I find it crazy that it is assumed to be the parents role to pay for their kid to go to college or get a mentorship. What ever happened to being an independent adult when your 18? I feel like the type of kid who's parents are going to fork out the big bucks for this stuff aren't going to be the type of entrepreneurs the world needs.
There are many education programs in place that also need some funding, targeted at less affluent kids. In NYC alone there is MicroInterns (matching middle schoolers to tech startups) by George Haines:
Programs like these that are supplemental to the general education kids will be getting in middle, high-school, and college are necessary, but they would never be able to replicate everything that a young person needs to learn in order to survive.
There are many ways to make education better, lets try to have systems that support each other.
Jason, want to donate to the MicroIntern program? :-)
I've seriously been thinking about starting a site like this for several months. However, I would like it to function as a free site for all, mentor and student, instead of a pay-for-the-mentor site. I'm fairly convinced that there would be plenty of people who would help out as a charity or philanthropy, but haven't thought of a good way to execute that thought yet.
My motivation, as may be yours, is to disrupt this current increasingly flawed education system in whatever way I can. Working on a few other projects along this line at the moment...
"to disrupt" seems to me like a backwards approach. You don't need to disrupt anything, you just need to create a system that works better, at least for some, and the old system will fall back. It doesn't need to be defeated or eliminated.
But yes, mentors outside (as well as inside, perhaps?) of academic institutions is a rather good idea, i think :-)
