Things Aren't Changing, They've Been Changed!

Did you know that YouTube was founded in 2005? The site currently has 1 billion active users and co-founder, Chad Hurley's net worth is $335 million. That's a pretty impressive track record for being around just thirteen years. Here's some other interesting numbers:

Twitter was founded in 2006. It currently has 330 million users. Founder, Jack Dorsey's net worth is $3.5 billion.

Facebook was founded in 2004. It currently has  2.2 billion users. Mark Zuckerberg's net worth $71.6 billiion.

Google was founded in 1998. It currently has 1.17 billion users. Founder, Sergey Brin's net worth is $49.9 billion.

Netflix was founded in 1997. It currently has 117.58 million users. Founder, Reed Hastings net worth is $3.1 billion.

Amazon was founded 1994. It currently has 224 million users. Jeff Bezos net worth is  $121.8 billion.

Let's put that in perspective:

Walmart was founded in 1962. Its founder, Sam Walton's net worth was $100 billion at the time of his death in 1992.

Target was founded in 1902. Founder, George Dayton, has a net worth of $1.6 billion.

Kmart was founded in 1899. Founder, S.S. Kresge, had a net worth of $375 million when he died in 1966 ($5.3 billion today).

Sears was founded in 1893. Founder, Richard Warren Sears had a  net worth of $25 million upon his death in 1914 ($611 million today).

These numbers could be off, but the point isn't to be missed. Companies founded prior to the digital age took a lifetime to amass the wealth that companies are now building in a couple of decades. And it looks like things are just getting faster and faster. It is not rare to see 40 year old billionaires today. Before you know it, there will be 30 year old billionaires and then 20 year old billionaires. 

In my profession of public education, I hear people talking all of the time of how much things are changing. They make it sound as if the change is happening currently. That's simply not the case. The change happened years ago. The world we currently live in is a result of that change. There's a big difference between things beginning to change and someone beginning to open their eyes to see the change. This is what we are witnessing now in education. I think public education is having a "Holy crap!" moment. We are waking up to the stark reality: we must either evolve or die. The revelation is both exciting and perilous.

Nowadays, kids don't want to be movie stars, they want to be YouTube stars. PewDiePie, YouTube's top earner in 2016, made over $15 million. YouTube's top 10 income earners in 2016 collectively made over $70 million. I'll let that sink in...

Sadly,  student ambitions are being suppressed in our schools. Students are laughed at when they tell teachers they want to make YouTube videos. Teachers see it as a waste of time. There are much more important things to do besides make YouTube videos. Like that redundant 20 question math worksheet that is assigned for homework. We are stuck in a 1950s assembly line worker mentality. It's time to realize that we aren't training students to be cogs in the industrial machine any more. It's time to stop training students for jobs that we want them to have and start training them for jobs that they want to have.

Roger Bannister was the first athlete to run the mile in under four minutes. After he broke the record, many others followed. Why? Because what was once deemed impossible was suddenly seen as possible. If Mark Zuckerberg can be a billionaire at 33 years old, who is going to be the first under 30? Who's going to be the first under 20? I want that kid in my class! I want that kid to say, "I couldn't have done it without Mr. Seibert." Think I'm crazy? Good. Then I know that student won't be in your class. 

Things aren't changing, they've been changed. If you haven't realized that, let this be a wake up call.