Creating Culture

Ten years ago, when DRC first opened, and I was desperate for families to discover us, I remember one of the first conversations I had with a parent about their child being able to go to college and ultimately make a living if they pursued self-directed learning. I said, "By the time your child is eighteen, there will be jobs and careers that haven't been imagined yet; they might even be creating their own." That sentence that I have, by this point, uttered thousands of times has become a prophecy. 

Recently, a child visiting the Canton Center recognized some stuffed key-chain creatures hanging from another child's backpack. I obviously had no clue why she was so excited to see them. She explained, with her Mom's help, that they were characters from a social media influencer. 

This YouTuber/TikToker not only earns from the platform - but also has popular merchandise highly sought after by a specific age group and is raking in the bucks.

Could we have imagined that career path or any of the hundreds of new ideas that have cropped up in the past ten years?

At this point, technology and innovation are moving so fast, and my Neuro-Spicy memory is so bad - that I have no idea how advanced YouTube was in 2014 or if TikTok existed. I do know that social media has exploded - in terms of the number of creators. The amount is staggering, not counting the hackers and folks stealing content - which is fodder for another post. 

People are leaving traditional jobs at an unprecedented rate. They are no longer willing to sacrifice their lives to years of mindless, unfairly compensated toil for the "man." Additionally, folks do not feel obligated to stay with one employer their entire working career out of (misguided) loyalty - they are willing to explore options while gaining new skills. The "next big thing" may not have been invented yet - but at this rate, it is right around the corner, and our kids will be the ones who imagine it or maybe even re-imagine something that already exists. 

This is precisely why we, as a society, require open-minded, curious young people who are self-aware and socially conscious, possess keen observation and creative problem-solving skills, can think critically in the moment, have practical knowledge of how things operate, and are unafraid of stepping outside the box, experimenting (playing), and getting messy.

DRC and other self-directed learning spaces are here for those kids to practice all those skills. What's the next phenomenon, you ask? Stay tuned - they are working on it, and it'll become an accepted/expected part of our culture before you can blink.

DRC News

Thanks again to board member and parent, Tiffanie Jacob of Hi-Res Poetry Photography for taking our photos for the Memory Books. She was at the Massena Center on Thursday. Thanks, also, to board member and volunteer mentor Kris Rozelle, for spending time with our Massena kiddos on Thursday and going on a photography excursion with one of the teens.

Both Centers had plenty going on this past week. Only three weeks left before the summer break!