Dale J. Stephens brings a unique perspective on the future of education, talent, and innovation. An educational futurist and speaker on issues facing Generation Y, he delivers core insights about learning, technology, and success.<\/p>\n
Stephens is a self-described “elementary school dropout,” as he was unschooled for the majority of his childhood. Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that emphasizing real world experiences and student chosen subject matter. While his peers attended middle school and high school, Stephens took college classes, started businesses, lived in France, worked on political campaigns, and helped build a library. At the age of 17, he tweeted the founder of Zinch, which led to an internship.<\/p>\n
Stephens briefly attended Hendrix College in Arkansas, but dropped out before completing his second semester. He was frustrated with aspects of his college experience, stating that college “rewards conformity rather than independence, competition rather than collaboration, regurgitation rather than learning and theory rather than application.”<\/p>\n
At 20, Dale Stephens founded UnCollege.org because we\u2019re paying too much for college and learning too little. It\u2019s no secret that college doesn\u2019t prepare students for the real world. Student loan debt recently eclipsed credit card debt for the first time in history and now tops 1 trillion dollars. And the throngs of unemployed graduates chasing the same jobs makes us wonder whether there\u2019s a better way to \u201cmake it\u201d in today\u2019s marketplace.<\/p>\n
There is\u2014and Dale Stephens is proof of that. In Hacking Your Education, Stephens speaks to a new culture of \u201chackademics\u201d who think college diplomas are antiquated. Hackademics abandon society\u2019s linear path to success and bend institutions to fit their own reality. Stephens shows how he and dozens of others have hacked their education, and how you can too. You don\u2019t need to be a genius or especially motivated to succeed outside school. The real requirements are much simpler: curiosity, confidence, and grit.<\/p>\n
Stephens is a sought-after education expert appearing on major news networks including CNN, ABC, NPR, CBS, Fox, and TechCrunch. His work has been covered by the New York Times and New York Magazine to Fast Company and Forbes.<\/p>\n
He has spoken around the world at high-profile events, from debating Vivek Wadhwa onstage at TED 2012 to lecturing at the New York Times to speaking to C-level executives at NBC Universal. He works frequently with universities who realize their model of education must change to survive in the 21st century. He can also speak on how to manage the generation Y employee.<\/p>\n
In May 2011 Stephens was selected out of hundreds of individuals around the world as a Thiel Fellow, a program recognizing the top twenty-four entrepreneurs around the world under the age of twenty. In addition to leading UnCollege, Stephens advises education and technology companies.<\/p>\n
Rejected for being young or inexperienced, he has risen above skepticism to do what many said he couldn\u2019t. Because he bridges the gap between teens and adults, he doesn\u2019t just relate to both but shares their experiences, fears, and challenges. Stephens\u2019 energetic, informative and down-to-earth presentations draw on his own experience to address generation-specific issues most relevant to people in their 10s, 20s, and 30s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dale J. Stephens brings a unique perspective on the future of education, talent, and innovation. An educational futurist and speaker on issues facing Generation Y, he delivers core insights about learning, technology, and success. Stephens is a self-described “elementary school dropout,” as he was unschooled for the majority of his childhood. Unschooling is a form […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":51243,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_trash_the_other_posts":false,"editor_notices":[]},"sa_speaker_category":[39,37,88,95],"sa_language":[250,253],"sa_employability":[185,201,180],"class_list":["post-77844","sa_speaker","type-sa_speaker","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sa_speaker_category-entrepreneurship","sa_speaker_category-leadership-strategy","sa_speaker_category-personal-leadership","sa_speaker_category-young-entrepreneurs"],"acf":{"sa_introduction":"Dale J. Stephens brings a unique perspective on the future of education, talent, and innovation. An educational futurist and speaker on issues facing Generation Y, he delivers core insights about learning, technology, and success.\n\nStephens is a self-described \"elementary school dropout,\" as he was unschooled for the majority of his childhood. Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that emphasizing real world experiences and student chosen subject matter. While his peers attended middle","sa_one_liner":"Hacking your education, the culture of \u201chackademics","sa_name_title":"","sa_region":[],"sa_degree":"","sa_stars":"","sa_maglr_ids":null,"sa_publications":null,"sa_socials":null,"sa_subjects":[{"sa_subjects_title":"Hacking your education","sa_subjects_information":""},{"sa_subjects_title":"The culture of Hackademics","sa_subjects_information":""},{"sa_subjects_title":"The future of education","sa_subjects_information":""}],"sa_faq_items":null,"sa_minimum_price":"0","sa_maximum_price":"0","sa_banner_image_id":null,"sa_videos":[{"sa_video_title":"Dale J. Stephens - Speaker at Speakers Academy\u00ae - The empowered learner picnic festival'","sa_video_embed":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h1sxe8disUg"},{"sa_video_title":"Dale J. Stephens - Speaker at Speakers Academy\u00ae - Hacking your Education at TEDxAshoka U.mp4","sa_video_embed":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bw_NdcIKjC0"}]},"yoast_head":"\n