theory that they see themselves in their mothers that primarily stay home, are teachers, or are nurses. Some women DO work in industry though. Some. It’s around 23% of all STEM workers are women. Women comprise 20% of engineering graduates, but only 11% of practicing engineers. What if our girls had direct access to those working STEM women?
I helped to create that statistic by getting an engineering degree, working for five years, then coming home to raise my kids. But I’m making it my come-back job to change this story for my girls’ generation. I’m going to share this vision every day from now on.
The ATM didn’t catch on right away either. How crazy, right? Money spits out of a machine and automatically deducts from my bank account? Crazy.
There has to be some tax benefits for companies partnering with non-profits like Log Cabin Schoolhouse is about to become. I imagine since my husband can write off his office space in our home as a telecommuter with Microsoft, there has to be a way to allow the business to write off the conference room that was donated to a group of students one day a week. I also know that companies like Microsoft pay non-profits when my husband volunteers his time. He worked for my girls’ cheer gym last year, which is a non-profit. They receive $25 an hour for his time. Kohl’s has a policy like this one. What if we partnered up with STEM companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google that have office buildings in most states to have STEM professionals teach science, higher math, and programming to our students?
I know. Crazy. But what if…