“I remember when one of the kids ran away, they told us the last kid who tried died of exposure in the desert — but we didn’t care, we sat around the radio hearing the progress of the hunt, cheering for him to at least be free,” Malcolm Collins, co-founder of The Collins Institute for the Gifted says, recalling the time he spent at a now-shuttered wilderness program for “troubled teens.”
A New Approach to Childhood Education
Malcolm Collins and his wife Simone have three children. But they aim to have eight, at least, before they are finished. Malcolm Collins believes that populations of high achieving persons are collapsing across the advanced world, from South Korea to Germany to Canada. He is obsessed by the baby bust taking place in Japan, Taiwan, Italy, Russia, Spain, and across Europe, East Asia, and even in parts of North America.
Collins has a dual message to the more thoughtful and competent persons across the developed world:
- Have more children
- Educate your children better
To that end, he provides interviews and podcasts on the internet, and in his private life together with his wife Simone, he is developing the Collins Institute for the Gifted.
When we had kids, we took a look at the existing options for education and advancements that had been made to the system since we went to school. We were mortified to find that little been tried in terms of new educational models and, if anything, many school systems had regressed into factories of conformity. Even newer “start-up” school models fundamentally educate in the same basic way, with a gimmick here or there.
The Collins Story
The Collins Institute aims to correct many of the mistakes of conventional education, which too often blunts the child’s natural thirst for knowledge and his innate need to grow in competence and achieve.
Every six months starting in middle school, students are given college-level SAT, ACT, and post grad GMAT/GRE tests. This is done to ensure these tests are second nature to students should they choose the college path. Regular testing enables students to benchmark and track advancement relative to themselves while being made painfully aware of areas in which they have allowed themselves to stagnate.
The curriculum involves impromptu elements which to some extent allow each child to generate his own curriculum as he goes. Children are provided with tutors, they learn to take regular tests so as to become accustomed to testing, they learn to make friends in different environments, and they learn how to develop marketable products out of virtually any situation. Experts in many world-moving fields are made available to students for person to person exchange of knowledge. And “around the world boarding” situations are planned to provide students with exposure to multiple cultures and languages.
Some of the curriculum described at the link above are said to have started fall session 2023. Other aspects of the school are still in development. Stay tuned.
We at the Dangerous Child Institute have no direct involvement or interaction with the Collins Institute. But we find it gratifying that a number of bright and creative persons are developing alternatives to the “institutions of incarceration” that one finds too often in government schooling — and sometimes in private schooling as well.
We will attempt to inform readers of new developments in this area as we become aware.
More on the Collins Institute:
Every day, students have complete control over their instruction and instructional materials, though they are required to demonstrate mastery of essential subjects. The Institute’s testing-credit system is designed to prevent students from falling extremely behind in any one area; for example, if a student doesn’t love math and therefore isn’t as far along on the math testing track, the credits he or she earns for a test increase the further behind he or she is in that subject. It’s the Institute’s attempt to address the intrinsic- versus extrinsic-motivation problem.
“Our school is like the entrepreneurs‘ experience, while traditional schools are like the corporate America experience,” Simone Collins says. “Because just as with any entrepreneur, [students will] start their day seeing where they’re most behind.”
“The truth is that kids do need some extrinsic motivation in some areas,” Malcolm Collins says, “and this system organically notices those areas and begins to apply that extrinsic motivation.”
The Collinses recognize that this alternative learning program won’t work for every student — only those who are self-motivated and exhibit an “I will” attitude. “Our big long-term ambition is to be an alternative to public school, fully publicly funded, for the top 20% of self-motivated students with initiative,” Simone Collins says. “I’m not saying IQ. Basically it’s for the entrepreneurs of the world who want to drive their own life.”
Most of the Institute’s students will follow their curriculums at home, or, eventually, at local community partner organizations, but there will also be an option for a “worldschool” component, allowing students to travel and immerse themselves in new languages and cultures. What’s more, the Collinses note that such global exploration won’t be hindered by cost. “New York City annual public school spending per student is $30,772,” Simone Collins says.
A Lab School in Progress: Collins Institute for the Gifted
The Dangerous Child 