Ep. 16 - School Choice: Our Kids Are Paying The Price

Revolutionizing Education: Why Traditional Schooling is Failing Our Kids and What Options Do We Have?

In this episode, we dive into the pressing issues with the current education system. We discuss why today's schooling might not be preparing our children for real-world success, arguing that much of what is taught can easily be looked up online. Instead, we focus on what schools aren't teaching—skills like building a business, maintaining relationships, and understanding finances.
We share our personal experiences with different types of schools, including private, public, and micro-schools, and highlight the shortcomings and financial burdens of each. We emphasize the importance of experiential learning, values, and real-world applications like gardening, living off the grid, and starting a business.
We also touch on the potential role of AI and hybrid models in the future of education. It's a call to rethink how we prepare our kids for life, not just academically but holistically.

#schoolchoice #school #education

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Transcript

EP 16 V2 (Name Titles)
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Angie: [00:00:00] The kids are being taught stuff that they could just look up, so we're paying this. Absorbent amount of money for these kids to be in this education system that all of the stuff that they're being taught, you could easily look up all the things that they can't teach, like how to build a business, how to build connection.

Those are things that our kids aren't even being taught in school right now.

Why do we spend 14 years at school, kindergarten, junior, middle school, high school, learning things that will be of no value that you can look up on the internet. Mm-hmm. You know, my daughter had to learn the capitals of all the states and the names of the rivers in Canada going from left to right or west to east or whatever.

Why you can look that up. And anyone who learned those things, if you ask them now, they probably don't remember and what consequence, but they didn't [00:01:00] teach our kids how to balance a checkbook. Mm-hmm. You know, in fact, checks aren't used that much, but how to balance a bank account or how to figure out how much you've got there or how to make a transaction, the things that I think would be really useful, they don't teach.

Angie: What do kids need nowadays? 

Dave: They need the same thing as adults. They need a life coach. 

Angie: Fair enough. 

Dave: They need podcasts like this about relationships, about the four levels of attachment. They need education on health. If they need a education on purpose and spirituality, they need education on business.

Common sense, you know, everything's up for grabs right now. I think we are projecting onto our children, or maybe we're seeing it even more so is what they're doing in school is what a lot of us are doing in our jobs. And what is the point? Yeah. And so we're at this position where it's like, where are we at?

Angie: Yeah. I mean, even [00:02:00] personally, I've, I'm sick of trading my time for money, so I've had to transition completely outta that. But I mean, I'd like you to share like being, 

Dave: you want me to set the table? 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: So this is about education. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: But it's so much more. It's about how do you. Set up your children for success in life while at the same time having your own life.

Man, it's just hitting me so hard right now. I don't know why. 'cause I'm getting deep into it. That video that I was playing 

Angie: mm-hmm. It 

Dave: just showed them out in the wild. Mm-hmm. And I think that's the call, but how do you, like, what's the answer today? For children? I 

Angie: dunno. I mean, I, I feel like we are touching on it in like small parts, but I feel like that's where our frustration lies is we're not fully immersing in the experience we want for our kids.

Right? Like, for example, we started this book [00:03:00] club where we're teaching them the things that you were talking about on how to build habits, how to have a connection with God or the universe or source. Were teach, like we pulled them outta school one day and took them on this. You know, experience in nature.

And I, I joked, but wasn't joking that they probably learned more and that day meant more to them than a whole year in school, because they're coming home with things that just, I mean, I'm looking at their homework and like, I mean, Ella literally was like, can you fill this out for me? And it was a piece of homework and I was like, what's this question even mean?

And she's like, it says, explain what you see in the picture. And I was like, okay, what the picture has two guys and a, a king and this, this slave? And she's like, yeah, just put that. I was like, that's what they're teaching you. Like, 

Dave: so let's sit the table here. We have three daughters. One is 13, one's 11, and one is four.

Seventh grade, sixth grade, and pre-K. 

Angie: pre-K, yep. 

Dave: We've been through the gamut of every, almost every [00:04:00] type of school. All of our kids went to a pre-K, or what is it called? 

Angie: Early education, 

Dave: which is 

Angie: like childhood center. Yeah. 

Dave: Considered one of the best. And it's a, it's a Jewish school. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Where they learn Hebrew and there's challah and there's temple and all that.

It's a good school. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: But even that school, it's got so much issues. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Right. Like as far as like the place is breaking down and like, you know what I mean? Like it's just, it is what it is, but it's good. Mm-hmm. But yet it's almost $20,000 a year. Yep. For pre-K. Then with our other, with our older kids, they have been through.

Private school with tons of homework, tons of rules, and no religion. Mm-hmm. They have been in a micro school during the pandemic where they were with kids with age ranges From what? Like eight, there was 

Angie: like a five year range. Yep. Year disc. 

Dave: Right. With three full-time kids. I felt like that was rom barroom.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Then they were in public school. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Some of the [00:05:00] best in Las Vegas because of where we're zoned. They were in a very progressive school. We're almost like the kids are allowed to kind of dictate how the day goes and mm-hmm. Some of our, it's a 

Angie: little bit of a disaster. 

Dave: It's the, it's like Lord of the Flies.

Yeah. Right. We've been now in a faith-based Christian type school. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And. We've paid anywhere from 15,000 per kid to $32,000 on that micro school per kid. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. And we're still not getting our expectations met 

Dave: and even our education. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: I mean, long Island education is incredible. Teachers that are get paid, well, tenured, like it's top notch.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And I still haven't sent any of our girls to any teacher, to any situation that's been better than my free schooling. Back there. I don't even think that's the case anymore. I, I wouldn't even want to be a teacher. I have a degree in education. So when you get a degree in education, you need to take a [00:06:00] major in the subject that you wanna teach.

So I started with English 'cause I love to read and I love the English language, I love the whole game. But there's no English teacher jobs available. 'cause someone gets in that job, they stay forever, which is a problem in itself. So then with a history. No job. So finally my buddies were in physical education.

I was like, well, this'll be easy. Well, then I had to take anatomy in physiology. Next thing I have a degree in kinesiology. Wasn't easy, right? Mm-hmm. And I get this job and the bureaucracy and how ridiculous this was what you get paid. My mother was a, a special ed teacher. My, my, um, sister is a teacher and a coach.

It's a zero sum game. And just to give you some bureaucracy, you ready for this? Me and the guy I taught with, we weren't even teachers for less than a month. We had to do a field day. When's Field day? Normally the end of the year. Mm-hmm. Right. It's a celebration of the year. We did it in the first month of school.

You wanna know why? 

Angie: Because most of the kids wouldn't be there by the end of the year. 

Dave: They did count day. 

Angie: [00:07:00] Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And count day is the day they count all the students. In the school and they figured, and they get all their funding based on count day. So they figured if they had field day on count day, then they would get the highest rate of kids in the school.

Yeah. Highest, therefore highest rate of attendance. Then we would get from the administration. They're like, we have this much money to spend for the physical education department. This is what you could spend. And we'd be like, we don't need any of this. We got it all. They were like. Spend it. We were like, why?

Because if you don't, we lose it. So we're buying like that. Things that we had multiples of. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: Not to mention you get paid nothing. So like, I don't even like blame teachers. Because I don't even think there's a position to thrive, right? Like the system is broken. 

Angie: It's so broken, and we're one of the worst in the, in the country.

We're 47th, I think, 

Dave: in this state. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think, I, I don't think it really matters, but yes, the states that don't have, uh, state income [00:08:00] tax usually are at the bottom. Mm-hmm. And so I used to believe that the more you pay, the better shot you have, which I do agree, but if you have a great teacher in a, in a tough curriculum.

You're screwed. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: So, and I don't, I think it's just gonna get harder. Like, how do you navigate, like, what just happened? Like it's, it's tough for me to have respect for a lot of other human beings that are barely running their own lives in a, in a way that I, that I would run or my values. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And all the liability and the nonsense and the teachers, or excuse me, the, the parents that are completely irrational about their kids and 

Angie: Yeah.

Like 

Dave: I, I wouldn't wish this on anybody. It's just a broke, it's, and then you got like, let's just get rid of the whole department of education. Right? Which it's tough to defend them, but I taught her a school where if the kids didn't go to the school, they wouldn't have had even a meal the entire day.

Like it's a shit show across the board. So what do you do? What do you do? Are we happy with what we have right now? 

Angie: No. [00:09:00] Um, we're not fully happy. I mean, we're content, I would say we're comfortable 

Dave: and we're paying $60,000 a year Yeah. After taxes. So we almost have to make a hundred k. 

Angie: Yeah. Just to have of our 

Dave: money just to pay for mediocrity in three schools.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: For three girls. 

Angie: Yeah. One of the biggest problems I feel like we've had recently is just. Where the school draws the line and has these rules is not where we see we're not on the same page. Right? Like where we would find our kids like, Hey, this is where we think that they need to have consequences.

This is where we're, they're not doing what. We think that they should do. It's completely, it's complete nonsense what the school is doing. Like, oh, your kid hasn't been in school a certain amount of days. Or, oh, the dress code is wrong. Or, oh, so and so, like, I remember Ella getting a detention for opening the boys' bathroom.

Remember like in first grade, she's like first grade completely in tears. And I just, I don't know how it's serving our kids at all, you know, [00:10:00] other than like, it's teaching '

Dave: em to be like robots and Yeah. And that if you go back to the depart, like the reason education was created 

Angie: mm-hmm. 

Dave: And this isn't even a conspiracy theory and it's not who I am, but you could read this isn't like news.

Yeah. This is, the history is to get them used, get them ready for the assembly line to be mm-hmm. Get, make them good workers. That's why they had bells and the bells in school, like going to school for that long and that many years. How much are we really retaining? Like there's a line in Goodwill Hunting where Will is having a debate with that guy who is like an Ivy League, like know-it-all and he's just running circles around him.

And he's like, yeah, I read that too. He goes, uh, he's like, you could have got all this for, you know, a couple of dollars of late charges at the local bookstore rather than spending $150,000 on your education. 

Angie: Well, and that's what it is now, right? Like that video, it talks about how the kids are being taught stuff that they could just look up or they could just ask Google at this point, or [00:11:00] ask chat GPT or whatever it is.

So we're paying this. Absorbent amount of money for these kids to be in this education system that all of the stuff that they're being taught, you could easily look up all the things that they can't teach. Like you were talking about, how to build a business, how to build connection, you know, how to, how to create something or invent something.

Those are things that our kids aren't even being taught in school right now. Like our kids come home and their, their work is complete meaningless. In my opinion, yes. The only thing I think that our kids are getting from the, the education that they're in right now is the social aspect. And that's the one thing where I'm like, well, I don't wanna fully do homeschool because first off.

I don't want to be a teacher. I don't wanna be that educator. In addition to that, there's this line of, you know, what our kids are learning and this real life stuff. One of the reasons why I want a ranch in the first place is because I want them to learn how to garden, learn how to live off the grid, learn how to like, create a business, whether it's selling eggs or baking bread, or you know, having fun in, in [00:12:00] the fricking woods, building forts with their friends and like.

That's, I feel like that's where kids learn. It's this real life play. It's this real life experience that they're not getting. 

Dave: So when you're in education, there's different type of learners. Right. Most learn by doing. If you consider like riding a bike, right? You can read a book about riding a bike. Yeah, you can.

Um, someone can tell you, you can listen to someone telling you how to ride. You can watch a video. On how to ride a bike or you can get on the bike and try to learn how to ride a bike. Yeah. And for most people, that's the way you learn. It's experiential, right? It's physical. I think the goal of an educator or an education system should be opening doors of possibilities because there is something to be said about the social aspect, but even then, even the social aspect is.

A whole nother game because it's so generalized and it's, it's so [00:13:00] watered down now. You get what I mean? Yeah. And maybe it's a societal thing, but like I used to believe that they had to experience what goes on in schools in order to be prepared for real life. 

Angie: I think it's the opposite now. 

Dave: It kind of is.

There is some mean girl life isn't fair shit. That I think has to happen. Yeah. But even, even 

Angie: think about our kids like we are. We are able to send our kids to very good schools. Yeah. In this little part of our city, right? Yeah. So I truly believe, like when we take our kids, we took 'em to LA just recently, right?

And they're looking at this place going, what is happening? Like, why are there so many people? Why is there so much traffic? Why is it so dirty? Like they're looking around in a completely different atmosphere, having zero. Idea of how to navigate through that kind of system because they're living in this little tiny bubble and we're not setting 'em up for success at all.

Like when I take our kids to do like volunteer experiences or whatever, I feel like they're learning so [00:14:00] much more. 'cause they're seeing the other side and how they can be impactful. 

Dave: Yeah. But it goes back to the parent. 

Angie: Yeah. 'cause 

Dave: they're looking at it. They're hearing it and looking at it through the frame of you and me.

Angie: A hundred percent. 'cause someone 

Dave: else could be in LA the normal, like not the normal. The stereotypical experience of LA would be through lenses of political sides, right? If you are conservative, you would be like, I'd never go to LA and this place sucks. And it's the whole problem with, yeah, the whole world.

And if you are. Progressive or liberal, you'd be like, this is the way culture is. I think there's very un, we have a unique frame point where we kind of like show them both sides of the spectrum here. Mm-hmm. 

Angie: Because when 

Dave: we are having these conversations, we were having conversations like, would you wanna live out in rural?

By yourself with nobody or in the midst of all this stuff. There's great parts about the culture and the food scene and being involved in the people. But man, I couldn't do the traffic. I couldn't do the homeless and all the drugs and the [00:15:00] gritty and the dirt. Yeah. Like we're able to give them like a perspective.

Mm-hmm. And I don't think there's enough of that. And this is why I blame more of the, the people, the parents and the teachers and stuff like that. Like let's talk about what just happened. Our daughter didn't do anything wrong. She was potentially part of something that. Things were done too. Mm-hmm. I'm talking very vague.

I hate talking vague, but my daughter wants to go to this school, so I don't wanna put her in a bad spot. Anyway, long story short, in order to find out about what was going on, they brought her into the vice principal's office and interrogated her to rat on a friend. And the friend didn't do anything wrong.

She just so happened to have. Something on her phone about it. Right. So rather than like these other people didn't do anything wrong, but they potentially knew about it, potentially about them. The vice principal interrogated, you know, there's a rule in my house, you're not a rat. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Right? And so Ella did well, she didn't say a word.

And then off to [00:16:00] the counselor, they go and. The counselor threatens, not her, but brings up police in the 

Angie: police are involved. Yeah. Because now it's, you need to tell the truth. You need to tell us exactly what's happening, that kind of situation. And 

Dave: so like, here's the thing. I have empathy for liability for schools, for administrators.

Mm-hmm. The whole nine and the seriousness of a situation that's potentially there. Right. That being said, this is where common sense is in such limited supply. I. You do this to my daughter and put her in a position like this where she's telling you straight up my father has helped me, I'm not allowed to tell another human being.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And you can't pick up the phone and call me to the point where what happened? 

Angie: We went into the school, we asked to see them, um, and we sat down and you basically said that and you were like, I lectured lecture them for 20 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it was fair. It was like, listen, you're, you are more than welcome to have this [00:17:00] conversation, but we need to be added to this conversation.

You're not allowed to just, and this wasn't the first time that this had happened where No, our kids were being interrogated and felt very uncomfortable because they were with an adult that made them feel that way. And instead of just calling us, getting us involved, hearing our side of the story. I mean, we knew just as much as she knew more and they could have, we knew more.

Exactly. They could have just had the conversation with us. Avoided getting the kids involved at all. That didn't do anything wrong. Yeah. And would've gotten to the better, the final solution. 

Dave: But you almost can't blame them because most parents probably would be lying for their kids and Yeah, pointing fingers.

I mean, I said to them, right there I go, you're gonna have more parents coming in here blaming you. For what went down, which is not your fault, right? These are kids being kids, 

Angie: right? 

Dave: I'm not here blaming you. I'm here in the reality of the situation that this happens. 

Angie: Yeah. And, and I'm here 

Dave: saying. Get me involved that we're gonna have a problem.

So then you gotta love me as a parent or just as a human being, saying, well, from, I just want you both to know from here on out, both of my daughters [00:18:00] at this school are instructed to never tell you a single thing again. 

Angie: Yeah. And they, they think, you even said they'll be in more trouble if they tech talk to you before calling me.

Then they will be if they talk to you, 

Dave: you know, the same exact situation happened to me. With my, basically my brother, my best friend Eddie, he almost got in a fight right off school grounds three houses down. And I was president of the class in ninth grade. Mr. De Clemente, if you're still alive watching this, my principal comes running outta school.

It was after school and there's hoards of kids and he sees me and he's like, Dave, what happened? I looked him in the eye and said, I don't know. And he was livid with me and he threatened me and I was like, I stood my ground 'cause there was no way in hell. I was ratting out my brother and he said called back old days.

I remember it so vividly. 'cause I told my dad the story. He said, you did the right thing. My dad backed me up 100%. He, I could hear him on the phone with the, the yellow phone on the wall with [00:19:00] the long cord right. And he's standing there talking to him and he's like, my son is not gonna rat out his friend.

And Mr. DiClemente knew exactly that it was Eddie and he just wanted me to verify it wasn't happening. Mm-hmm. And my dad just stood his ground and, and you gotta love my dad. He put me on the phone with the principal and I said to the principal. Because I knew this because I was a football player and I knew his brother was a coach at another school.

You're a brother, right? A teach coaches at ci. He's like, yeah. I was like, would you rat out your brother? And you could just, there was nothing. 

Angie: Yeah, 

Dave: he was dead. Silence on the other side and like, we had a moment I. Now. And I said to these people, to these administrators present day that my family lives by a code and we have values and this is the way we live our life.

And you trying to break that code, you're teaching them less. And they're like, well she, the other girl will never know that she ratted I, I go, you bet she'll know. Yeah. Because we're gonna tell our daughter to admit what happened. 'cause she has integrity. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And you can't teach that in [00:20:00] schools. And even if they tried to teach that they'd probably get sued.

What? World are we living in? 

Angie: Yeah. I have a way bigger question for you is then why the hell are we sending our kids to schools right now? 

Dave: Because what's the alternative love? 

Angie: I feel like there's, there's multiple alternatives right now that we've seen. We could 

Dave: barely make it through a weekend without them being on their iPad because we're working on changing the world.

Angie: Something. Okay. Yes. But if they were in programs, 

Dave: you're at the, you're at the barn. A ton. 

Angie: I'm not saying homeschool, I'm saying that there are alternatives now there's becoming more and more alternatives and sometimes it's the trailblazers that have to start taking the kids and putting 'em in environments like, 

Dave: so we have friends that do this, like Brooke and Mic Brooke.

My Toia, this is a 

Angie: shout out because I love, what's 

Dave: the name of their, it's called 

Angie: Outlaw, EDU. Yeah, 

Dave: it's correct. It's in Park 

Angie: City, Utah, and it is outstanding. So she was an educator. 

Dave: Yep. And it's around, some of it's around extreme sports, right? Yep. Because that's, they're into, her kids 

Angie: are super talented in like, you know, all the, the extreme [00:21:00] sports, whether it's snowboarding or biking or whatever.

Yeah. And she saw the flaws in the system. She saw the, the education system and saw that was what was broken. And she created, they created this concept where they go to school for, I think like a couple, like hours a week or a day or whatever. Isn't 

Dave: one of them now going to real school? 

Angie: No, the both of 'em I think are in this program and then the majority of the time, like after, after, I shouldn't 

Dave: say real school, but I meant public school.

Yeah, 

Angie: like. Traditional school. 

Dave: Yeah. 

Angie: But they go into a certain classroom for a certain amount of time to get like some basics done. But then the rest of the time they're creating businesses, they're launching products, they're inventing different things, and then they work out every day together as a team.

Very collaborative. They're going out and they're practicing their, their skills on and their trade, right? So whether it's, you know what, 

Dave: we're doing this in real time, they're gonna see how we actually create, maybe what we want to create for adults 

Angie: is what we need to create for our kids. Yeah, [00:22:00] but how are we gonna get the time to do that?

Like you said, 

Dave: we have to monetize it. 

Angie: I know. Or 

Dave: non-profit it and get paid as a number or however you wanna do it. 

Angie: I just think that where we're, where our kids are right now and where technology is going, especially with ai, 

Dave: yeah. 

Angie: We are setting our kids up for failure, not success. So I. 

Dave: So kids are using AI to do homework.

Yeah. Dave, you know, ah, shit. We're using it a ton. Yeah, right. Like I even put it in an email today. I wrote the email, I had to clean it up. And what they're doing now is they're saying. They're going into ai, taking it out and putting like they humanizing. 

Angie: Yes. There's humanizer, like 

Dave: humanizing apps or humanizing ai.

Yeah. Where you like humanize the ai, like it's just this back and forth. People are gonna use this technology well and the kids, 

Angie: the, the, that's the thing is the kids are going to be so good at this and because we're not putting ourselves in these environments where we're learning just as much like.

They're gonna run circles around us. Like the conversation that Ella had. 

Dave: I don't [00:23:00] necessarily believe that. 

Angie: Okay. 

Dave: How? I just think that they're going to use leverage abuse. They're gonna do everything. That's the way, that's the way technology works, right? Mm-hmm. By 2050, like 80% jobs will be gone. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: I don't necessarily think that 80% of jobs will be gone.

I think that the top 20% or less of each field. We'll still be there running the show. Mm-hmm. So if you're not elite at what you do, yeah. You're screwed. Like Yeah. Will robots be driving all of the, um, the trucks? Sure. Mm-hmm. But I'm sure there'll be the top 20% making sure all the trucks are going in the right spot.

Right. There's gotta be a human, it's the people that Exactly, exactly. There's people 

Angie: that can get behind them and make sure when they break down they can fix 'em. And, you know, there's jobs like that that will be created as well. 

Dave: And this is where we get stuck. In the box, stuck in the routine, stuck in the societal norm [00:24:00] where things are happening so rapidly.

It's already changed. It's already happened. Whether you're an early adopter or not. Yet, we're still in this rat race, this matrix of like thinking that. It's all the same and it's gotta be different. And that's, I think that's what people are being called to right now. That's why they're like homeschooling and getting 'em into the nature.

And I think that's why that's call, that's the callback. Experiential. The future is experiential. So there's a lot of great. School's doing this right now? 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Like the one in Austin? What? Tell me about that one. I 

Angie: don't know. So I don't know what the school's actually called. I know her, um, Instagram is something like Future of Education, but what they do is they don't hire teachers, they hire coaches, and so they have.

A certain amount of time a day where they're taught by ai, which is also your friend, just created this whole AI technology that is being taught so dope. Yeah. Which is being taught from the, the actual point of view, from like if it's history, they're actually being [00:25:00] taught by Benjamin Franklin, and so this school is like, they're.

AI is teaching them some of these basic things, and then they're being in environments where they're with coaches and their coaches are helping them create businesses and invent things, and all of the stuff that is like real world experience. And these kids are getting like awards from all over the place.

They're, they're actually creating businesses that are generating income already. Like these kids are beco, like blossoming in the success and loving it instead of like, I feel like a lot of our kids. Well, our kids and their friends and people in the environment. In the traditional sense, I feel like it's a very, like, you know, go through the same routine, same day, but what are we setting them?

What, what are we setting them up for? Right? 

Dave: Are they, are we setting them up to go to college? 

Angie: I don't, I hope not. I mean, right now we're setting 'em up to go to college because everybody that they know is gonna go to college. But in my opinion, like traveling the world is so much gonna, is gonna bring so much more value.

Than going to college. 

Dave: So there's a saying that I say all the time, your [00:26:00] net worth is in your network. So there is something like if you're going to an Ivy League, maybe that makes sense, but that's a whole game within a game anyhow. 

Angie: Yeah, 

Dave: right. I could, especially for business marketing, ai, most things, while you're going to school for, they're being taught by people who have never applied it.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And they're teaching things that already have been considered obsolete. 

Angie: I just remember, I just, even our CE classes to get our, oh, our licenses, right? Like we're being taught from these teachers that literally can't close a deal if they tried. They're teaching us outdated stuff with these scripts that are completely outdated and it's, you're wasting literally so much of your time.

But 

Dave: here's, here's, here's the issue though. While you're on those ces on the Zooms or in person, 80% of the people are dumber and more ignorant than the instructor. 

Angie: Yeah. That 

Dave: doesn't know what's going on. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: So when I [00:27:00] say that the cream of the crop, like the gap right now in between everything is just rising Like, like all three of our girls can run circles.

Around even adults. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Like Gianna can manipulate adults. 

Angie: Oh, she's a professional negotiator. Yes. She could be an FBI hostage. Negotiator. Negotiator. She'll look, scream in the 

Dave: eye. She is definitely, she'd 

Angie: be like, Nope, 

Dave: nope. 

Angie: I'm not giving you $150,000 for that person's life. Here's what you're gonna do.

Yeah. Yeah. 

Dave: And so a big part of that is like, for instance. There's a, a stat or, or um, a saying that kids that get raised in houses with books are smarter. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: The question would be why are kids that are raised in houses with books smarter? Mm-hmm. Is it because. Most likely the parents of those kids read those books and therefore are teaching their kids a certain way.

Yeah. Or is it because the opportunity to pick up a book and read is there, I don't know. So if the environment [00:28:00] matters so much and we're putting our kids in these environments that we don't even agree with and the values and the principles and the codes and how they live, I mean, 

Angie: I know. Well, and so we just, you know, spread the word.

Nevada is a nonprofit here locally, and they have an amazing. Um, program where they send, they have 60 schools. These are like low income schools in different areas, and they give each kid of those schools a book a month to build their own library. They're like gently used books. They get a go out, they get a pick for them.

They also have these mentors that come into the school and help these kids read, and it's like amazing programs, but I think it was like 74% of kids in Las Vegas. Are illiterate, like cannot read, cannot do anything. The pushback from a lot of like philanthropists is like, well, are these parents even at home attempting to read with these kids?

Are they using these books? Are they doing anything? 

Dave: The parents aren't even read them. I think there's some, there's crazy stats out there of, of how many books. The average adult will read after they get outta school. The [00:29:00] access to information has never been greater. Yeah, you could get, you can go get free Columbia and Harvard classes online.

There's the great courses on Netflix and or on Amazon. Yeah. Like, you have to be curious. You have to teach kids how to be curious and force them into situations where they're experiencing things and they come back to it 

Angie: and getting prob like problem resolution and finding solutions to things, I think is gonna be crucial.

Dave: The whole reason why we're successful, you and I in, in, in life is because I am very curious and you are very open to trying things. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Right. I am constantly reading, constantly interested. You're, you think every idea you have is a winner? 

Angie: It is at some point. I mean, if I just could have more time.

Dave: Exactly. Yeah. And I think the average person is still stuck in some, because they had, they don't have a, they're in a bad situation. Yeah. But like, so if you're a parent. What do you do? Because most parents [00:30:00] both work. They both rely on their money. There is not the luxury of homeschooling. There's not the luxury of building a business like they're barely surviving and making it through the average day.

Even if there's vouchers and school choice, that just jacks the prices up. Like I always joke, like we had it on like, let's say every kid got a $7,000 voucher. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: The cost of sending the kid through the system versus, alright, you don't go to public school, here's the money that we would've spent on you.

Go spend it. If I'm a, if I'm a private school. I'm just raising my rates. $7,000. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: I mean maybe though there'd be a trickle down and then there's schools. Well, and it 

Angie: doesn't even matter. That's the thing is the school that our kids are going to, there's 500 kids on the wait list to get into sixth grade.

S 500 kids think about that. Like, there's such a need for all of this, because those kids, if they don't, if all these public schools or private schools are fully packed, then they're gonna strain the system on the public [00:31:00] schools and then the teacher to student ratio is even worse. And it, I mean, it's like, so, so it's 

Dave: just a babysitting situation 

Angie: in some ways.

And the another stat that I just, that I talked about, no, I mean, you 

Dave: gotta, you gotta play this through. Have we gotten to a situation where it's just babysitting? And basic knowledge. 

Angie: Yeah, I mean basic knowledge. Yeah. 

Dave: Right here, right now. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: I want to do all the things we've talked about. 

Angie: Can we please, can we stop talking about 'em and just fucking do it?

Dave: It is hard. We go again. It's like, 

Angie: but imagine like it's, we could be an example for people and kind of show people. I get it and 

Dave: I, I know we're, I know we're leading to it, but it, you don't just break one box. You're breaking all of them multiple boxes of yes, 

Angie: you're breaking all the boxes, 

Dave: you're questioning it all.

Angie: Yeah, 

Dave: you're questioning the health system. You're questioning the education system. You're questioning the government, and there's a lot of good things about all of these institutions without government, and you realize like we're in the like, believe it [00:32:00] or not, we're in the most peaceful time in the history of the world, right?

Mm-hmm. Even with all the shit going on, people are living longer than they've ever lived. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: People have access to more information than they've ever had poverty. They still have cell phones and flat screens. Like this is, I don't wanna say like a privilege or a, a quality problem, but I do see where we're going.

Mm-hmm. The institutions are falling by the wayside. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. Incredibly 

Dave: fast. And everyone feels like they've been lied to for so long, and everyone's questioning the whole American dream or human dream, like, what's it all for? 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: Right. We've been sold an interesting, you know, bill of goods here. Mm-hmm.

And so it, I think what's. The point of it, the question of education is exposing the greater way of life of how people choose, whether they even have the ability to choose or if they, if they, if they do, how do they actually do something about it? 

Angie: Mm-hmm. [00:33:00] 

Dave: I would love to hear what people are thinking and what they're seeing, because these movements are tremendous 

Angie: and I wanna have people like Brooke and Mike on our show.

I wanna know. How they came about this, what the success rate is. I wanna see what the difference is. Like one of the things about their school that I'm absolutely obsessed with is that they spend so much time outside. One of the statistics that I was talking about that is like literally like makes me sick to my stomach is that prisoners.

Have to spend at least two hours outside minimum. That's a requirement in the prison system. And all the school kids, all like our children are spending less time outside than prisoners. Getting less sun exposure, getting less time in nature like that is absurd to me. Well, the 

Dave: whole system is built on the same thing.

I mean, kids, kids go to school, parents go to work, and that's one of the reasons why civilization works to a degree. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: But what happens is, is if there's too much of a gap between the [00:34:00] haves and the have nots, then civilization starts breaking down. Yeah. And that's what we're seeing. Mm-hmm. Right?

People want respect and autonomy and truth and transparency and opportunity and purpose and things to look forward to. And if they're not getting that, they're merely surviving. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: Hence why, you know, un alivening yourself is up and people are starting to live less and people have these, they're having these huge awakenings and just unplugging from the game.

Mm-hmm. But there's an overcorrection there, and I am so sick of the word, or like, it's either this way or this way. It's this political system or this political system, you know, it's homeschooling or it's, I'm buying into this. These games need to be and 

Angie: mm-hmm. 

Dave: It's both. Right? So if you're gonna, there's no such thing as getting off the grid anymore.

You're part of the world. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: Like it is what it is. You could use AI rather than letting AI use you, and [00:35:00] you can live on a ranch with horses and chickens and everything. Yeah. You gotta do both. This, to me, school needs to be a hybrid. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: It needs to be social and it needs to be all of those things about experience and interpersonal development and team sports and things like that.

And maybe what we're teaching them and stop getting rid of a, kill as many sacred cows as possible, but also like time spent outta the school outside learning these things. Mm-hmm. And yeah, the people who do it are gonna win. And the same thing with work, right? Work from home versus being doing a 40 hour week.

Angie: Yeah. And how it's both and not even having enough time. Its hands. Yeah, totally. Well, and even as far as the work and the college and all of that stuff is like, where's the like. True experience, like vocational aspect of being like if somebody is dreaming of being some type of occupation, like there should be an aspect of that K [00:36:00] kid actually going into those environments, seeing what that looks like, seeing what it feels like, seeing if it's something that they wanna pursue.

Huge. 

Dave: I feel like we've talked about this before on this podcast, but it's worth noting again, I think it's Northeastern. Northeastern has a situation where like you go a semester, I think they have three semesters a year or something like that. I could be getting this wrong, but every single year. You do an internship at a, at a, at a, um, business.

Mm-hmm. So by the time you get out, I think you've done like three or four internships. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: And most of the time those places you've interned for hire you. So you come out of college with all of this real world experience. Mm-hmm. It is a beautiful hybrid and 

Angie: had more clarity about what you even want to do.

A hundred 

Dave: percent. 

Angie: I still dunno what I want to do. I'm 38. You do know, actually, I know exactly what I wanna do, but I'm not doing it because I feel like I've already put so much time in something else that for me to transition over to that would be like, what? How do I let that other part go? Yeah. That's the 

Dave: curse to success, right?

Yeah. And you know, uh, my coach says all the time that, [00:37:00] um, you never get to true freedom until you're willing to let go of all the success you've had. 

Angie: Mm. I know you're not ready yet. 

Dave: I am on the path. 

Angie: You're almost there. 

Dave: So are you. 

Angie: I'm more ready than you. 

Dave: I think in some ways you are. I think it's like everything else with us.

You're mentally more ready. I'm not. And once we go, you won't be as ready as I am and I will execute my ass. Flat out lies through. 

Angie: No. That is not true. 

Dave: So what do we do? We just like, what? Like, like we are so stuck in this game. Yeah. That we literally, and this is quality problems and I know no one's crying a tear for us.

I'm just, but just to say that I don't want to hear if someone doesn't have the financial means to do something. 'cause a lot of people would say, Hey, nice for you guys. I wish I could send my kids to, to private school. And here we are saying we gotta make literally a hundred thousand dollars [00:38:00] our first a hundred thousand dollars.

Angie: Just go 

Dave: to private school that we're gonna 

Angie: Yeah. And that's already been taxed. 'cause they have to 

Dave: taxes and bullshit, you know, and they listen, it doesn't stop there. Right. You gotta pay for the food, you gotta pay for the uniforms. That's another thing. Like they're more strict on these things like uniforms than public schools.

At least we had Flava character. Right. Yeah. 

Angie: So, and I have a few ideas that I wanna share. So wait, I 

Dave: just wanna hold people accountable though. 

Angie: Yeah, go for it. 

Dave: Like it's one of those games like, oh, if I just start making a million dollars a year, all my problems uhuh. Sometimes the chaos of choice is a worse situation.

Mm-hmm. Right? Like when you don't have as much choice, you just gotta figure it out and you go. So it doesn't necessarily get solved the way you're at the top of the mountain, like new level, new devil, like you know, more money, more problems. Biggie. Right. So what was you gonna say? 

Angie: I was gonna say, as we're talking about this, some of the things that I think any family could do, and it has nothing to do with money.

Is, and I think that if we stuck to them, we would [00:39:00] see a lot of transformation is one of 'em being our book club. I think that is so valuable. Us having conversations with our kids, reading stuff about right now, we were doing atomic havoc and conversations with God and having these like literally set times where we can have the conversations with our kids.

They can ask questions because when we are doing that, our kids are like the stuff that they're talking about. Is mind blowing. I'm like, wow, I didn't even think about that perspective. Even for us, it, it helps us grow. So I think that that's one that's huge. Like a family book club where you can get together, you can have conversations around different topics.

You can really grow in that aspect. 

Dave: So you're saying I go off a topic? 

Angie: No, this is like, you were just talking, you said, what do we do? These are things that I think I'm talking 

Dave: about for school. 

Angie: Well, I think because we're not taking our kids out of a school, the school system that they're in right now, which I would love to do, but we're not doing that yet.

Dave: Don't fucking play that game with me. That's, I would love to do that. What you trying to weaponize What? Yeah. Like you, so you think that [00:40:00] just the answer is on some ranch? In a place in Nashville. Yes. I've never seen, 

Angie: I do. And, 

Dave: and them being homeschooled. We'll figure 

Angie: no, we'll figure it out. I don't want 'em to be homeschooled.

I want 'em to be in a hybrid situation where they go to school for a certain amount of time and they're with us and don't know if 

Dave: that exists there. So you're willing to move someplace for them to have that experience and that school, or would that be one of the many things? That would 

Angie: be one of the many things.

Dave: See, so it, it's not how it works. Love like you, well tell you, 

Angie: tell me how it works then. 

Dave: I'm saying is you gotta take all of it into account. 

Angie: Okay. What would you do? What's your perfect scenario? 

Dave: The perfect scenario? 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: I find a place where I'm able to have this ranch, city life hybrid. Okay. Where I'm like 20 miles away from a major city where all the creature comforts of what I could possibly have are there.

It inside of that is a very progressive new age, um, or financial, whatever school that is willing to break the box. That could be a [00:41:00] hybrid experience. Boom. Great. While we're doing this, maybe we are investing in it. Maybe we're contributing to it. 'cause you gotta do it for the parents too. The adults and the parents need it just as much, if not more than the kids.

You can't even expect or even have this conversation or desire for your children if you haven't had the conversation first of what you would want. Relationships and couples and marriages aren't even having this conversation between the two of them, let alone what they want for their kids. So that all has to be there.

So I would want to have, yes, perfect world. I'm doing coaching way of life stuff. Borderline religious, like community inspiration, connection, tribe. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: But without making it culty or ex, you know, exclusive. And so, yeah, I wanna do the same thing as you, but, but I also wanna monetize it. But that, that's, you gotta pay for it.

That's about you. Yeah. But you gotta pay for it. 

Angie: We're talking about our kids' education. What would their [00:42:00] education look like in that, in that world? 

Dave: Well, think about what their education, they would be around it when they're not in school, because we would be living it. 'cause you gotta live it. Mm-hmm.

Before you lead it. Right. Then it'd also be a part of our calling and purpose to coach it and teach it. So when they're not at school, they would be on the farm, on the ranch inside of what they're already understand business better. They already understand all these things. And then while they're going to school, it is supporting and compounding the life that we're living already.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: And they have access to it all. Where we could be inside of a city in 20, 30 minutes connected to arts and culture in the real world. Mm-hmm. But also outside of it and unplugged, because if you're gonna be a fully dynamic human being, you need to have all of those dimensions and all of those skills.

Yeah. So, yeah. That, that's what I want. 

Angie: Okay. That's, that's perfect. I want that too. [00:43:00] But I was just trying to give real life situations that you could do right now for families where it's like, how do you get your kids involved? How do you start these conversations? What does it look like? Because instead of just breaking the box completely, taking kids outta school, like what are families able to do right now that changes their environment, that helps 'em on that path of different.

Like education, 

Dave: they gotta get more involved. But I'm hesitant to say that because you're putting more on the, on the parents. So the parents has to change, right? We added this 3, 2, 1, plan in, and we're doing a good job of executing it, but we still haven't filled in with 

Angie: all the stuff that we're talking about.

More 

Dave: positive stuff, right? Yeah. Three hours before. I mean, listen, it's worked for us and you gotta lead it like, so we incorporated this 3, 2, 1 plan three hours before sleep. No eating two hours before sleep, need to be done with work or done with your homework. This way they're not rushing in one hour before.

Sleep is just the hardest at all. Of all is. No screens, no TVs. No iPads, no nothing. Now [00:44:00] there is, you could still, you know, use it for putting your alarm together and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. And listen to music it. The irony is I haven't won a week yet. You won a week? I did. Ella won a week, Lola, and I've been 

Angie: killing it.

Dave: We are the parents. We are the bosses. But we are not gonna play this. We're not gonna gamify this and play this game without actually living what we need. Helping 

Angie: being held accountable. Yeah, 

Dave: exactly. The first rule, coaching or parenting. Right. Don't, don't ask people to do something that you're not willing to do yourself.

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: That alone has changed everything like my sleep. Through the roof. Obviously I'm not eating before I go to bed. I'm not feeling, I've been reading more Ella's reading more. Right? Yeah. We could add in some more stuff. Right. Even like I haven't been eating great, but because I'm not eating three hours before sleep, I haven't been gaining weight any weight.

Like there is so many positive things about this. But you have to, you have to, you have to lead this stuff. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Right. And if that's the case, then yeah, it doesn't matter what your kids go to school, but you don't wanna put 'em in a horrible environment. [00:45:00] Right. And I don't really know what the difference is of public school or private school or, 'cause there's even that much worse probably.

I don't know. Like it's a whole thing. We haven't even gotten into the dangers of going to school. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Right. And then maybe we're overdoing that because Yeah, like. School shootings are an issue, but like our parents would have to get under the desk because they thought there were gonna be atomic bombs and stuff.

Like, you know what I mean? It's just no fucking answer. And so that's the problem, right? Like the, there's no wrapping this episode in a bow because it's a to be determined answer. Mm-hmm. And with a lot of topics, I don't like. My options. It's frustrating to me to think that we've had this conversation again, and I know you want to change, so I'm not, it's definitely not your fault, but it's frustrating to me that these are only options and [00:46:00] that the alternatives require a big commitment.

Angie: Yeah, that's very fair. 

Dave: When we have this conversation. And it's not just about me and you like on what we want for our lives as adults and it's about our kids. It's a greater pull for me wanting to like unplug from the status quo. But holy shit, you better want it because it's not the easier path. 

Angie: It's gonna be a heavy lift, that's for sure.

A 

Dave: hundred percent. 

Angie: Yep. 

Dave: Whether you have the means or not. I think a lot of these things look better on paper than they actually do on re in reality. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. And 

Dave: so that is why I'm saying don't throw the baby out with the bath water. And so I believe that the future of education is gonna be heavily reliant on ai, heavily reliant on new ways of looking.

A lot of different options. A hybrid type way of looking at it. Kind of an [00:47:00] open-mindedness to looking at these things and saying, you know what? This doesn't work and let's try something different, while at the same time saying, wow, I guess that did work and we should keep that as well. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Just like work from home and never coming in the office doesn't work.

Angie: Yeah. It's the balance between the two. 

Dave: Staying in the office 40 hours really, and having 20,000 meetings isn't work either. 

Angie: Maybe that's what the answer is, is a hybrid model. 

Dave: And changing the curriculum 'cause they've cut out the things that are most important. 

Angie: Mm-hmm. 

Dave: Or as important, like the arts and activity and being outside.

Yeah. And trying to jam in all these other things that aren't necessarily important. So guess what? There is not one right answer to this. To this game. 

Angie: Yeah. 

Dave: Right. And it may be a socioeconomic thing where maybe if you do have it hard. And difficult. And you don't come from a family that has the means that you are getting [00:48:00] taught different trades and things that can improve your station in life, right?

And you do have access to all these informations and all, or information and books in it, artificial intelligence, whatever, whatever, whatever, end up winning, right? Mm-hmm. As long as you have that opportunity like everybody else, some people are gonna take advantage of it and some people are not and we can't pick the choosing.

You know, pick and choose the winners and the losers, but if it's accessible, great. So the future of education's gonna look interesting. And I don't think there's one one way that's gonna win. And I think that's kind of what got us in the problem in the first place in this position, is that we try to do this one size fits all.

And that's not the case in this world. And even then, the private schools versus public schools is not much different. You don't necessarily get the same teachers. 

Angie: It's 

Dave: just like in our industry, the same people building a $20 million house are building a $500,000 house, 

Angie: and from our experience, it doesn't seem like a lot of the teachers are super happy in their positions.

Either 

Dave: they're [00:49:00] not. It's a job, and so 

Angie: how can we make it better for the students and the teachers? 

Dave: Be willing to break it, kill some cake, sacred cows, and let's, let's try some new shit. Fuck around and find out. Let's go.