Subtitled: 'Why you don't need to be a college graduate but
you do need to think like one', this short book takes us
through the changes in society and how we can help
ourselves succeed. At one time, according to YOUR GENIUS
MIND, the more education a person had, the more likely they
were to get a good job, be successful and stay out of jail.
Now, with billionaire computer firm owners who dropped out,
college-graduate pyramid scheme sellers jailed and post
grads asking if you want fries with that, life paths can be
unrecognisable.
K. Candis Best explains that college is a good place to go
to learn thinking skills, and people like Mark Zuckerberg,
famous Harvard dropout and Facebook founder, already had
thinking and problem-solving skills when they entered
college. Our new, knowledge-based society will be less
dependent on a course learned by rote and more on people
with creativity, ethics and entrepreneurship. The lady
author enlivens her text with incidents from her own life's
journey, such as arriving to be her brother's guest in
Dubai when he turned out to be in Afghanistan and she knew
no-one else.
Tasks that are simple can be taught to anyone, but complex
situations, such as developing an i-phone, are better
handed to someone whose thinking ability has been honed.
This is why K Candis Best states that in general, people
with a college degree will earn more over their lifetime
than people without. However we can all improve the
quality of our thinking. She adds that students who come
late to her class become employees late to work.
Personally, I could have done without a chapter devoted to
retelling the story of 'Star Wars'. While the space fantasy
has many fans, I would find real people more inspirational,
such as activists, sports people, creators and leaders. I
also brushed through a section about waking up lost in New
York or as a helpless baby. We do get a story about Neil
deGrasse Tyson later. The people more likely to read this
book will rather be interested in Best's concept of our
individual genius being something that causes growth rather
than destruction. A fixed mindset is less advantageous
than growth, she continues. We need to think about how we
can help others rather than just ourselves, and this makes
us more valuable - to an employer, a family and our
society.
We are given references to other works, such as 'Rich Dad
Poor Dad', 'Recession Proof Graduate' and 'Uplifting
Service' for further reading. We're also told that many
good colleges give free on-line courses, and it's never too
late to learn something new, even by visiting a museum; to
learn how to research information and use digital means of
expression; to spend time engaging in intelligent
conversations, not on-line diatribes; not to hang around
with people who are destructive instead of growing. While
I'm in favour of all the above, I'm surprised to be told to
aim for reading one book a month, and that a successful man
who reads one book a week is extraordinary. Among my
circle, he's not. I was also surprised to be told that
life presents many challenges which are rarely solvable by
vocational training. I have met college graduates who had
no grasp of how the world worked, while trade school
graduates tend to have useful skills and provide nifty
solutions, based on their teachers' and their own
experiences. Vocational graduates also tend to be more
focused on the service concept which Best tries so hard to
drum into her reader.
So while I approve of much of the content of this book, I
encourage graduates and non-graduates alike to check out
the referenced books and prove that YOUR GENIUS MIND is
good for learning and growing.
Are You Ready To Find Your Genius?
Don't let the subtitle fool you. Your Genius Mind is a
passionate and unapologetic call to increase the percentage
of people in the U.S. and around the world with a four-year
degree. But in this frank, insightful and often humorous
account, author K. Candis Best makes clear that a degree
will be worthless to anyone who graduates without college
level abilities.
In this book readers will learn:
Why everyone has a genius to share with the world;
How a quality college education can help them to find it;
and
What anyone can do to grow their genius through higher
education no matter what school they attend.
This is a must-read for anyone who is about to start
college for the first time, considering a return to college
to complete a degree or needs to be convinced about the
true value of a college education.
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