March 20, 2025 • 16 mins
Is traditional schooling the only path to success? In this eye-opening episode, Justin and Kylie challenge the conventional approach to education, sharing their journey through homeschooling and industry-based schooling with their daughter, Lily. They discuss why so many kids feel disconnected from mainstream education, the power of hands-on learning, and how alternative schooling models are helping students find passion, purpose, and career opportunities. If you’ve ever worried about whether the standard school system is serving your child, this episode is a must-listen!
KEY POINTS:
- Many kids feel disconnected from traditional schooling because it lacks real-world application.
- Industry schools combine formal education with hands-on experience, giving kids exposure to different careers.
- Parents often fear that alternative education means failure, but in reality, it can lead to greater success and fulfillment.
- The stigma of leaving mainstream school is often more about parental concerns than what’s best for the child.
- Exposure is key—kids don’t always know what they want to do until they experience different career options.
- There are so many flexible schooling alternatives—vocational training, homeschooling, apprenticeships, online learning, and more.
- Insights from a school principal: The biggest hurdle in education reform is often parents’ reluctance to try something different.
QUOTE OF THE EPISODE:
"We’re using medieval institutions to train our children to live in an era where we have god-like technology. They don’t match up—they simply don’t."
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Dark Horse by Todd Rose
- Industry schools, vocational training programs, apprenticeships, and alternative schooling options.
- The Happy Families website
ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS:
- If your child is struggling with school, research alternative education options in your area.
- Have an open conversation with your child about what excites them and what frustrates them about their education.
- Challenge the fear of failure. Understand that leaving traditional school doesn’t mean giving up on success—it might be the key to unlocking it.
- Connect with other parents who have explored homeschooling, vocational programs, or industry schools for insight and support.
- Encourage your child to explore different careers through internships, apprenticeships, or hands-on learning experiences.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good grades. I'm going to say optional formal training. Being
certified definitely helps. Today a conversation that has inspired well,
we've been inspired by one of our kids based on
some educational decisions that we've made that honestly have been
really hard but seem to be bearing fruit. I'll do
(00:30):
better tomorrow. Welcome to the Happy Families Podcast for another Friday,
Real Parenting Solutions every day on Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast,
we are Justin and Kylie Coulson. Every Friday, we unpack
the week that was. We look at what's working and
what's not working in our parenting in the hope that
it's going to help you in your parenting to be
(00:50):
more intentional, to get things more right, to help the
family to function better. Today, it's all about education, because Kylie,
you're going to kick it off with a win.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Having been in the homeschooling system now for a couple
of years, I've been intrigued and blown away with the
kinds of conversations that I'm having with parents, more so
who are still in traditional schooling systems and feeling really disillusioned.
One of the biggest challenges that students are having outside
of bullying, and I guess the emotional challenges is the
(01:24):
fact that they feel like school is just this rudimentary
list of things that they have to tick off, but
none of it makes sense to them because they are
looking at it going when am I ever going to
use this in the real world, How is this ever
going to be beneficial to me as a beautician or
as a pilot, or they just can't see the life value.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I had a conversation with a school principal just in
the last few days who literally said, our school system
is completely outdated, completely outdated, and it is not fit
her purpose. His words, not mine, but certainly our experience
with homeschooling it's just been revolutionary. I love that we homeschool.
It's really hard. It changes your life completely, but I'm
(02:11):
so glad that we are doing it. But that's not
really what today's I'll Do Better Tomorrow is about. This
is not an advertisement for homeschool and it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
An advertisement for alternative schooling either, but our experience has
been a really positive one. A few months ago, I
was in the car driving behind a bus that was
advertising Industry School. I had no idea what industry school was,
but I thought, you know what, I need to look
this up, because Lily had at that point decided that
she really wanted some kind of formalized schooling, but we
(02:41):
knew that we didn't want to send her back into
traditional school system.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Lily's our fifth daughter. She was in grade nine last year,
going into grade ten this year.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So when I looked up what industry school was, I
kind of had an idea that we were looking at
trade school, and I was very nervous about what that meant.
But as I looked more into it, I was blown
away at the exposure that the kids got to different
kinds of industry based learning that would not fall under
(03:10):
your traditional plumbers, builders, mechanics, maybe it engineering, that kind
of stuff. But what I loved even more was the
acknowledgment that their year twelve certificate was their highest priority.
I think previously to this kind of format, trade school
has always been about you finish your ten at high school,
(03:32):
then you go off to trade school year eleven and
twelve and you get yourself an apprenticeship or traineeship, and
it's really about learning on the job. But any formalized
education is lost, it no longer exists. So what I
loved was the mix of these two ideas of acknowledging
that for some kids, traditional schooling just doesn't work. They
(03:55):
love hands on approach, but it shouldn't come at the
expense of an education that not only is worthy, but
pertinent to their life experience. So we decided to give
it a go. We had a look at all of
the different options. So you could do hairdressing, you could
do beautician work, you could work with horses, which was
a huge plus for our year ten daughter, and there
(04:18):
was just so much opportunity there. So we went along.
We had an interview with the principal and I just, oh,
my goodness, I wish. I wish that every school student
could have access to the format and the ethos that
this school is offering our child. What I love is
(04:40):
we have five weeks of education block each term. We
have five weeks of industry block each term. What does
industry block look like? When we first signed up, I
didn't really understand a lot, and I thought that what
was going to happen was five weeks of every term.
Lily was going to get to spend time with horses.
That's what I thought. She was also going to get
(05:02):
signed up to do a traineeship, and she was going
to start getting paid to do that while she was
at school. That's what I thought was going to happen.
But essentially, what I discovered over the last few weeks
of term is the acknowledgment that while she is part
of Industry Block, these next two years, year ten and
(05:22):
eleven are all about exposure to different kinds of trades
and industry options. Up until now, Lily's had a very
narrow concept of what it is she wants to do,
and she is adamant that she knows what she doesn't
want to do. But what Industry School has done is
(05:44):
exposed her to lots of different options. And the conversations
we are now having are, Hey, Mom, I wonder what
it would look like to work in aviation. Where the
heck did that come from? Another day, I'm thinking about
doing some work experience at the local police station. Do
you think they'll let me. Here's a kid who for
(06:06):
the last few years has been adamant she wants to
be a beautician. She loves all things beauty here and makeup,
and we've been really happy to encourage her to go
down that road. But what I love, love, love, love
love is this acknowledgment that that's great if that's what
you want to do, But let's just have a look
at what ours is out there, because unless you actually
have some hands on practical experience with it, you have
(06:29):
no idea if it's what you want to do or
not want to do. And the conversations we're now having
with this kid is just blowing my mind because she's
actually excited about options instead of boxing herself in and
saying this is it, this is all I want to
do with my life after the break.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I'm going to pick up on that because my I'll
do better tomorrow is very much associated with what you've
been talking about. And I really want to address the
elephant in the room when it comes to the way
we are approach alternative school in it. Okay, so, Kylie,
(07:10):
you've just shared this great story about Lily. She's been
at the industry school. There are campuses in Southeast Queensland
in all the major centers, but trade and technical vocational
schools are all over the country, industry connected schools. If
you've got a child who hates school, alternative approaches, this
(07:31):
is the thing. If you look for an alternative approach
you feel like maybe you're a failure. You feel like
maybe your child's a failure. I had this conversation with
a principal of one of these schools just in the
last few days, and he said he asks the kids
as they sit down in class for the first time
in grades ten, eleven, and twelve, how do you feel
(07:53):
that you're here? And he said, overwhelming them, they just say,
I feel like I'm failing. I feel like I've failed school.
I feel like I'm a failure as a person because
I'm not in the mainstream of schooling. And yet so
much mainstream schooling, as you said, doesn't feel purposeful. It
doesn't feel like it works for our kids. It just
feels like we're following this standardized path. And what's fascinating
(08:13):
is when I talk to parents about this, they say, oh, totally, totally,
totally get that school is all of these things that
are not ideal, But there's an unwillingness to step outside
of the mainstream with your own child. We still go
with the conservative approach. Why because that's what we've always done.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We also need the validation that our kids are on
the right path and aligned with everybody else right, you know,
as a homeschool mum. I have no idea where my
kids actually sit on the continuum of learning. Am I
screwing them up? Like? Have I taught them everything? Or
are they're massive gaps if they were to go back
(08:50):
into the school sets. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Here's the thing, though, I love the fact that our
daughter Lily left school at the end of your eight
She left with a term to get and for nearly
a year and a half she was homeschooled. You're eight
year nine. This is not the first couple of years
of school where you can probably just teach the kids
to read and write and do some basic addition and
subtraction and you're there. You're eight year nine maths and
(09:14):
science and all those things. She's gone back to school
in year ten and she's absolutely nailing it. But she's
also really happy to be there. And I think this
is the main point that I want to highlight here.
If you've got a child who really hates school, they
need to know that life is still going to be
much more successful if they just push through to the end.
(09:35):
They just need to be in an environment that is
supportive of them. And you've got things like vocational industry
connected schools. You've got school based apprentices apprenticeships, I should say,
there's distance education, there's online school. There are flexible learning centers.
There's a group called edmund Rice Education in Australia. They
run these flexible learning centers that are specifically designed for
(09:55):
students who have disengaged from mainstream education. There's Steiner and
Montessori and other all termed of philosophies. There's busy school,
there's homeschooling, there's tape community college programs. There are so
many flexible ways for kids to do school if they're
not doing well in the mainstream environment, and it doesn't
mean that they've failed or that you've failed. It's that
(10:16):
we're using, to quote Scott Galloway, medieval institutions to train
our children to live in an era where we have
god like technology and they don't match up. They simply don't.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
It is an acknowledgement that each of our children is
individual and we have a different way of doing things
and learning.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
This is what the school principle said to me. He said,
every school, every school gives lip service to the fact
that they treat each child as an individual. No, they're
a number and that's what he said. He said, But
they don't. They don't because if that individual child is
not able to conform to the mainstream school expectation, then
(10:59):
they just don't fit. And there's only a limited amount
that most schools will do before they say you just
don't belong here. This is not working out. These alternative
schools are not supposed to be dumping grounds for kids
that don't fit. As parents, if we can adjust our
view of schooling and be a little bit radical, our
(11:21):
children are going to actually enjoy themselves so much more.
Here's the biggest thing for us. We've got this daughter
who is now at the industry school. No, this is
not a paid advertisement. We're not doing anything that they
don't know where doing this podcast because we're talking about
our daughter, not the school. But she's gone back to
school in grade ten. Their ethos is if it won't
fly in the workplace, it doesn't fly at school. So
there's Are they perfect with a no bullying policy or anything? No,
(11:43):
of course, no school is, but my goodness, they are
responsive to issues more than that though. She's getting exposure,
as you've said, massive exposure to so much opportunity in
so many industries her eyes are wide, but also the
schooling expectation is different. She will finish it twelve. She's
not going to do an atar path. Oh but guess
what when you go to these schools, they're so flexible
(12:05):
that you can still study early university programming, which means
that you can get into university without the atar and
without having to go through all the stress and drama
and headache and awfulness of what so much so many
of our experience at school. So you're oly better tomorrow
links in with mine because you're saying we've had this win.
Our daughter's experiencing range and breadth because we've stepped out
(12:28):
of the mainstream school system. We've gone with an industry
focused school and it's had an impact. Mine is. I
had a conversation with a school principle of one of
these schools, and it's been such a refreshing way to
see that people are thinking of disrupting education.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You know what else?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He said, The biggest stumbling block is parents because they
don't want to think what have I done? Why is
my child not doing well? And how does it reflect
on me? He said, if we can get past the
pride and the status that's associated with going to this
school versus that school. We can do so much. You
(13:05):
know what, As he said, fifty percent of the kids
in this year's intake in his school are coming from
independent schools. That is, these are parents who have been
paying for a private school for their kids and it's
not working out, and they've said, we've got to do
something else, and for whatever reason, the state school system
is just another version of private school from their perspective.
(13:26):
So they've gone to an industry focused, a vocational focused school,
and gone, all of a sudden, our kids are so happy.
Last quek comment, I couldn't find the office, and so
I looked across and I saw a boy grade eleven.
I said, hey, can you please help me to find
the office? This kid was one of those independent school
students who'd swapped. He'd gone into this new school in
(13:47):
grade eleven because he hated school. I said to him,
how's it going now? He said, I just love it.
I love the learning, I love being at school. I'm
excited to finish year eleven, year twelve. I've already got
my I on a couple of different apprenticeships that I
can do, and I feel like my future makes sense.
I just was like, Oh my goodness, why why, why, why, why?
(14:09):
Why are we doing this to our kids. Why are
we pushing them so hard into systems that don't work
for them? And you know what, as an electrician, he'll
be fully qualified by the age of twenty one. He's
going to be making more money than university graduates for
at least five, six, seven years, if not more, because
we've got a skills shortage and this kid's going to
fly anyway. My old do better tomorrow is let go
(14:31):
of the pride if your child. If you've got a
high school kid or even a younger kid who's struggling
at school and it just doesn't feel like they belong.
There are so many alternatives, and I know it's meant
to be an older better tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
We've done two different alternatives, an industry school for our
daughter and homeschooling, and our children are better and happier
and more confident because of it.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I think about a conversation you and I had a
number of weeks ago on the pod about the acknowledgment
that I would rather my kids hang out with other
ADA adults as they totally life totally and what I
love about This model is my child is surrounded by
other industry based adults who they can learn and glean from,
(15:12):
and the exposure is enormous because they are not just
with a classroom teacher who either they gel with or
not gel with. They are being invited into other spaces
where they get to learn and just understand the world
through different perspectives. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
This was not the podcast I thought we were going
to record, but I love with a conversation where the
take home message at school is important. Education matters, but
there are so many different ways that you can do
it and your children will benefit. So long as you
value education, it doesn't have to be the standard way.
I'm going to recommend a book dark Horse. Dark Horse
by Todd Rose. It's just popped into my head and
(15:51):
I think that it really highlights the different ways that
people can find joy, success and meaning in life. Let's
wrap it up. The Happy Family's podcast US is produced
by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media. If you would like
more information and resources about making your family happier, visit
us at Happy families dot com dot au and have
a great weekend.
Good grades. I'm going to say optional formal training. Being
certified definitely helps. Today a conversation that has inspired well,
we've been inspired by one of our kids based on
some educational decisions that we've made that honestly have been
really hard but seem to be bearing fruit. I'll do
(00:30):
better tomorrow. Welcome to the Happy Families Podcast for another Friday,
Real Parenting Solutions every day on Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast,
we are Justin and Kylie Coulson. Every Friday, we unpack
the week that was. We look at what's working and
what's not working in our parenting in the hope that
it's going to help you in your parenting to be
(00:50):
more intentional, to get things more right, to help the
family to function better. Today, it's all about education, because Kylie,
you're going to kick it off with a win.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Having been in the homeschooling system now for a couple
of years, I've been intrigued and blown away with the
kinds of conversations that I'm having with parents, more so
who are still in traditional schooling systems and feeling really disillusioned.
One of the biggest challenges that students are having outside
of bullying, and I guess the emotional challenges is the
(01:24):
fact that they feel like school is just this rudimentary
list of things that they have to tick off, but
none of it makes sense to them because they are
looking at it going when am I ever going to
use this in the real world, How is this ever
going to be beneficial to me as a beautician or
as a pilot, or they just can't see the life value.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I had a conversation with a school principal just in
the last few days who literally said, our school system
is completely outdated, completely outdated, and it is not fit
her purpose. His words, not mine, but certainly our experience
with homeschooling it's just been revolutionary. I love that we homeschool.
It's really hard. It changes your life completely, but I'm
(02:11):
so glad that we are doing it. But that's not
really what today's I'll Do Better Tomorrow is about. This
is not an advertisement for homeschool and it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
An advertisement for alternative schooling either, but our experience has
been a really positive one. A few months ago, I
was in the car driving behind a bus that was
advertising Industry School. I had no idea what industry school was,
but I thought, you know what, I need to look
this up, because Lily had at that point decided that
she really wanted some kind of formalized schooling, but we
(02:41):
knew that we didn't want to send her back into
traditional school system.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Lily's our fifth daughter. She was in grade nine last year,
going into grade ten this year.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So when I looked up what industry school was, I
kind of had an idea that we were looking at
trade school, and I was very nervous about what that meant.
But as I looked more into it, I was blown
away at the exposure that the kids got to different
kinds of industry based learning that would not fall under
(03:10):
your traditional plumbers, builders, mechanics, maybe it engineering, that kind
of stuff. But what I loved even more was the
acknowledgment that their year twelve certificate was their highest priority.
I think previously to this kind of format, trade school
has always been about you finish your ten at high school,
(03:32):
then you go off to trade school year eleven and
twelve and you get yourself an apprenticeship or traineeship, and
it's really about learning on the job. But any formalized
education is lost, it no longer exists. So what I
loved was the mix of these two ideas of acknowledging
that for some kids, traditional schooling just doesn't work. They
(03:55):
love hands on approach, but it shouldn't come at the
expense of an education that not only is worthy, but
pertinent to their life experience. So we decided to give
it a go. We had a look at all of
the different options. So you could do hairdressing, you could
do beautician work, you could work with horses, which was
a huge plus for our year ten daughter, and there
(04:18):
was just so much opportunity there. So we went along.
We had an interview with the principal and I just, oh,
my goodness, I wish. I wish that every school student
could have access to the format and the ethos that
this school is offering our child. What I love is
(04:40):
we have five weeks of education block each term. We
have five weeks of industry block each term. What does
industry block look like? When we first signed up, I
didn't really understand a lot, and I thought that what
was going to happen was five weeks of every term.
Lily was going to get to spend time with horses.
That's what I thought. She was also going to get
(05:02):
signed up to do a traineeship, and she was going
to start getting paid to do that while she was
at school. That's what I thought was going to happen.
But essentially, what I discovered over the last few weeks
of term is the acknowledgment that while she is part
of Industry Block, these next two years, year ten and
(05:22):
eleven are all about exposure to different kinds of trades
and industry options. Up until now, Lily's had a very
narrow concept of what it is she wants to do,
and she is adamant that she knows what she doesn't
want to do. But what Industry School has done is
(05:44):
exposed her to lots of different options. And the conversations
we are now having are, Hey, Mom, I wonder what
it would look like to work in aviation. Where the
heck did that come from? Another day, I'm thinking about
doing some work experience at the local police station. Do
you think they'll let me. Here's a kid who for
(06:06):
the last few years has been adamant she wants to
be a beautician. She loves all things beauty here and makeup,
and we've been really happy to encourage her to go
down that road. But what I love, love, love, love
love is this acknowledgment that that's great if that's what
you want to do, But let's just have a look
at what ours is out there, because unless you actually
have some hands on practical experience with it, you have
(06:29):
no idea if it's what you want to do or
not want to do. And the conversations we're now having
with this kid is just blowing my mind because she's
actually excited about options instead of boxing herself in and
saying this is it, this is all I want to
do with my life after the break.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I'm going to pick up on that because my I'll
do better tomorrow is very much associated with what you've
been talking about. And I really want to address the
elephant in the room when it comes to the way
we are approach alternative school in it. Okay, so, Kylie,
(07:10):
you've just shared this great story about Lily. She's been
at the industry school. There are campuses in Southeast Queensland
in all the major centers, but trade and technical vocational
schools are all over the country, industry connected schools. If
you've got a child who hates school, alternative approaches, this
(07:31):
is the thing. If you look for an alternative approach
you feel like maybe you're a failure. You feel like
maybe your child's a failure. I had this conversation with
a principal of one of these schools just in the
last few days, and he said he asks the kids
as they sit down in class for the first time
in grades ten, eleven, and twelve, how do you feel
(07:53):
that you're here? And he said, overwhelming them, they just say,
I feel like I'm failing. I feel like I've failed school.
I feel like I'm a failure as a person because
I'm not in the mainstream of schooling. And yet so
much mainstream schooling, as you said, doesn't feel purposeful. It
doesn't feel like it works for our kids. It just
feels like we're following this standardized path. And what's fascinating
(08:13):
is when I talk to parents about this, they say, oh, totally, totally,
totally get that school is all of these things that
are not ideal, But there's an unwillingness to step outside
of the mainstream with your own child. We still go
with the conservative approach. Why because that's what we've always done.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We also need the validation that our kids are on
the right path and aligned with everybody else right, you know,
as a homeschool mum. I have no idea where my
kids actually sit on the continuum of learning. Am I
screwing them up? Like? Have I taught them everything? Or
are they're massive gaps if they were to go back
(08:50):
into the school sets. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Here's the thing, though, I love the fact that our
daughter Lily left school at the end of your eight
She left with a term to get and for nearly
a year and a half she was homeschooled. You're eight
year nine. This is not the first couple of years
of school where you can probably just teach the kids
to read and write and do some basic addition and
subtraction and you're there. You're eight year nine maths and
(09:14):
science and all those things. She's gone back to school
in year ten and she's absolutely nailing it. But she's
also really happy to be there. And I think this
is the main point that I want to highlight here.
If you've got a child who really hates school, they
need to know that life is still going to be
much more successful if they just push through to the end.
(09:35):
They just need to be in an environment that is
supportive of them. And you've got things like vocational industry
connected schools. You've got school based apprentices apprenticeships, I should say,
there's distance education, there's online school. There are flexible learning centers.
There's a group called edmund Rice Education in Australia. They
run these flexible learning centers that are specifically designed for
(09:55):
students who have disengaged from mainstream education. There's Steiner and
Montessori and other all termed of philosophies. There's busy school,
there's homeschooling, there's tape community college programs. There are so
many flexible ways for kids to do school if they're
not doing well in the mainstream environment, and it doesn't
mean that they've failed or that you've failed. It's that
(10:16):
we're using, to quote Scott Galloway, medieval institutions to train
our children to live in an era where we have
god like technology and they don't match up. They simply don't.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
It is an acknowledgement that each of our children is
individual and we have a different way of doing things
and learning.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
This is what the school principle said to me. He said,
every school, every school gives lip service to the fact
that they treat each child as an individual. No, they're
a number and that's what he said. He said, But
they don't. They don't because if that individual child is
not able to conform to the mainstream school expectation, then
(10:59):
they just don't fit. And there's only a limited amount
that most schools will do before they say you just
don't belong here. This is not working out. These alternative
schools are not supposed to be dumping grounds for kids
that don't fit. As parents, if we can adjust our
view of schooling and be a little bit radical, our
(11:21):
children are going to actually enjoy themselves so much more.
Here's the biggest thing for us. We've got this daughter
who is now at the industry school. No, this is
not a paid advertisement. We're not doing anything that they
don't know where doing this podcast because we're talking about
our daughter, not the school. But she's gone back to
school in grade ten. Their ethos is if it won't
fly in the workplace, it doesn't fly at school. So
there's Are they perfect with a no bullying policy or anything? No,
(11:43):
of course, no school is, but my goodness, they are
responsive to issues more than that though. She's getting exposure,
as you've said, massive exposure to so much opportunity in
so many industries her eyes are wide, but also the
schooling expectation is different. She will finish it twelve. She's
not going to do an atar path. Oh but guess
what when you go to these schools, they're so flexible
(12:05):
that you can still study early university programming, which means
that you can get into university without the atar and
without having to go through all the stress and drama
and headache and awfulness of what so much so many
of our experience at school. So you're oly better tomorrow
links in with mine because you're saying we've had this win.
Our daughter's experiencing range and breadth because we've stepped out
(12:28):
of the mainstream school system. We've gone with an industry
focused school and it's had an impact. Mine is. I
had a conversation with a school principle of one of
these schools, and it's been such a refreshing way to
see that people are thinking of disrupting education.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You know what else?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He said, The biggest stumbling block is parents because they
don't want to think what have I done? Why is
my child not doing well? And how does it reflect
on me? He said, if we can get past the
pride and the status that's associated with going to this
school versus that school. We can do so much. You
(13:05):
know what, As he said, fifty percent of the kids
in this year's intake in his school are coming from
independent schools. That is, these are parents who have been
paying for a private school for their kids and it's
not working out, and they've said, we've got to do
something else, and for whatever reason, the state school system
is just another version of private school from their perspective.
(13:26):
So they've gone to an industry focused, a vocational focused school,
and gone, all of a sudden, our kids are so happy.
Last quek comment, I couldn't find the office, and so
I looked across and I saw a boy grade eleven.
I said, hey, can you please help me to find
the office? This kid was one of those independent school
students who'd swapped. He'd gone into this new school in
(13:47):
grade eleven because he hated school. I said to him,
how's it going now? He said, I just love it.
I love the learning, I love being at school. I'm
excited to finish year eleven, year twelve. I've already got
my I on a couple of different apprenticeships that I
can do, and I feel like my future makes sense.
I just was like, Oh my goodness, why why, why, why, why?
(14:09):
Why are we doing this to our kids. Why are
we pushing them so hard into systems that don't work
for them? And you know what, as an electrician, he'll
be fully qualified by the age of twenty one. He's
going to be making more money than university graduates for
at least five, six, seven years, if not more, because
we've got a skills shortage and this kid's going to
fly anyway. My old do better tomorrow is let go
(14:31):
of the pride if your child. If you've got a
high school kid or even a younger kid who's struggling
at school and it just doesn't feel like they belong.
There are so many alternatives, and I know it's meant
to be an older better tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
It is.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
We've done two different alternatives, an industry school for our
daughter and homeschooling, and our children are better and happier
and more confident because of it.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I think about a conversation you and I had a
number of weeks ago on the pod about the acknowledgment
that I would rather my kids hang out with other
ADA adults as they totally life totally and what I
love about This model is my child is surrounded by
other industry based adults who they can learn and glean from,
(15:12):
and the exposure is enormous because they are not just
with a classroom teacher who either they gel with or
not gel with. They are being invited into other spaces
where they get to learn and just understand the world
through different perspectives. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
This was not the podcast I thought we were going
to record, but I love with a conversation where the
take home message at school is important. Education matters, but
there are so many different ways that you can do
it and your children will benefit. So long as you
value education, it doesn't have to be the standard way.
I'm going to recommend a book dark Horse. Dark Horse
by Todd Rose. It's just popped into my head and
(15:51):
I think that it really highlights the different ways that
people can find joy, success and meaning in life. Let's
wrap it up. The Happy Family's podcast US is produced
by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media. If you would like
more information and resources about making your family happier, visit
us at Happy families dot com dot au and have
a great weekend.
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