The story of how Mickey’s Papers came about.
I have two sons, Jake, now 29 years old, and Mickey, almost 26 years old. As a youth ice hockey player Jake became motivated to move from our home in Seattle and go to a Prep School that was all about ice hockey. At that time I made him a deal.
I told him that I would do nothing to help him. He had to find the school, file all the necessary paperwork, and get accepted to the school. If he did that we would figure out how to make it happen. He did just that and one day he brings a letter of acceptance to me. That cost me upwards of $30,000 a year! But it was a very good deal in Jake’s life.
When he arrived at the school the next fall they explained that he had to keep a certain grade point average or the first thing they would take away would be traveling with his team for the weekend games. Now that was motivation to become a student! He became a very good student, that is skilled at the game of education, and he continued his education to graduate Cum Laude from the University of Arizona.
Mickey, always very bright and inquisitive, just never settled into education. He was also an ice hockey player and during his high school years he spent time living with families in communities in Oregon in order to play on the local hockey team.
Very good for growing up, but not so grand for education. After high school he started at the University of Montana, but that shoe just did not fit. He finished freshman year, but opted not to return. Through a series of events he earned his US Coast Guard Captain License and at age 22 became the Captain of a 77 foot sailboat, an Ocean Racing Yacht. While not “education”, what a learning experience!
But from the Dad perspective, here is this very intelligent son who is not moving toward a four year degree. What to do?
When I was growing up there were four kids all born in the 1940’s. My Mom and Dad were hell bent on making sure that their children finished a four year degree. We all attended college: Harvard, Colby, Smith, and Wesleyan, and all graduated in four years. With the help of the parents, hard work to earn money in the summers, and some scholarship, none of us had any student debt when we graduated.
Finished in four years and no debt! Lucky us. This all established the basic principle that you are not educated until your have your four year degree. Now Jake is processed, but Mickey is not. And I have spent more education money on Jake, so to keep things even there is education money to be spent on Mickey.
How do we spend it to educate Mickey? By this time Mickey has concluded two years as the Yacht Captain, been a charter boat Captain in Croatia, and a guide for a student volunteer program leading the build of a school in Laos, and wants to continue traveling.
Well, what is this process that we call “education”? The basic format of the education that I obtained was two semesters a year, five courses per semester, for four years. That is 40 courses. And what is a course? First you take in the information: books, lectures, discussions, now internet search. Then you assemble it in some logical format and you display that you have learned the material by putting it back out in the form of a test, a speech, or a paper. Take it (knowledge of the subject) in, learn it, show you learned it.
The most tangible of showing that you learned the material was to write a paper. So here I am with this bright son out running around the world with his backpack,not getting his education, and needing to make some money to keep the adventure of life going. I know! I will pay him to write papers. He writes a five page paper with a legitimate Bibliography on any subject of his choosing and when he emails it to me I put $1000 into his account. And so we arrive at a very simple formula. The money that the parent would spend to educate the student goes to the student rather than to an institution.
The process of education remains pretty much the same.
While not on campus and in classrooms, it is still knowledge in and knowledge out. Maybe the 40 papers like the 40 courses? The student would be smarter at the end and would most likely learn how to write. Start with the first paper!
My Mother some years ago established a fund for each of her grandchildren. It was to be used to continue with more education or to help them get started in life. A “stash”. When Jake decided that instead of going to Business School he would start a business, he was able to consider that move because he had a small stash from his Grandmother.
Using his stash to get going, he created Growth International Volunteer Excursions, GiveVolunteers.org, the volunteer outfit that Mickey built the school with in Laos. Lots of hard work, hurtling the bumps on the path, some good luck. and now GIVE enters its fourth year with over 750 volunteer students. All possible because Jake had the foundation of his education, no student debt that he had to immediately begin to service, and a stash to get the business off the ground.
Mickey’s Papers is a couple of things:
Pay the student to write the paper.
Earning a grand is a big deal for a 20 year old.
Paying $1,000 a course is cheap for a parent.
Manipulate the formula.
$100 is a big deal for a 10 year old to write a one page paper. $5,000 for a full blown thesis. Break the $1,000 into pieces; 10 people each chip in $100.
Have at it! It is yours to use for the benefit of the student.
All we ask is that you please always refer to the concept as Mickey’s Papers and share with us the ways you come up with to manipulate the formula.
Mickey’s Papers is a growing web-based gathering of the written papers. A place to have the papers professionally graded. A catalogue of previously written papers to use as resource material and help the student get a concept of what to do. A place to hold the money to be distributed to the student when the paper is submitted. A place where the student’s body of work is accessible to third parties. Imagine applying to graduate school and referencing the 40 papers the student did which can all be found by going to MickeysPapers.com.
Accreditation? Well, perhaps someday.
Participate, Share.
Our graduates are debt free with a Stash!.
Get Started with Mickey’s Papers