The Two Heads of Education

My life began the moment I broke out of my cell of doubt created by the public school system! Every summer vacation I felt like my sentence had ended, and the only sad thought was that it would begin again, in just a few short months, when school started again. Most kids feel the same way; they hate school but they go because they are trained to believe it is the Great American Expectation. Remember, we are told time after time that if we do well in school then we will be successful. So we strive to please our parents, our teachers, the system, and ourselves. This is the secret, cruel pressure that molds our spirits.

The simple question that has followed me around like a pesky fly all of my life has been, "Why did I hate school so much?" I wanted to like school, but the moment I entered kindergarten I felt like I was not allowed to be my free little self anymore. I can remember it like it was yesterday—the classroom looked fun, but only five years earlier I had been delivered into the hands of my parents, and now I was being delivered into the hands of complete strangers and expected to perform! Even when I was five years old, l knew there was something wrong with this picture, but a giant cloud of expectation had become ever present in my life. It was inescapable, and it seemed to follow not only me but my brothers and my parents.

As matter of fact, it followed everyone I knew. As a child, it felt so wrong that many of us lived under this cloud of expectation. It seemed to be the very thing that kept me from doing what I really wanted to do, especially as a child. This cloud of expectation never allowed me to see through it, to the outside of the cloud. It was ever present and kept up a fog, and that fog seemed to have a head on it with an authoritative quality. This authority had so many of us wanting so badly to please it, and because we needed its approval and acceptance, just one negative mark on our report cards could make us feel like we had failed completely. And so we then tried even harder to please this authority.

The one secret this authority has is it that it will never allow anyone to ever know that you can never make this cloud of expectation happy, and that once you buy into its power, it holds you hostage forever! Without the approval of this authority, you will always feel like a loser! Its power and hold over us makes us view people on the other side of the fog as outcasts and losers, and even entices us to feel above these so-called radical types and to look down our noses at them. If you are accepted by this powerful system, then you are part of the club of expectors. You are then paid for by entitlements. Once you find the excitement of being entitled, you are set forever, and you now have the club of expectors behind you who will protect their own at any cost.

As I grew older, I became sick of this cloud of expectation following me, so I broke out to the other side of the fog, and, guess what? You can breathe better, see better, and you can feel the excitement of ideas and dreams becoming part of you—sometimes for the very first time in your life. But still, that cloud of expectation wants us back; it does not like losing anyone, so it turns on the doubt switch that is planted in you, and you can’t really be free until you discover the key. That key is the other head of education! It is the freedom of discovery, the love of teaching yourself, and the understanding that everything you ever wanted to learn or know is within yourself. You can excel beyond the expectors' understanding and knowledge, and they no longer know how to control you because you have become an individual! You confuse the expectors, because they don’t understand what true freedom really is, so they label you a rebel, and they try to keep you from succeeding.

The other head of education is not a cloud of expectation, but a blue sky of freedom. It needs no degrees to prove its brilliance. Once you learn to believe in yourself and your own ability to learn what you love in your own time, motivated by the love of your interests, then anything and everything becomes possible. It is also possible for your children. We all must learn to believe in our children and not in the cloud of expectation that is put on them. When your child does not want to go to school, think about it—maybe they are smarter than you. Don’t allow the cloud of expectation to cloud your intuition; we are all conditioned to believe in it and not in the other head of intuitive education. Who says a child cannot teach himself? I beg to differ. Children are brilliant little beings, and they only need the trust of a parent to free them to become pure brilliance. Children have common sense and they will know when they need teaching; they also know when they don’t need to learn something they are not interested in.

The moment you stop believing in your children and start believing in the system of expectation, and that authority, you hand your beautiful, innocent children over to that system and they are no longer under your authority. Just look at our teenage population. Where are the individuals? Most kids find a peer that they can feel accepted by, because remember, you just handed them over to strangers, and they know it! These kids now feel completely abandoned and look for someone they can identify with. Most kids at school are in the same boat, but there is always going to be that one person your child will confide in and, “bam," there is almost no hope of retrieving them. They no longer trust you and become part of an even more dangerous system.

My life began the day I quit public school and started my own business at sixteen years old! My journey has taken me from a jewelry business, to becoming an award-winning author, publisher, restaurateur, writer, nationally-syndicated radio talk show host, successful entrepreneur, chef, mother, teacher, speaker, and mentor to thousands of troubled kids. And all it took to help these kids was to hold their hands through the fog to the other side where they felt the fresh air of freedom on their faces, and the rest was within each one of them. Why is it so hard to believe that real education does not need degrees or fanfare? It only requires the love of learning and the love of discovery.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit Dianne's online shopping cart.

The Seduction of Education

Steve Jobs was the perfect example of what a well-educated person should be; he was self-educated! The older I get the more I realize how we all buy into the idea: “If we could all just get a good education, we would all be successful!” I have never fit into that box and even had feelings of shame and embarrassment for being so-called “uneducated,” until recently.

It all started about four years ago when my daughter was about 10 years old. She was just like me, never really fitting into the groove of school and always behind everyone in her class. The school principal was very concerned about her future. Alexandra could barely read at 10 years old and hated school with a passion!

The principal told me that Alexandra really was just lazy and that I gave into her, and in the end I would ruin my daughter. The principal is a good friend of mine so I doubted my daughter and forced her to attend school! I could not help remembering how I hated school, and Alexandra reminded me so much of myself, but my own doubt and fear was ever present because of my so-called “uneducated” status. The almighty authority of education made me feel so insignificant, and I did not want my daughter to feel that way. I wanted her to be smart and become anything she wanted to be, so I did what was expected of me and pushed her out the door each day to attend the box.

My daughter, thank God, is a very strong person, but I hurt her very much by going against my gut instinct. Alexandra came to me one morning and laid out her own plan. She was crying, and through her tears, I felt her pain and felt like my spirit was dying all over again. So I decided to go against all authorities, pull her out of school, and homeschool her! I was told that I would destroy her chances of getting a good education, or even a good job. I thought, “Job, what the heck. I have been in my own business since I was 16 years old.” Suddenly, it came to me, “Wait one cotton pickin’ minute! Is a job or higher education that carrot that seduces us to remain planted in our chairs five days a week, 8 hours a day in the almighty box, called school?” Wow, I suddenly had an awakening. As the answer to my prayers began to unfold, it all came so clearly to me how we have been made to believe all of the rhetoric and B.S. that says without a formal education, by the system, we are all going to be just a bunch of losers, but with a formal education, we will be winners. But, what do we really win with this so-called education? Do we lose something along the way, like our own initiative, self-motivation, vision, ideas, and belief in our own ability to teach ourselves something?

The real fear I had was the thought of homeschooling her, because I was so bad at traditional education I did not even know where to start. So I panicked. Again the doubt tried to find its way in, until the next morning, when I woke up and walked into my living room and saw Alexandra drawing! I decided to just leave her alone and let her relax and come down off of all of the pressure that she was a part of for so many years. I wanted to see what she would do if I did nothing for her, so I did! After a few hours of drawing, she went out into our backyard and played with her dog, a big beautiful golden retriever. I just watched in amazement, as Alexandra trained her dog to do tricks. My husband had built her a dog cart, and she had never tried to use it, but now Winchester was pulling her all over the yard.

After a few hours of playing, Alexandra ran in and said, “Mom, I want to build a chicken coup and have chickens.” So guess what? She went online and researched chicken coups, chickens, chicken feed, what type of chicken she wanted for laying capabilities, and boom, she was in the chicken business. She was also reading, learning, and expanding her universe in a real life situation. Weeks passed, and I still did not one thing for her except free her to find her interest, and she was on fire, all of her zest was back. She felt free to become anything she wanted, teaching herself beyond my wildest expectations, and completely self-motivated.

This type of learning is called education of the highest form. I found the following definition in a dictionary: “Education derives from the verb educe, which means ‘to draw forth from within.’ The original teaching method of Socrates of drawing from within has been largely displaced by professorial deference to received scholarly authority. Students are taught how to take exams but not how to think, write or find their own path.”

This definition will never be shared by super-educated, elitist institutions. They want to hold back the brilliant kids, and keep them from thinking for themselves. This concept is like herding a bunch of sheep into a pasture, and, when it is eaten down, only then will the shepherds make the decision to move them to the next pasture.

God forbid, if one of the sheep decides to jump the fence and find a greener pasture! It will be the first one sent to the slaughterhouse because if the other sheep notice that the free-thinking sheep is outside of the enclosed pasture eating green grass, there will be mutiny. The captured sheep will begin to wake up, and this will ruin everything. The shepherd will lose control and nothing will bring the mutinous sheep back!

As long as the system of education can make people believe that they are only as good as their education, then America has no chance of prospering and remaining free. The people will continue to be enslaved by their own fear. But, if one person could be that lamb and jump to greener pastures because they want to be free, then fear not! Life begins when you rip open the box and find that self-discovery is the highest form of education. Let no one ever steal your thunder, your ideas, and your belief in your true self!

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” You can also visit her online shopping cart HERE.

How Entrepreneurial Kids Can Save America

Just imagine a thriving American economy, full of happy business owners on the constant lookout for great employees! Imagine kids, instead of standing on street corners looking for trouble, standing in line for their business licenses. And imagine what the attitude of our country would be if the school system looked at our kids as potential leaders instead of as potential losers. We would wake up in the morning full of vision, dreams and ideas, and our employees would feel like part of something gigantic, as if a huge nest egg were about to hatch. But instead, so many in our workforce today have contempt for the very people who give them their paychecks. They have been trained to expect instead of perform; they have been indoctrinated with the idea that the American Entrepreneur is the monster in the closet.

I hear it every day, “My son or daughter is running with the wrong kids,” “I have no control over them,” “They used to be good kids, now they are taking drugs and not coming home at night,” etc., etc., and it never ends! We all scratch our wooden heads and ask ourselves: Where did we go wrong? What happened to my beautiful child? Let’s reflect. From a very young age, did you give your kids everything they ever wanted? Do they have all the latest electronics and distractions, all the designer clothes, or do they have nothing but their friends, no money for anything, no direction, but find out that if they hang out with the wrong crowd, they can have it all the wrong way? Do you give your kids money when they need it? Do you know what type of people your kids hang out with? What do you see in your child—a spoiled couch potato with no interests; a lost soul wandering from person to person looking for inspiration, or a young man or woman full of ideas and dreams, and not afraid to take on the world with gusto?

In these questions are the answers to our country’s future success or failure. We have become a nation of spoiled, entitled people with only ourselves to blame. We have failed our children by allowing the system to dictate to our guilt what we should think and how we should act and feel as Americans. The system has betrayed us, and it has lulled us into a sleep that has created an epidemic of politically correct zombies—followers who act without ever truly thinking.

History shows us that we used to be a country of fearless entrepreneurs, and kids learned by becoming apprentices. We now spawn leachy, ungrateful kids who think they know everything, and even when many of them have the opportunity to go to college, they graduate without knowing how to write a check and end up flipping burgers. Strangely, they take up the quest of fighting for the government's protection so that the system's nanny-like qualities will always be there to care for these dulled, dumbed-down students who step into reality for the first time in their lives completely clueless.

I am convinced that deep down inside each and every true American is a yearning to be free and independent, whether it is planting a garden, designing and building, or creating a dream business. I truly believe that each and every American wants to be self-governed and self-reliant, but then why do we believe in the system that takes this all away? It is the system that does not inspire self-respect; the system is in the discouragement business, not the encouragement business!

I have found a secret that cures most of what is hurting our kids and, believe or not, it is beyond simple—teaching a child as young as five years old the art of entrepreneurship! Kids are already natural entrepreneurs. Just help them set up a lemonade stand and watch their innate ability to create, sell and promote their product, and the end result, self-respect. If the American school system could turn out entrepreneurs and leaders instead of employees, we would have the perfect balance of economic strength and the true American Dream!

If we inspire our youth to be self-reliant, we will spoil the plans of the enablers and grow a new country within a country. We will awake the sleeping giant of the Entrepreneurial Spirit which is the engine of the American Dream and strength.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online bookstore HERE.

Could Sarah Palin Really Be President?

Why couldn’t any thoughtful, strong, business-like, entrepreneurial, well-spoken mom with vision and ideas who loves her country be the president of the United States? It has always pissed me off that unless you walk like a duck and quack like a duck, you won’t be able to rise to power with the rest of the quacks! If you have not received your degree and the approval of the uppity-up liberal professors from a name-brand university that indoctrinates and trains the minds of America’s youth, then you are degraded and dragged through the media’s arena. They devour you, spit you out with the rest of their victims and then call you stupid.

My father has always liked the saying, “Those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.” Education is a doubled-sided sword; we all need to be educated, but who is doing the teaching? Who taught the first teachers, and who died and made them royalty? Who questions their authority, and how do we know what they are teaching is right? The media, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and all the powerful white-collar professionals are taught the same message by the unbreakable chain of powerful, elite universities. We all buy into the belief that we all must fit into the same box, read the same books, and look, act, and spout the same type of rhetoric, and the moment an unusual, free-thinking, independent woman is introduced to our country it simply freaks out everyone who has become so comfortable in that box.

Let this be your first experience meeting an average, real, true American patriot. Sarah Palin did not ask to be thrust onto the world’s stage, but is now compelled to speak her mind. The day that McCain unearthed her from her happy life, I believe she accidentally slipped through the cracks, and before the media knew what happened, they lost their footing. God forbid, if the media does not anoint you as the next leader, then you must be bad, because you did not ask their permission to be yourself and rise to power! The exciting part is that one of us is on the loose, using the freedom that has always been available to us, and she is an example of what we all can achieve. The power of a real American is undeniable. I believe the reason why so many liberals hate her is because she has reached this place in her life without going down that predictable path where so many lose themselves, but instead is forging her own path with her soul and her independent nature fully intact.

It has become a challenge to explain life to my 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. They see the media approving of Barney Frank, with all of his personal improprieties, and the many other unprincipled politicians who are in power, and they also see how the media treats someone like Sarah Palin. It has also become a challenge to keep my son focused on the college program that is being offered through his high school. The writing assignments are not interesting to him, and he feels like he is jumping through phony hoops to write with passion about something that is meaningless and boring just to get a good grade. I had to tell him the truth! I explained that if he wanted to get a college degree, it is a requirement for him to not be himself. He is a free-thinking, passionate, young entrepreneur attending an incredible private school that is all hands on. He is a straight-a student and wants to get a degree in engineering, but he is hitting reality head on and does not like what seems to be the beginning of indoctrination. Call me naive, but what are we turning out of these colleges and universities, leaders or followers? It takes a great amount of strength not to lose your true self when these types of requirements are thrust upon you and the carrot at the end of the stick is greatness and a degree saying that you are greater than a person without a degree.

My son asked me, “Can’t I become an engineer without going to college? Can’t I create and build because that’s all I dream about? Why do I have to write these stupid assignments to be able to be an engineer? Why can’t I write about what I am interested in, Mom?” I explained to him that it’s for the same reason Sarah Palin is being crucified by the media. “They want you to jump when they say jump, and write what they want you to write, but Luke, watch Sarah. She is smarter than them all, and will turn this fiasco into an opportunity not only for herself, but for the rest of America.” He laughed and understood.

What most people don’t get about Sarah Palin is that she is smarter than those who despise her. Every time you hear anyone say that she is stupid and she could never be the President of the United States, just understand that she is already a leader in our country, and they never saw it happen. All it would take now is an election to make it official. Now, who are really the stupid ones?

Add Dianne Linderman as Your Friend on Facebook!

Give A Man A Fish

No one is ever going to convince a far-left liberal to see the sense in conservatism and true capitalism. We are always going to look like evil, capitalist pigs and nothing we can do will ever change their hearts, minds or feelings about conservatism. They don’t get the simple principle, “If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.” They like this version, “If you give a man a fish, he will owe you for a day. If you promise a man fish for a lifetime, he will give you his allegiance forever.” Why do they think that it is their job to make life fair for everyone? Why don’t they think that America represents fair opportunity for all when we are left to be creative and innovative? I am beginning to put together the reasons why the left feel they owe it to feed every hungry person, build them new homes, and provide them with money, gas and a even college education instead of allowing these same people the opportunity to get all of the above for themselves. The answer is simple: It’s about pure power and elitism.

What would be the difference between a person standing in a huge marketplace throwing handfuls of money up into the air and the government handing money over to undeserving people who lack initiative to earn their own money?

To the givers, it would feel the same in either case: They would suddenly rise above the people they had helped, feeling good for saving those poor fools, and they would be traveling on the highway to heaven and to ultimate control. Giving something to an undeserving person is a form of waking hypnosis. The giver becomes the master and the recipient becomes obligated and loyal. These so-called givers don’t really want others to have self-respect and free spiritedness but instead want to enslave their devotees, trapping them into a lifetime of servitude. I like to use the example of a parent who thinks that if he could keep his child happy by giving the child everything, he would have some power and influence over the child’s life. What we all know is that when a child is given everything he wants, he becomes angry and frustrated, and you end up with the opposite effect, arrogant rebellion of the worst kind.

Less is more with kids. They love to be independent, and they love to be self-reliant. If parents can resist trying to make their kids happy and instead trust them with their own interests and the outcome of their choices, then they will set their kids up for success instead of dependency and failure. Teaching kids how to earn money and encouraging them to believe that they can do anything they put their minds to is what real trust and love are all about. Giving irresponsibly to undeserving people and undeserving kids is the same thing as saying that you don’t trust them and they are not capable of achieving anything in life.

They begin to look to the givers for everything, and when the givers are out of resources, the dependents will turn on their masters and bite the hands that feed them, becoming the worst type of people. Through my work with troubled teenagers over the past 27 years, I have come to understand that truly helping someone in life is helping them discover self-respect and responsibility. Once a person finds he is capable of anything, he transforms into a strong person with visions and ideas of his own and, in turn, will become a more useful part of society. Some even become leaders, not leaches!

I have concluded that the left’s secret weapon is to wear the guise of caring, thoughtful, giving as they demoralize the weak and needy by confusing them with gifts and asking for their loyalty in return. It seems so innocent, but this is the perfect weapon, and it sneaks up on even the unsuspecting. The left should beware, though, because America is a nation of independent innovators full of vision and passion. Beams of light will always shine through its people. The strongest of us will survive, and what will separate the weak from the strong will be the willingness not to except the bribe!

Listen to Dianne Linderman on the Radio!