How to Be a High School Superstar by Cal Newport

[Kareni]

I recently finished How to Be a High School Superstar: A Revolutionary Plan to Get into College by Standing Out (Without Burning Out) by Cal Newport and found it an interesting read.

 

KarenAnne mentioned it previously and said this:

 

"The problem with books like this [referring to Newport's book as well as Ken Robinson's Elements] is that they tend to focus on kids whose achievements tend to be -- surprise -- very academic in orientation although outside the high school subject matter or experience norms; but they do make an argument for the importance of a teen's understanding of her own abilities and interests and for the fact that a typical high school does not fulfill the needs of many, many young adults."

 

I'd agree with the above. While I think Newport is a tad pat about how one could go about the process of having a student 'stand out', he does make some good points and the book is a worthwhile read. I'd recommend it to those with teens of high school and pre-high school age.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Laura in CA]

Hi, Kareni!

 

I'm still in the middle of this book, but he makes a lot of good points and I recommend it also. The most useful one for me so far is that students should carve out free time in their schedule; only then are they in a position to take advantage of serendipitous opportunities. I see this with kids we know -- the ones who are overscheduled, even with meaningful activities they enjoy, don't have time to pursue interesting rabbit trails -- one of the fun things about being a teenager, especially a homeschooled one! He gives good advice about studying more efficiently, too.

 

~Laura

[lisabees]

Hi, Kareni!

 

I'm still in the middle of this book, but he makes a lot of good points and I recommend it also. The most useful one for me so far is that students should carve out free time in their schedule; only then are they in a position to take advantage of serendipitous opportunities. I see this with kids we know -- the ones who are overscheduled, even with meaningful activities they enjoy, don't have time to pursue interesting rabbit trails -- one of the fun things about being a teenager, especially a homeschooled one! He gives good advice about studying more efficiently, too.

 

~Laura

 

Ds and I enjoyed this book! The notion that free time is important and necessary to cultivate one's passion rings true here. Ds also learned how important it is to establish a network of supporters and like-minded peers - he received the inspiration to email random people in his chosen field from this book. And it has worked to push his ideas closer to reality!

 

Ds and I also enjoyed reading Outliers.

Edited October 25, 2010 by lisabees

[at the beach]

Hi, Kareni!

 

I'm still in the middle of this book, but he makes a lot of good points and I recommend it also. The most useful one for me so far is that students should carve out free time in their schedule; only then are they in a position to take advantage of serendipitous opportunities. I see this with kids we know -- the ones who are overscheduled, even with meaningful activities they enjoy, don't have time to pursue interesting rabbit trails -- one of the fun things about being a teenager, especially a homeschooled one! He gives good advice about studying more efficiently, too.

 

~Laura

 

I just read this book this weekend. I loved it. I love what you say here about how kids, even if tied up with meaningful activities, don't have time to pursue rabbit trails. I have a post on the general board right now about how my daughter's dance is consuming all over our lives, especially hers. I don't think he'd encourage a kid dancing 15-20 hours a week at age 13. Or am I wrong there? I also like that he says lighten up the academics (or that's what I read into it). But I agree that much of what kids then did in free time was academic. Still, it seems like keeping formal academics at a reasonable level is a great idea.

 

How do all of you who like his ideas implement them? I'm trying to figure out how to go about this myself with dd 13.

[Laura in CA]

Funny you mention dance, Violet ... that's one of the things I was thinking about when I mentioned "meaningful activities". We know homeschooled girls who love, love, love ballet and as a consequence they've missed enrichment classes at Stanford Splash, literature classes, overseas trips, etc. And these are girls who have no realistic future in dance, either in a company or running a studio -- they just love to dance, and don't want to miss a single class or rehearsal. From my perspective, they're not looking at the big picture. That being said, my older son has an amazing offer from an older man at church to hang out with him at the airport and learn basically everything about planes and flying from him ... he's there every single day except Sundays. My son would love to do this, and yet his passions -- music (he's in five orchestras) and cycling -- have so far prevented him from taking this man up on his offer. I think it's a shame ... it seems like one of those unexpected "rabbit trails" that in some of Cal Newport's stories turn out to be life changing.

 

And yet, for my son, and also with respect to your daughter's spending 15-20 hours a week doing dance, their current activities fit in perfectly with what is written in Outliers and Count Down (a book about the students at the International Math Olympiad) -- that you need to spend 10,000 hours doing something to achieve mastery. I think that works out to about 20 hours a week for 10 years. I don't know how to reconcile the things my son absolutely lives to do (playing music and cycling) with things he's very interested in and intrigued by (airplanes). The teen years are, or should be, a wonderful time to sample all that the world has to offer.

 

Some anecdotes ... my best friend's husband grew up on a farm in the hot, dusty Central Valley of California. When he was a teenager the TV broke and his dad never fixed it. Only then did my friend's husband start drawing -- and now he's a professional artist ... Another friend of mine grew up in rural Alabama, and was selected for an academic enrichment trip to England at age 13. She fell in love with the castles, abbeys, history, etc., later studied medieval literature at Princeton, and is now an English professor. I often wonder what these folks would be doing now if they hadn't had these formative experiences :confused: I'd like to ensure my boys have time for rabbit trails ... and yet we strive for academic excellence; that takes time ... and both my boys already have passions (my other son lives for computers and math; the biggest events in his life last week were watching Steve Jobs's keynote speech, and participating in a meeting of the homeschool MathCounts team he's helping coach; he was ecstatic at both). We don't seem to have time for much more ... I'd also appreciate any wisdom from folks who've figured this out!!!

 

~Laura

[fischerl]

:bigear:

 

Me, too, Laura! I want so much to provide "rabbit trail" time for DS17 (junior), but how? We have whittled his academics down to five classes (required for graduation from our homeschool umbrella), and he still seems overwhelmed. One problem is he is a very slow and methodical reader. He does excellent work, is a very good writer, gets good grades (he has other teachers for math and American Lit.), but there's hardly time for anything else.

 

We have found it helpful to go back to working together (he was doing everything on his own last year). I actually read his U.S. History to him (I love the subject, fwiw) and we discuss together right then. I do Spanish with him as well. This seems to help him focus.

 

I know he would LOVE to have free time just to think his own thoughts and develop his musical talents, but I'm not sure how to help him! I'm interested in the Newport book, but I suspect it would just make me feel guilty and more helpless. <sigh>

 

We do give him Sundays off, even if he hasn't finished up for the week. That time is his own.

 

Hope someone chimes in with some great ideas... :)

[at the beach]

You've summed it up exactly, Laura. How can there be time for rabbit trails when so much time is committed to one thing--such as dance? And it seems to me dance is one of those things that the author seems to indicate in and of itself doesn't appear all that impressive. Of course, I can say there are few girls who are attempting dance at the level she is. Most drop it at some point. I mean, the vast majority of girls in her studio are not doing what she does. There are probably two dozen. And she takes an extra ballet on top of that. There are probably 4 including her that do that. But she might tire of it at some point. But I doubt it.

 

And I've also tried whittling academics. I have no idea where to draw the line. I have this child who suddenly does not like Latin anymore. Is that because it is hard when most other academic work comes easy to her? Is it because so much energy is spent on dance? I don't know. I know that she got a perfect paper on her NLE last year. I am resistant to let this go. She is hard-headed and pushy, however.:001_rolleyes: Right now, she's doing German 1 and Latin 2, both online. She wants to continue with German and let Latin go next year. Do I allow this? It feels somehow not right to me. This is what the author seems to suggest, though, but it is SO hard to follow that advice. I know she can do Latin, kwim? But does that mean she should? Sigh.

 

I'm also all :bigear: to hear how far others are willing to go to whittle academics to free up time for other pursuits.

[swimmermom3]

Kareni, thanks for bringing this up again and also to Lisabees for the comment on Outliers. They both have been on my list, but there just seems to be so little time. One overwhelming questions for our household is if there is free time to pursue rabbit trails, what does one do with a child whose sole rabbit trails would include gaming?

[fischerl]

Lisa, I would establish definite parameters from the start: i.e. no gaming, if you want that off-limits for "exploration" time. Maybe (just brainstorming here) I would talk with my son and together we would create a long list of possible activities to pursue? And anytime he wanted to add one, he could run it by me before adding it to the list?

 

My kids are familiar with my term "valuable activities" and they know it means something that really adds value to your life (intellectual development, spiritual maturity, talent development, physical training, etc.), not just empty entertainment.