The Two Billion Kids Project emerged from the observation that—despite huge amounts of worldwide effort by huge numbers of  well-meaning people, and despite the spending of huge amounts of time and treasure—education was not delivering on its promise, nor providing what most of the 2 billion kids in the world now need for the future in which they will live.  Nelson Mandela’s “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” is, in the 21st century, outmoded. What the world needs now is not more education, but 2 billion empowered kids.

Over several years, a group has come together round the conviction that  the world needs something BEYOND education. The people and organizations in this Project have started creating it on their own. But they have been very fragmented, each promoting their own good work, limited success and individual brand.

Our goal is to pull them all together into a movement—named, but “unbranded and belonging to no one”— that parents kids and employers)can consider as an equally valid—or better—alternative to academic education for growing up.  Not a “vocational track” but an ‘accomplishment track,” whose goal is to produce “good, effective, world-improving people who can get things done. ” Won’t that be different!

To analogize, we hope to be the “industry association” for this new movement, lobbying everywhere the world’s 2 billion kids (and not, for example, for “education reform,” as many are doing.)  Our position is that ‘education” as we have known and gone through it in many cases) is over. It was good for its time but will fail our kids for their future. Changing or “reforming” it incrementally—which will by needs happen slowly, piecemeal and differently everywhere — is no longer an acceptable way to proceed.

We begin as a small minority, but we know we are right for the kids and will eventually prevail. We welcome anyone who wants to move over from the education of the past and present to something beyond.”education.”

But move we must.