Prepared, by Diane Tavenner

It’s a beautiful thing when a book is able to show me a new perspective that I had not considered in much depth before. Prepared gave me exactly that, until it got a little bit repetitive but still a great read!

Diane talks about how she came to create a whole new education structure and framework. The current status quo of how children should be educated is through lectures and expecting the children to just absorb the knowledge told at them. Diane introduced an education system that revolved around projects, close mentor relationships and personal passions.

This was a particularly interesting read for me, because I had gone through the normal schooling system while my boyfriend had a more holistic, project-based education similar to that described in Prepared. The regular school system taught me how to optimize how I worked and how I learned to achieve the highest letter grade and later, highest percentage grade. Meanwhile, learning through projects that are driven by genuine interest and curiosity while being guided by close mentors teaches students to care a little more about the world around them outside of prescribed definitions of success.

Personally, I don’t know if Diane Tavenner’s system of education is perfect and fits every child. In fact, it probably isn’t but I think it’s a step in the right direction. I think it’s always important to question the systems that we have in place and ask why we should maintain them or if we even should! This book has inspired me to dive deeper on the topic of education to understand from where problems stem and how I might be able to help.