I’m Isaac Morehouse, author, speaker, educational choice advocate, and founder of Praxis--a professional bootcamp and startup apprenticeship program that teaches real job skills in 9 months at zero net cost. Ask me anything!

Can I ask a question too? I'm new to this...do I need to refresh my browser every time I want to see new questions?

Yes. Refreshing your browser will show you new questions if there have been new questions asked :)

Thank you. And now I feel old for asking.

No, you simply need to clap twice and you laptop will pick up the sound and automatically refresh. Likewise, you can also say "refresh" into the speaker system.

I CAN'T YELL ANY LOUDER BUT IT'S STILL NOT WORKING

I saw this and am personally interested. One thing I have noticied is that when it comes to the way that college is changing the system of how it is being thought of differently compared to the past (you know the days of attending university being associated with the beer drinking party kids is on the decline) is that so called non traditional college practices are generally being targeted to older students (such as those who want a career change or so forth).

This makes me however wonder about the large amount of younger traditional aged students who themselves would also benefit from these new technologies an ideas. For example I know a ton of young people (17-25) who are very smart and what not but can not go to traditional university due to financial reasons or other obligations that they already have and it seems that besides the standardized political debates that no one is addressing this problem.

So my question is what do you think the best free market way is there to help younger aged studies to take advantage of these technologies when it comes to university studies?

The beauty of the technological explosion unleashed by the internet is that most of these things can be had for free or close to it.

The value of college is the signal. Period. Every other aspect can be had better and cheaper elsewhere. (See here: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-two-great-secrets-of-higher-education-f2b9a32e23e5#.1c60hum1t)

But now you can also build your own signal that is more valuable than a degree! (See here: https://medium.com/the-mission/want-to-do-cool-stuff-build-a-better-signal-4a20f526122f#.enm9bkjft)

The beauty of the technological explosion unleashed by the internet is that most of these things can be had for free or close to it. The value of college is the signal. Period. Every other aspect can be had better and cheaper els

Personally in respect to what you said I agree whole heartily when you look at what technology has done. I mean look at 3d printing has done for manufacturing.

However I guess my next question is how can we get to the point where more people understand that it is just a signal since as we agree you can gain the knowledge on your own. I mean heck look at computers, you can spend 10k to get a CS AA degree or just read up on it (since there is a lot of free documentation online and at libraries) but the problem is that the RedHats, Apples, and so on want that signal that we spoke of (although I will add to their credit that the tech community is relatively better at this).

So what will it take for Fortune 500 companies and even mom and pop companies to step back and realize this "signal" phenomenon and get to the point that they say "welp I guess we need to really rethink our requirements when it comes to hiring"

It's happening already. Any company which doesn't have an HR department of more than one person (those are the companies you want to work for too) already accepts better signals in place of college, whether their job descriptions say it or not.

Even some Fortune 500's if you're creative enough.

Economic self-interest will do the work. The more people who can go out and live it and prove it, the better.

The future is here. Most people just don't know it yet. Those who do have tremendous first mover advantage. Shhhh.... ;-)

Hey Isaac, 1. Who do you think is Praxis biggest competitor in its field currently? 2. Why do so many people think that College is the only way to a career path?

As a guy who just applied for Praxis this morning I love what you are doing!

Awesome! Glad you applied.

A to #1, I don't think we have any competitors. I don't say that in a cocky way, and of course you could define competitor such that anything from college to code bootcamp to sleeping on the couch are activities competing for the attention of potential customers. I mean it in the sense that Peter Thiel talks about in Zero to One. Every day we are striving to do those things so unique to us that they aren't really replicable.

This means Praxis won't be for everyone, but I'll take the top 2% of young people and won't get greedy. ;-)

As to #2, it's really hard to break out of any dominate narrative. Whether it be college, saving for retirement in a certain way, buying a house, etc. It emerged as the dominant path for a reason (artificially cheap credit, lack of better signals, and correlations between grads and decent workers), and those mindsets don't change overnight.

What do you think Praxis will look like in five years?

Staffed by an army of college grad sized ducks listening to the 8 Mile soundtrack.

Other than that, I want it to be as big as it can possibly be. I don't like hard number goals, personally or professionally. I like directional goals. Where do I want Praxis to go?

Farther.

Hey Issac, thanks for doing this AMA.

I've seen you speak twice at SFL events, am an avid listener of the Issac Morehouse podcast (FwTK are the best days), and lately the idea of applying for Praxis has appealed more and more to me. I understand that the application process is very competitive, and that Praxis is continuing to expand exponentially. I also have a call scheduled with Derek in a few days to talk more about the program. You guys are doing great work and really are showing that the future of education is already here, and that the college system is already dead (they just don't know it yet ;) ) My question is:

What advice do you have to give an individual who wants to apply for Praxis, and how can I as an individual become more competitive in the application process?

Awesome question.

The biggest thing I can say is that our application team looks for those who pass what I call the "sleep in your car test".

There are those willing to sleep in their car to get what they want and those who aren't. We want the former. (We don't actually ask you to sleep in your car, it's a mindset.)

Go after it, have fun, be real, and enjoy the application process!

Follow up question: when does the Issac Morehouse podcast return?

Maybe never. I'm not sure. I feel like I said what I wanted to say and I don't want to just keep doing it because there's an audience. Does that make sense?

BUT, I am working on a new little podcast project in a different format. I think you'll dig it!

Makes sense to me! You gotta do what you gotta do. I quite enjoy it though, but I've got plenty of episodes to work my way through. I'll miss those Fridays with TK though.

I'll just start my own podcast now that I think about it. Why should I listen to Issac Morehouse speak when I can listen to myself? ;)

That is the attitude!

You want it? Build it!

Hope you really give it a try. It's fun and easy.

Hey Isaac, thanks for doing this!

Can you please talk more about what it is like unschooling? Specifically, is there ANY structure? Do you start with some basics (like reading, writing, basic math) and then set them free to pursue their own interests, or was it just let them be and support them in whatever they were interested in from the get go? Or something totally different?

Thanks!

Great question. I was asking the same thing of a lot of unschoolers when it first began to make sense to me. I was dragged kicking and screaming to it, so to speak.

We started off homeschooling. Curricula, structure, daily schedule imposed on our kids. They hated it, we hated it, no one was learning and no one was happy.

Work by John Holt, Daniel Greenberg, Peter Gray, John Taylor Gatto, Alfie Kohn, and Martin Seligman kept pushing me further and further towards freedom.

Finally we just tried it. We stopped trying to teach my son to read, or really anything else. We have some agreements about chores he has to do, and some screen-time limits or bargains, but otherwise it's pretty wide open.

What's amazing is that humans are naturally curious and hungry to learn. They have every incentive to do so in a society that rewards it. We don't need force. When they're interested and motivated, they can learn in days what you could try to force into their brains for weeks.

So if you were to start fresh now, would you still try to teach them the basics (reading, writing, etc) or just go full unschooling right out of the gate?

We are feeling the same thing about "hating it" when it comes to the force part, but there is also that feeling of "what if they don't get curious?" Which I know is probably irrational, but still a real fear. Thanks for responding, and thanks for the great resources re: authors!

Yeah, would not teach any basics unless they asked.

My daughters have not had any of that really, since they were young when we went full unschool. There are moment of panic, but you see them just start getting interested on their time.

Greenberg talks about kids at the Sudbury Valley (un)School who learned to read at age four, and one at age 14, and everything between. Holt talks about studies showing that, regardless of when kid learned to read, by 16, reading comprehension is the same.

Envy, misguided "equality", and go-with-the-crowdism lead us as parents to frantically check if our kid is in the "normal" percentile. It's really silly. I think it was Edison who was thought to be a complete idiot by teachers because he was behind other kids.

Hey Isaac,

Why do you think there is so much badmouthing/backlash against alternatives to both K-12 public education and the typical higher education track?

If Praxis was around when I was younger, I would have loved an option like that, but even then I would have expected a lot of haranguing from teachers/family about how I'm "wasting my potential" by not spending 4 years and 100k or more sitting around to earn a bachelor's degree. Are things changing? Do you see as much of that kind of stuff with your current college opt-out candidates?

Yeah, Praxis applicants single greatest obstacle is their (well-meaning) parents.

It's scary for parents, because most of them have made getting into a good school the entirety of their measure of being a successful parent. Deep down what they really want is for their kid to be happy, but they don't have any image of that that doesn't include college.

Often past definitions of success shackle people and inhibit their present and future growth.

And many parents are rightly concerned that without structure being imposed on them by some external authority, their kids will just eat Cheeto's all day. School has made it very hard for young people to create their own structure and develop a healthy relationship to learning.

We find we have to often "deschool" our participants a bit and help them break free of the permission-seeking/authoritarian mindset and become independent learners and value creators.

Nice article by my colleague TK Coleman on this topic: https://goo.gl/vgv7f6

So where do you stand on charter schools and the new wave of low-cost private schools that aim to innovate and maximize efficiency within the traditional schooling model? Do you think that traditional schooling can work well for some kids? Or is everyone better off as a homeschooled or unschooled autodidact? (Setting aside the question of what options are realistic for any given family.)

I'm for as much choice and as many options as possible. The closer to a market, the better.

Charter schools are a little closer to an actual market than the current system, and thereby are an improvement.

Long way to go!

Why would businesses commit to offering people with little experience a full-time salary?

They don't offer anything.

People earn it.

Hi Mr. Morehouse. Would you rather hire 1 college graduate-sized duck or 100 duck-sized college graduates?

This is an amazing question. For a minute I was worried that I wasted my time by listening to the 8 Mile soundtrack on repeat prior to this AMA. Now I know it was the right call.

I'd take the duck. Could feed my family for weeks if their performance on the job went south!

What is Praxis? Explain it to me like I'm 5.

A cool nine month experience.

You spend 3 months in a professional bootcamp where you build a personal brand and create some tangible evidence of your skill.

Then you work with a placement specialist to match you with a growing startup for a paid apprenticeship for 6 months.

You also get one on one coaching, group discussions, a network of peers, and a flexible curriculum along the way.

When you're done, you have a full time job offer.

I'm trying to think if my five year old would understand this. I think so. Maybe even simpler:

We help you learn how to have a job you love by giving you a cool job and a bunch of help and training.

What type of skill sets/jobs do people get placed at? Are you looking for very technical skills like coding or is it more general business related like assistant to the regional manager?

We get some technical skills people, but primarily we're seeking to fill a totally under-served niche of hard-working generalists who don't yet have a specialized skill. This is why sales/marketing/ops are great entry points and ways to discover, and dynamic startups allow you to see so many aspects of business.

*Assistant Regional Manager

I realize now that the title and bio above are really boring.

I'm open to suggestions...

Unfortunately you can't edit the title after you post it, but the bio you can. it's hard to get bites on the hook sometimes.

here's a question though: What inspired you to found Praxis?

Thanks. Edited the bio. It was putting me to sleep.

It was a decade plus process. My own college experience was so obviously wasteful and silly. Students didn't care, professors didn't care, I was never treated like a customer, everything I learned I learned on my own through reading and working. I wanted something better, but that was way back in the early 2000's and I didn't know where to take it next.

Ten years of winding career path, determined to never do stuff that I hated, and I eventually had an epiphany about this apprenticeship+coaching+curriculum model, in less than one year for less than zero net cost. It seemed so obvious, but it took years of experience and observation for it to click in my head.

So here's another followup (I don't mean to ask so many, but now's the perfect chance to pick your brain): How did people like TK, Derek, Cameron etc get on board? Was selling the concept of Praxis a hard sell for some people? And with your business partners, were most of them on board with the Praxis model from the get go?

I would say my single greatest strength is recruiting people to work on building a vision. I'm pretty mediocre at everything else, which is why I need to recruit such all-stars!

Every one on the Praxis team (11 and counting) is passionate about the vision. They're all people that stood out to me and were really impressive. Every one of them started doing stuff for free until they became indispensable and we hired them full time. (I had to fix the spelling of "indispensable" like four times. Better recruit an editor...)

I've got a free little book that tells my story a bit more if interested: thefutureofschool.com

Why can't I find anything but absolute positive reviews of Praxis? Is it really that good?

What would be better?

I don't know if it's good or bad. It just is. We're a pretty new program (3 years) and our grads have been really happy with their experience. I can't stress about the fact that it may appear odd to see only rave reviews from grads. What I stress about is delivering maximum value to each and every customer in every way possible.

Hey Isaac, we actually met a couple years ago at a Milton Friedman Legacy Day event in North Carolina when I was an intern at a think tank. You had a very interesting talk on competition and how it makes education better.

Could you talk a little bit about how your political/social philosophy developed?

Thanks for the question. I think I recall chatting over buttered rolls.

My own philosophical journey has been pretty long and winding. It's hard to summarize. My bookshelves are actually arranged to reflect this journey, and I kind of want to say, "You have to come over and read through it all in order." But I won't. ;-)

Around age 16 I started reading. I hated it prior to that. I read "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis and for some reason it just made me hungry for ideas and fascinated with the question of free will.

That led me to political philosophy, economics, and I wanted to make the world a freer place. I tried politics (total waste that makes you a worse version of yourself), policy, education, and eventually my intellectual and practical experience led me to believe that creating a better world is best done through demonstration (not rallies demonstration, but "show", not "tell"). Criticize by creating.

Public Choice Theory was a big part of this process too.

Anyway, innovating around oppression and helping people live free is what I'm all about!

You seem to have a lot of plates in the air and you are a high performing individual. On the days where you are sluggish, unmotivated, or just plain not getting as much done as you want, how do you break yourself out of that and get back in the game?

Whew. Good question. I hope this answer doesn't sound too flippant or heretical (or make my team at Praxis get mad at me!;-), but here's the best thing I've found so far...

Let it happen.

If I'm having a really unfocused day, I try to not feel guilt over it or judge myself. I just treat it like a neutral fact and try to work around it. If I feel guilt and try to force myself to do focus work, it will just be poor quality anyway. I free myself from that and try to work with my natural rhythms whenever possible.

There are three kinds of days for top performers: game day, practice, and off days. Game day gets 80% of the results. Practice makes game day possible. Off days make both possible. All matter. If it's an off day, make it an Off Day!

Who are some of your intellectual influences?

Oh boy. Top of the head will be totally skewed and leave out several I'm sure. I prefer books to people, as I don't always know someone's entire body of work. A few influential books for me, in no particular order:

Principles of Economics, by Carl Menger

What is Seen and What is Unseen, by Frederic Bastiat

Outwitting the Devil, by Napolean Hill

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, by Harry Browne

Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse

Anything by C.S. Lewis

Anything by Mark Twain, especially short stories

Zero to One, by Peter Theil

A Treatise on Political Economy, by Jean-Baptiste Say

Anything by Ludwig von Mises

The Fabric of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene

Anarchy Unbound, by Peter T. Leeson

A Timeless Way of Building, by Christopher Alexander

Free to Learn, by Peter Gray

I've actually had the pleasure to introduce you at a conference, and I appreciated your interesting take on your introduction. What was the best introduction you've ever been given at a speaking event?

Secondary question: when/how did you come to giving presentations shoeless?

Hmm...best intro ever was probably given by a guy named Mitchell Earl, who was interning for a place called FEE at the time and I was speaking at their seminar. (Mitchell went on to join Praxis and is crushing it at a startup!)

I gave him the three guidelines I like to offer: 1 - keep it short 2 - keep it funny 3 - it doesn't have to be true

He had a very dramatic intro that involved dragons and many other amazing exploits.

I hate shoes. They're like foot-coffins. I wear sandals all the time anyway, but when I talk I tend to walk around a lot and have a lot of energy. Sometimes my sandals just get sweaty or they make loud flapping noises and it's sorta dumb looking/sounding. I figured, if my talk is good, no one's looking at me feet. Lose the sandals. If they are looking at my feet, time to queue up that 8 Mile soundtrack again and up my game.

Hahahah this is great. Thanks! Love what you're doing, btw!

Thanks!

What are your plans for Praxis expansion? Do you think it will need to suffer any major changes in the business model in order to achieve astounding scaling?

Plans for expansion = endless

Need to have major changes in biz model? I don't think so. We're built for scale. But I could be totally wrong. That's what makes entrepreneurship so hard!

Hi Issac. I’ve been waffling for an embaressingly long time on whether or not I should apply to Praxis. Do you think this indecision is a sign that I'm naturally too risk-averse to succeed in the program? Have any past participants successfully overcome this kind of analysis paralysis and gone on to thrive in the program?

Many.

Many if not most participants had a similar process.

But the application doesn't commit you to anything. Why not get an iron in the fire? It's not really worth weighing Praxis (or anything else) as an option until it actually is an option.

Many people disqualify themselves from hypothetical opportunities. Go for it first. If you get accepted, then you can decide.

Nothing to lose. Self-knowledge to gain.

What's running a growing startup when you have children like?

Not as crazy as you might think.

I believe that, often, busyness is a form of laziness. Constant busyness means you are avoiding the hard work of prioritizing, creating structure, saying no, setting and sticking to limits, abiding by the 80-20 rule, etc.

If I can ruthlessly delete, shred, and destroy any non-essential tasks, I can manage family and Praxis without feeling too much stress.

Most of the time I do OK.

*BUT

When you're young and getting started, don't worry as much about saying no and setting limits. You need to try a ton of stuff and push your limits first!

What would you say to someone who likes the idea of Praxis but is super worried about trying to get a job without a college degree? Isn't a degree what tells a potential employer that I'm qualified to work for them?

Only if you lack the creativity and drive to create something better.

If a degree is the most interesting and valuable thing about you, you've got work to do! Even if you have one, you'd better get busy building a body of work that outshines that static piece of paper.

Where do you see college going in five years? Ten years?

What kind of jobs do Praxis grads wind up with, after ending the program? Can you share how much they might earn?

And what do you say to 18 year olds who are graduating high school and thinking about going to college?

Keep up the awesome work! I used to be in SFL and ran into you guys once or twice :)

I hope it didn't hurt when you ran into us! (Dad jokes never get old)

Five years maybe not a lot noticeable from the outside. Ten years I suspect a lot of the middle of the road generic type schools will be having some serious financial issues, while really cheap community colleges and online schools and also very prestige-based institutions will probably have some uptick, and of course massive growth in total alternatives and people building their own credential. (20 years probably a very different story for colleges)

The second question is tough, because there's not much I'd say to the group "all 18 year olds graduating". I think trying to tell all young people what they should do is part of the problem. Depends on their goals and interests.

First, get in touch with those. This will take experimentation.

Second, make sure the burden of proof is equal for college and alternatives to it. The default should not be "college is a good idea until proven guilty". That seems as dumb as "pickup trucks are a good idea for all young people unless you can definitively prove otherwise."

Oh! Forgot the other question. Sorry.

Grads end up working at growing startups in roles like sales, marketing, and operations. Average starting salary after Praxis is just over $50k, and 75% of grads have no college degree.

Can non-Americans apply to Praxis if they're willing to move to the states?

Yep!

Isaac, thank you for doing this AMA. Is the acceptance rate into Praxis really 15%?

It hovers between 12-20% any given month, so yes, 15% is roughly correct.

Don't let that bewilder or intimidate you. The majority of applicants fail when it comes to timely responses to requests for info. This signals to us that they lack the "forward tilt" necessary to succeed in the program and at the apprenticeships.

Besides joining Praxis, what is the one thing a young professional should do to leverage her career?

I wouldn't even say "join Praxis" as a blanket statement to all young people. There's no one-size solution and Praxis isn't for everyone.

There are only two things that matter:

1- Your ability to create value (hustle, grit, self-determination) 2 - Your ability to convince others of the above (your signal, brand, reputation, social capital)

Work on both.

Here's a bit more on that: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-secret-weapon-of-young-people-on-the-job-market-919cdb91cc34#.63c2v3ei1

What would be your advice for a 35 year old with a 10 year career who is looking for a more sustainable career path?

I guess it depends what you mean by sustainable. No career is sustainable in the sense that it's guaranteed to continue to pay you. Chasing guarantees is dangerous.

Try to dig deep and figure out what things you do uniquely well that are hard for others to replicate. Ask those close to you. Test and practice ways to monetize those skills. Treat is as a game and an open exploration, rather than defining yourself with a job title and looking for a new ready-made role.

I'd also pick up "The Last Safe Investment" and read it.

Good luck!

Hi Isaac, nice to meet you, and your background piqued my interest. I agree with you in the general sense that our one-size-fits-all education system in the US is antiquated, to be polite. Here's something I'd like to ask you: My background is in business and operations management, but most of my free time is spent pursuing creative writing. So we're talking a left brain world by day and a right brain world by night. Mix that with working in an engineering environment and fostering LGBT awareness in an industry where it feels almost non-existent. I've been wondering what to do with all this, or some way to harmonize the two worlds. I have a very educated and highly varied work and life experience. Would you be able to recommend something that allows me to use these skills? Something multicultural would be preferable, and at this point I'd love the opportunity to travel and relocate throughout the US and world for short periods of time. Curious to hear your thoughts, thanks!

Sounds like your interests, abilities, goals, and risk-tolerance are a pretty specific mix. I'm not sure I can offer you any ideas that will be better than what you know in your gut!

The biggest hurdles are self knowledge (what do you want, or want to avoid?) and self honesty (are you willing to own what you find?). Often we have ideas deep down we want to pursue but we're afraid to admit we want it because it sounds unrealistic or silly or whatever. Just own it. Why not you?

Try some stuff you've wanted to try. See what sticks.

Hey Isaac, I hope it's not too late to ask a question, especially from your, I assume, favorite podcast listener, but why is it hard to be a Detroit Lions fan? I put my faith this season in Jim Bob Cooter and Matthew Stafford and I was let down towards the end of the season. Why? Should I expect this every season?

Yes. You should expect this every single season for as long as you live. They will not just lose. They will tease with success and then rip your heart out. Then you'll let them do it again. It never gets easier.