Education Done Right-Meet Nonconformist Austin Zitting

While your brother is spending 7 hours a day learning a lot of things he’s mostly only going to use in college, my brother is teaching 5 different computer related classes at a private homeschool co-op where some of his students are older than him. Austin’s 15 and has already mastered the art of badassery.

He was a slave to the system until after 9th grade. Upon finishing the school year, he made the decision to homeschool in order to master his trade. He believes that living, teaching, and constantly focusing on his passions will be more productive to his future than being unproductive in the public school system. Don’t get me wrong, high school is great for many, but education is not “one size fits all.”

He currently spends his days increasing his nerd levels, a.k.a. getting ridiculously good at technology, something he loves. The kid’s a genius, people. He knows just as much about tech and computers as a professional. Oh, and he owns and can operate a 3-D printer. If that doesn’t impress you then I don’t know how else to entertain you and you should probably just leave my blog now because you’re obviously too good for it. Just kidding, stay on my blog please. Preferably for several hours every day.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sick of society saying there’s only one right way to learn. If you want to learn about photography by reading about good techniques and how to use each camera setting, then do that. If you want to learn about photography by taking a shit ton of pictures and failing a lot before figuring out what works best, then go take a shit ton of pictures!

If we all thought the same and learned the same, then maybe we could do things the same but if that were the case, the world would be very boring, my friends.

Thank goodness we are all complex, different creatures who think in complex, different ways; no specific right or wrong way exists.

Because of that, options are so important. Figure out how you best learn, and put yourself in a setting that allows you to flourish. Do your thing. In the words of the ever so wise Kevin Hart, “you do you, boo boo.”

Diana Zitting graduated at 16 with her GED so that she could be more productive with her time and gain a real world education. Now at 17, she’s been accepted to Praxis and is having the opportunity to do just that. Her mission is to prove to the world that education is not one-size-fits-all, and that college is not always the best option.

Originally published at dianazitting.com on November 18, 2015.