If you listened to the podcast 3 years ago, way back in its beginner days, you’ll definitely remember Adam Braun‘s first appearance on the show.
At the time, Adam was the CEO of Pencils of Promise, the for-purpose organization I love and am on the advisory board of.
Fast forward three years later and Adam has moved onto a new venture, also involving massive impact through education, but focusing on issues closer to home.
Even though I’ve completed my Bachelor’s, this looks amazing!
Just a comment on higher education: it’s free in most CEE countries, which is not to say the system is ideal or prepares for the work market at all. Public unis usually are much harder to get into and enjoy a very (unreasonably) high reputation in comparison to the private ones. It is considered that you pay for education if you are “too stupid to get into the public uni” (at least that’s how it was in my days). Even IF the private schools teach higher level, or practical skills (I know no data on that), that’s the common perception. Due to all that, people are expected to have MA’s — the concept of having just a BA is very new. Many people would even have more than one BA, as a way to up their chances on the job market.
As far as I know Scotland has free higher education too. In the UK, it is easy to get a loan for tuition fees (not for living though) and it is only repayable once you earn above a certain minimum threshold (which will never happen for me with my startup salary #fuckthesystem), and I think if you are not able to do it in X years they just cancel it (labelling you a failure of the system? haha). I wouldn’t be surprised if they (already had?) removed the last rule as probably they WILL stop making their money back pretty soon, considering the “usability’ of the education provided.
[Am I too old to go to MissionU? Please someone teach me life…]