Lies, Dreams And Education

Why Kids Don’t Share Their True Passions with Teachers and Parents

Pic by JJ Thompson

Do kids lie? It’s widely believed that they don’t, that kids always tell the truth. Then the question is: What is the truth? What adults want to hear or what kids really want to say? That’s one of the interesting challenges we faced when working with a school on increasing the awareness of higher education among its students.

Tell me what you want to hear…

When the principal of Lozano, a bilingual school in Chicago, first approached us, the innovation challenge was clear. She wanted to increase college readiness among her middle school students. Since the school caters to kids that, in most cases, will be the first in their families to get a degree, this wasn’t just a need but a personal mission she was determined to fulfill.

To solve this, our approach was to balance both insider and outsider thinking. We built hybrid teams that combined students, teachers, administrative personnel, and members of Junior Achievement and of our agency, LAPIZ.

We learned that kids don’t w…