How to Make Education Effective: The Power of a Complete Feedback Loop
You only understand how hard life is, and only then can you grow up, when you’ve been the one in charge. Being in charge is a closed loop; doing just one part of it is only a single link.
For example, this closed loop includes planting lotus roots, digging them up, selling them, buying supplies, and keeping accounts.
Planting lotus roots involves the cost of seeds, labor, and time—like how many days it takes. It requires a certain amount of effort to cultivate a certain area. Digging them up is useless on its own; you have to sell them and turn them into money.
Facing a pile of lotus roots feels different from facing the final cash in your hand. You’ve worked hard for half a year—planting and digging—then lug them all the way to the market hoping to sell at $3 a unit, only to be told the buyer will pay just $2. You ache at the thought, unwilling to accept it. Under the scorching sun, you wait all day long, watching as more and more buyers pass you by, your anxiety mounting. Finally, you think, “$2 it is,” and stop a departing vendor: “I’ll sell.”
The vendor says, “Sorry, $1.50—I’ll take them or leave them.”
You wonder: earlier today they were offering $2. After waiting all day and spending $10 on water and steamed buns, why does it end at $1.50?
After a brief struggle, the vendor drives off. At sunset, you and your father shoulder those heavy loads, shoulders swollen, stomachs empty, dejectedly trudging back home.
Night falls. On the way, your father trips and tumbles into a ditch. The lotus roots scatter everywhere, and blood runs down his legs. You rush him to the hospital, only to find that the money painstakingly earned from growing the roots isn’t enough to cover the medical bill.
Have you grown up? Yes. Do you never want to live this kind of hard life again? Absolutely. Now there’s a path laid out before you: your father is willing to sell lotus roots alone and toil so you can study. If you do well in school, chances are you won’t have to be a farmer anymore.
That’s one kind of educational outcome.
Another possibility is that this child shows promise. After walking through the entire loop with you, she immediately asks, “Why should I plant lotus roots? Why can’t I trade them?” and sets out to become a merchant or investor.
Whatever the outcome, the closed loop is the right approach, because only a closed loop is effective.
As for children from wealthy families, understanding how the boat came to be and what to do in a storm—bringing along experiences you never had yourself—that’s the real closed loop. Start with the most concrete tasks: begin as a team leader, and gradually learn what a boat is and what the sea is like.