Passion = Learning: DMV, Individualization and Education

I was at the DMV recently and I saw the large number of license plates which are available to put on a car and I thought back to the 1980's when the only Wisconsin license plate available in had black letters and numbers on a yellow background. At that time, when my family would travel the country we tried to find licence plates from every state. The more we traveled, the easier they were to spot. There was the classic blue California plate. Arizona was maroonish , the New York plate was yellowish orange and so on. We could identify them from a quarter mile away. Now there are 50 Wisconsin plates to choose from. Individualized and thematic license plates allow everyone to drive around and show what they are passionate about, if they aren't into that bumper sticker thing. I know it is the same throughout the country.

I got to thinking about all the other products and services which have undergone individualization just as license plates have done. Think back even a few years ago and consider the explosion of choice available in: Choice: Happiness and Spaghetti Sauce, @gladwell), beer, coffee, whiskey, vodka and on and on. Then there is the internet which is the ultimate individualization factor. There is a website, blog or group for almost every endeavor no matter how large or small of a group participates in it.

communication and entertainment--telephone companies, cell phones, radio and TV including service providers and channels; food and drink--probably every food type but the ones which come to my mind first are Doritos cereal, yogurt, spaghetti sauce and soda (thanks for the TED Talk "

Education inevitably must catch up with society and allow people to select their own way of doing things, and follow their own passions. Do you like your Pepsi regular flavored with cherry, lime, vanilla, dragonfruit or something else? It must necessarily follow at some point we will ask the question, do you like your English class flavored with physical science, geography, history, business or something else? Do you want to research and produce a project which will impact the lives of children, animals, shut-ins, veterans or somebody else?

Twenty percent time is the start of such a revolution in education. There may not be adults getting rich by encouraging individualization in education like there are in the business world, but there are millions of students who stand to love learning because of having Genius Hour or 20% time in their weekly schedule.

The days of the Industrial Revolution where everyone is in the same boat and going in the same direction

are gone.