High Schoolers are the key to a Modern Golden Age

Here's why.

Introduction

Every single one of us has fundamental beliefs that deeply influence the way we see the world. Today, I would like to share one of my own, a principle that has been guiding a big part of everything I do since a few years ago.

It started in 2017 when I was working as a corporate trainer.

It took me less than a year to start doing some work with high schoolers on the side.

I had no way to justify this but there was this gut feeling that High Schoolers were special in a non-obvious way and a voice in my head kept saying that I would end up working with them. I always saw High Schoolers as deeply interesting human beings and strived to understand what was so special about them.

It started with quick presentations with some of my own teachers. A 5-10 minute talk on my own journey and overcoming my injury. Eventually, it grew into full talks and workshops in dozens of schools, all around Portugal.

In early 2020, after a lot of different experiences, I decided to dedicate myself fully to working directly with students.

Recently, following my own obsessions, I've stumbled upon this idea of a Modern Golden Age and it didn't take much to understand that this had a direct connection with what's special about high schoolers.

This essay aims at explaining that connection.

The best way to start this is through my own experience in High School.

Pursuing your interests

I had a different experience as a High Schooler than most of my peers.

For starters, I went to a professional course, a more practical approach to school, focused on a specific skill. In my case, music.

Professional courses are, unfortunately, looked down by most people (including teachers and school staff). It's a "junkyard" for lazy, incapable students. The misfits and outliers of the "proper" system.

I wasn't either lazy or incapable, but I did feel like a misfit and had to deal with teachers looking at us like some kind of "delinquent monster". Sometimes, they wouldn't even bother to prepare for classes or to push us into learning new things.

Fortunately, that only happened in "regular classes", all of our music teachers were great and demanding of us.

I was obsessed with music and the guitar. I wanted to be the best guitar player in Portugal, so I was happy to find a place where that was valued and encouraged. However, the path was pretty lonely.

Most of my dearest friends from middle school went to the same high school and yet, we grew apart. Part of it was just different schedules, sure, but a lot of it was the fundamentally different mentality.

I'm not playing the "martyr" card here. Much less the "I'm special" card. However, I did have a strong obsession with something else than status and video games, skipping parties or hangouts so I could practice the guitar.

Even though I had a class of people that were also musicians, I just couldn't connect with them. Most were older and the ones my age didn't share the same commitment as I did. We were 18 in the first year but only 10 of us made the cut. Of those 10, only 3 kept studying music professionally.

I would eventually find my tribe, both offline and online, in my own class and outside of it, but that feeling of being "the weird one", stuck with me.

However, this was not the only thing that shaped my high school. Due to the nature of our course (and my passion for music), I ended up developing an entrepreneurial mindset in those years.

Leading different bands, trying to book different venues and gigs, learning how to deal with very different personalities and approaches from musicians...All of these shaped the way I saw the "professional world".

Do you fire a musician if he gets late for practice, even if he is the best drummer you know? Do you take a cut in your own paycheck to increase the revenue for other musicians in the hope that they keep playing gigs with you? Both of these situations (and a bunch of others) happened to me, as a leader, being as young as 16.

I was also playing in other people's groups, learning how to follow orders, and how to understand my own musical language through other people's tastes and voices.

All that, plus, making sure I was doing great in all the different music subjects we had.Harmony, Ear Training, Combo, Orchestra and, of course, Guitar.

17yo me, playing John Coltrane

So, even though, in the beginning things were pretty lonely, eventually, I developed a bunch of friendships while also harvesting the full benefits of being obsessed with something, shaping my worldview in a lot of different areas that transcended music and art.

It was due to all these experiences that a very powerful belief emerged.

I remember playing in the same stages as people that were way older than me and realizing that we had similar levels. In fact, I played better than some of them.

That realization, that even though I was younger and had fewer "years on the road", my body of work and techinque spoke for themselves, made me understand that young people have a lot of unused potential, limited by social norms.

Some "adults" reacted poorly to the fact that I could play as well as them. Fortunately, I had the support of other people, older musicians as well, that challenged me into becoming even better.

I couldn't help but wonder how many more talented people were not exploring the full reach of their capacities, because they didn't have the right people encouraging them to do so.

Of all those experiences, a belief emerged.

When it comes to human potential, age is merely a number.

That belief has shaped everything I did ever since.

Modern Golden Age

A few years later, I stumbled upon a meme by Visakan. It had a profound impact on me, unlocking my next obsession: A Modern Golden Age.

I've written about it before and I am working on a more complete essay but here's the pitch.

An MGA is a period in time where a large chunk of individuals are living purposed-led lives, having abundance in different areas by solving meaningful problems that help Humanity as a whole.

Looking at the world through objective eyes, we're better than ever and yet, it doesn't seem like it, right?

I think it has to do with 2 things.

First how much of our perception is basically influenced by media and how their system of incentives is aligned with sharing a negative, chaotic and violent view.

The other one, which concerns MGA directly is what Dr. John Verveake calls The Meaning Crisis.

I believe that allowing people to actually fabricate meaning through their own words and actions is the first step to getting to a Modern Golden Age, and that's done by helping people live purpose-led lives.

Having a very clear definition of a Modern Golden Age is pretty hard. Who knows how much society will change if, say, 80% of people actually live meaningful lives? I would never dare to make such a prediction, especially by myself. That's why I created a podcast to talk with people about this topic, trying to understand what could it be and how could we get there.

One of my personal contributions to this idea is that the Internet will be the fuel that allows for this fire to ignite. Never in human history, were we capable of having a Golden Age that has not geographically centralized. The internet allows, for virtual spaces, scenes that can emerge from online communities. We're no longer bounded by geography. We can create a Golden Age on the internet, a Modern Golden Age, starting online and then leaking into the offline world.

As I explore this topic, my mission becomes clearer and clearer. I want to make sure that my actions are helping me (and the ones around me) get closer to that vision.

I quickly realized how High Schoolers and my belief in their talent were related to a Modern Golden Age.

It starts with talent development and human potential.

Human Potential

We can think of potential as a stream of water, stored in a dam. Everyone has that water waiting to come out and propel things forward, yet, different people will let out different quantities.

The key to getting to a Modern Golden Age is to help people open their own dams and let water flow.

Think about it. People develop these passions and talents and yet, how much time and space do they actually dedicate to them?

A lot of them have a “close to zero” potential flow. They just don't act upon it! Can you imagine the impact that 10% of humanity could have if they just acted upon a little bit more of their own potential? If they explore things that make them unique, in a way that provides value to society and themselves?

It becomes really important to explore the question of Human Potential and its development.

My friend Sam points out that, in the capitalist system we live in, “potential becomes a fixation, an expected target which one must hurl themselves at eternally”. The pain coming from the gap between "who you are" and "who you should be", becomes a faithful companion, creating feelings of inadequacy.

I believe the only reason why something like that could happen is due to observing potential through the wrong lenses. Developing your potential results in questioning whatever's making you feel inadequate, not succumbing to that feeling.

I don’t think there’s one concrete, stagnant definition of human potential, but I look at it from a standpoint of human flourishing. It’s the individual growth and positive impact that comes from doing things that challenge you because that's something you look forward to, not something you have to do.

It's not about "who you should be". Is about "who you want to be"!

There's no pressure to become something you're not, unless, you actually want to undergo that transformation but just don't know how.

That begs the question: how can we actually do that?

In my experience, the bottleneck for this individual flourishment is always human belief.

I've seen it over and over again, after thousands of hours of learning experiences. I've seen it with rich people, poor people, entrepreneurs, managers, kids, elders, drug addicts, parents...

The difference between someone who starts and someone who doesn't is human belief and the potential that emerges based on that. The same thing for someone who starts and someone who finishes, just in different amounts.

Potential and talent levels may not be universal, but anyone can increase the percentage that they act upon. The key is to work on human belief.

However, when trying to solve this problem, most people make the mistake of "preaching" beliefs. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, all the essays you read (including this one) are just an attempt to give you a new belief about something. The key difference though is to make sure you incite people to question the beliefs you're proposing and, above everything else, transform them into something personal.

The great teachers are the ones who present something for your evaluation, making the most compelling argument for it to be true but then, giving you space to craft it in your own way and transform it into something unique. When we fail to do this we may get motivation but we'll fail to embrace transformation.

Think about motivational videos on YouTube. The set of beliefs may resonate with you but they're not yours and unless you do the work of turning them into something that matches your own worldview, you'll go down the rabbit hole of motivational videos, constantly reminding you of those new beliefs but without actually seeing the changes you're seeking.

The solution is equipping people with the skills that allow for the craft of new beliefs while also giving them experiences that may match and double down on that new worldview.

How can we do this? Well, we need to understand the 2 elements that may influence belief changing.

Depth vs Metacognition

Human belief is influenced by a lot of different elements. There are two I want to highlight: Depth and Metacognition.

Depth basically describes how much you believe in something, how deep is your belief. Metacognition is your ability to think about your own thoughts, questioning your own beliefs and understanding the results they bring.

Think about it this way.

When you're an infant, both of these are low. You have no real conviction, being more focused on experiencing the world and surviving. At the same time, you lack the mental structure to understand what a thought is.

As you grow old, both of them increase but have opposite effects on you.

By experiencing the world, you start to form your worldview, increasing the depth of your belief, crystallizing it in your mind. However, by biological and psychological development, you also gain the mental structure needed to practice metacognition, making it easier to question and, hence, change your beliefs.

Unfortunately, the ability to practice it is not the same thing as actually doing it. Sometimes, we need a little push, something that makes it easier for us to embrace that process.

The problem begins when, by growing old, your availability to actually practice metacognition goes down and your capability to question your own beliefs gets lower and lower. That's why "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". Since depth keeps growing until you die, (unless you face a very emotionally intense experience) it's almost impossible to change unless you carry a growth mindset.

So, we can't just expect people to be able to change their own worldview. In order to develop human potential, we must make sure we find the balance between these two in a way that allows human beings with the right tools to create the best worldview and act upon their potential, transforming the world.

We need a moment where you have the mental structure to learn metacognition and your beliefs are not yet fully crystallized. In my experience, this happens in High School.

Students in that age have the means to learn how to practice metacognition and are going through a period of inner and outer rebellion, questioning the world, their values and, of course, their beliefs.

It's the perfect timing to help them craft a worldview that allows them to act upon their potential.

The Tools and Experiences

The truth is that any tool that helps students with this endeavor is a good one. And it's quite impossible to know which tools are going to work for literally any student.

In my case, music was the vehicle I needed. But to other people, exploring philosophy, doing sports or learning math can be the thing that makes the difference

So, aiming at one or two skills that could work for literally anyone... can be hard. However, one can try to point out valuable skills to most people, skills that allow for their personal growth. Personally, I would aim at 2 of them: reading and writing.

Reading is one of the closest things we have to cheat codes in the game of life. 

You're literally downloading part of someone else's brain and knowledge bank. Nothing against video or audio, but the truth is, reading allows for a different level of understanding and intellectual exploration.

However, as Mortimer J.Adler points out: most people don't know how to actually read a book. Teaching students the craft of analytical and syntopical reading is helping them unlock the full potential of a text. By doing this, students can learn about anything they want with a level of depth and comprehension way higher than most people.

If reading is one of these tools, then, it makes total sense that writing is also a part of that mix. Writing is the equivalent of thinking and it's one of the best tools you can have to develop metacognition.

However, there are 3 types of writing I want to point out as necessary:

First of all, journaling. 

Journaling was the one tool that allowed me to push past the troubles when I had my wrist injury. It's a great way to process your thoughts and generate personal insight.

Then you have note-taking. 

Being able to create pieces of writing that you're able to memorize and aid you in your own journey towards a more knowledgeable mind is not something that most students know how to do.

Finally, "Public Writing". 

The ability to write an essay for other people to read, getting a glimpse of your own worldview, while you try to help them understand a set of ideas.

Developing reading and writing to high levels is a bridge to a more complete version of these students. Learning how to learn, critical thinking, metacognition…all of these are a result of doing these 2 things.

A new set of beliefs emerges from a student who does this.

By reading better, they will understand the world, themselves and others, in a deeper way. Not only that, but they can literally learn about anything they’re interested in, building theoretical knowledge of things or the blueprint for a course of action.

By journalling better, they will work on their ability to understand their own thoughts. 

By doing better note-taking, they'll have a deeper understanding of topics they care about, and develop a body of knowledge that can be used in the future.

By publishing "public writing" they will get feedback from the “outside” world, understanding what ideas are valuable and resonate the most, while also building a body of work.

Students who practice this become the kind of person that shares ideas, attracting opportunities (both personal and professional), while also clarifying what a “purpose-led” life is to them.

By committing to these ideas, sharing online and becoming a beacon of the change they want to see in the world, interesting people, living the same purpose-led philosophy, with similar, complementary, or different interests, will show up and start building relationships, creating a community.

With enough of these communities creating art and making projects that are meaningful and valuable to the world, these high schoolers will start their own journey toward a Modern Golden Age.

That’s why working with these students is a fundamental step to improving our society and building a better future for humanity.

There is, however, one more layer to my view. 

One that can be really transformative, affecting education in unprecedented ways.

Systemic Change

As I've told you, this set of beliefs has influenced my actions in the last few years.

My own experiences working with high schoolers, developing my personal philosophy, reading, writing and seeking new ideas, contributed to doubling down on these beliefs and coherent actions.

Here’s my grand vision for the kind of change these high schoolers could bring.

Let's say you're able to teach them these meaningful skills and they start making a living out of solving problems that matter to them and society. In a long enough time frame, they will build a purpose-led life, with everything that comes with it.

One day, some of them will become parents.

How do you think they’ll educate their children?

With the same conformity to social rules about working and personal fulfillment? Will they follow the same philosophy as some of their parents, focused on a kind of career that seems evermore obsolete? 

No! 

They’ll share, both through education and experience, what a purpose-led life is and how can they get it! The same way we talk about “generational wealth”, we can talk about “generational knowledge”, and make sure that these new practices are part of common education!

A purpose-led student will become a purpose-led parent and share this same philosophy, incentivizing their kids to pursue their own interests and obsessions!

That’s what allows for a systemic change in Education! Forget about trying to convince parents that they need to change their education. Focus on helping students to be solved, happy individuals and see the human potential flourish in the next generations!

If enough high schoolers do this, we’ll witness a pure transformation in the way kids are taught about work and passion. 

This is the real reason why I believe high schoolers are a key to a Modern Golden Age.

Not only because of their direct impact on society but mostly by their indirect impact through their offspring, while sharing the principles of a purpose-led life.

So, let's stop thinking short-term and look at these students for what they are: the key to the future of humanity.

Then, let’s act accordingly.

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Thank you to Samuel Stone for the thoughtful feedback.