Who You Know - Julia Freeland Fisher
Fifty percent of job opportunities come from a personal connection. FIFTY. Most school's mission statements include phrases about "college and career readiness," "achieving personal bests" or "preparing for the future." The way we aim to achieve these missions is by arming our students with as much knowledge and skill as they can hold. We aim to increase what students know by as much as we possibly can before setting them free in the world. However HALF of their opportunities, when they leave us, will be realized through personal connections; though a network. We don't teach networking. We don't facilitate students reaching out and connecting. We leave 50% of our students' futures up to their inherited networks; that is, the network of connections they will inherit because of their family, geography, extracurricular activities, and parents' occupations. We focus so hard on what they know but almost fully ignore who they know. In...