Category: Analysis

by Charles C. Jett

The Critical Skills Got There First. Alex Karp Got There Loudest.

Alex Karp says only two types of people will survive AI: tradespeople and the neurodivergent. His Neurodivergent Fellowship drew 2,000 applications in days. His Meritocracy Fellowship pays high schoolers $5,400 a month — provided they scored 1,460 on the SAT.
Karp is right that something has inverted. He should be commended for saying it loudly. The Critical Skills pointed us this way about forty years ago.
In 1994, working from approximately 900 executive-search position specifications and roughly $36 million in real search fees, the Critical Skills framework identified eight learnable skills common to nearly every senior corporate role. Then Congress let School-to-Work sunset, and the country chose standardized testing instead.
Karp is on the right track. The piece the framework adds: a skill is something you do. Not something you are. The Critical Skills pointed us this way about forty years ago.

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by Charles C. Jett

When You Come to a Fork in the Road – Take It! A New Series.

Something is wrong and most Americans know it. The doors don’t close right anymore. Wealth has concentrated to levels not seen since the 1920s. Real wages have flatlined for fifty years. A landmark Princeton-Northwestern study found that ordinary citizens have near-zero influence on policy. This is not a partisan complaint. It is a structural observation. When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! is a new six-article series examining how democratic republics decay from within — beginning with the ancient Greeks, moving through the American Founding, and arriving at the question that matters most: what skills does a citizenry need to resist the drift? Yogi Berra got it right. America is at that fork. This series is designed to help you choose.

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by Charles C. Jett

A Republic at Risk (Part 5): What is Critical Thinking Anyway?

Critical thinking isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a discipline we’ve abandoned. Once, education trained minds to question, test evidence, and reason independently. Now we teach content, not thought—producing citizens who confuse repetition with truth and authority with wisdom. The result? A democracy drowning in information but starved of understanding. Without the habit of examining our own thinking, we become prey to manipulation. Freedom requires disciplined minds. This article reveals what critical thinking actually is, why we lost it, and what happens when citizens can no longer think for themselves.

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by Charles C. Jett

The Critical Skills Crisis: How Narrative-Based and Project-Based Learning Solves What Traditional Education Cannot

Traditional education fragments learning into isolated subjects, leaving graduates who cannot think critically, solve problems, or work collaboratively—despite years of schooling. The narrative-based field studies approach integrates character development with competence building through authentic scenarios that mirror real-world complexity. Students master sophisticated analytical frameworks through identification with characters facing genuine challenges, developing both technical skills and ethical reasoning. This methodology draws upon the proven success of Harvard Business School case studies and Socratic dialogue, demonstrating that middle schoolers can conduct professional-level research when properly engaged. The evidence is clear: students can do this work, but most teachers lack the preparation to facilitate such transformative learning.

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by Charles C. Jett

Jefferson Persuades Madison to Include a Bill of Rights to the US Constitution

Thomas Jefferson was a master of written communications and of critical thinking skills. In his correspondence with James Madison, Thomas Jefferson emphasized the critical need for a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties. Writing from Paris, Jefferson’s letters championed the explicit listing of rights, addressing Madison’s concerns and ultimately persuading him to support amendments to the Constitution. In his influential letter of September 28, 1789, Jefferson argued that rights like freedom of religion, press, and fair trials were essential safeguards. His mastery of written persuasion, pragmatic approach, and steadfast belief in liberty helped shape Madison’s eventual support for the Bill of Rights. Jefferson’s contributions exemplify his commitment to democratic principles and remind us of the enduring importance of protecting individual freedoms within a constitutional framework.

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