G.U.S.T.O. Life Skills Training, Inc. is an Educational Non-profit with its 501(c)3 status having been established with the IRS in February of 2022. This is a ground floor infant corporation originating over 5 years ago and beginning its mission working out of Jacksonville, Florida. We’re now headquartered in Rincon, Puerto Rico, and are certified with the SURI/Hacienda division of the Government’s Treasury Department. The Directora of a nearby K-8 school heard about the program and asked for it to be employed at her school, choosing the “Handyman” curriculum, and we happily obliged. It was a rousing success, and not only are we going back in this coming school year, but another school has indicated that they’re interested in this opportunity for their students. In this case, good news travels fast. Explosive growth is anticipated. The operational and functional details are outlined later in this website, as well as the needs (staffing, etc.) moving forward.
To say that this is exciting is an understatement.
WE ARE:
Leslie Snider, EdL, Founder & CEO
William Krupke, CPA, CFO & Director of Compliance
Preparing This and Future Generations
GUSTO English Introduction & Overview
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Seriously Recommended Reading:
“SAVAGE INEQUALITIES” Children In America’s Schools, by Jonathan Kozol, 1991, Harper Perenniel (This is an excellent primer on the financial issues facing such a massive number of our Public Schools, even or more so today, especially as it pertains to the scariest investment numbers of dollars spent on, or the “Cost Per Student”. The numbers have only changed through inflation since this book was published, and additional key factors have since come into play.)
“SHOP CLASS AS SOULCRAFT”, An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford, 2009, Penguin – In his Introduction- “The disappearance of tools from our common education is the first step toward a wider ignorance of the world of artifacts we inhabit.”
First, the acronym. It comes from the unspoken plea “Give Us Skills To Own”. More on that later. The core purpose and guiding principles of G.U.S.T.O. Life Skills Training, Inc. are best expressed with its company Statements:
The Mission: To instill confidence and self-esteem through Life Skills Training in Secondary Education.
The Vision: Millions of young people graduating from High School with skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
The entire program is designed to support K6-K12 Public School students, helping ensure that they graduate with the skills and tools necessary for life outside the classroom walls. That support then necessarily and beautifully benefits their families, teachers, schools, and their communities with young people ready to enjoy and contribute much more than basic academic curricula can possibly provide. We believe that there are almost unlimited, untapped talents, abilities, dreams, and potential in the overwhelming majority of our students, key developmental opportunities that core academics simply can’t fully cultivate. We strive to create a safe, welcoming, totally relevant and focused system of skills instruction & practice that helps bring out the best in every young person who chooses to embrace it, totally complementing their academic endeavors.
Our Vision to see millions of students graduating from high school more fully prepared for the increasing challenges of adulthood, in an increasingly challenging world, is not idealistic, nor is it a “nice option”. By providing an exhausting and comprehensive range of choices and resources, we aim to inspire students and their families to explore various vocational and occupational paths and opportunities on their way to a future in which they have a vested interest, and a chance to succeed. Our commitment to this important and additional education extends beyond the working indoor AND outdoor labs & classrooms, engaging the families and therefore communities in the entire learning process, during and outside of the “regular” school day.
At G.U.S.T.O., we understand that education is clearly a collaborative effort. We work closely with families, schools, and community organizations to develop curricula that reflect the needs and aspirations of the students we serve, where they live, or where they may want to live. Our goal is to create a supportive network that empowers students to show their interest in, make decisions about, and help take charge of the direction their futures can go, while actively pursuing their passions along the way.
Join us in this Mission to elevate education and empower these generations, and even as critical, the next. Through our carefully customized programs and resources, we’re committed to making a positive impact on the lives of almost countless students across the nation. Together with assistance and participation from a focused and dedicated army of contributors, instructors, partners, and mentors, we can build a sustainable structure and framework, within the existing school environment, where every young person has access to the physical & mental skills & confidence to leave their Senior Year with a plan forward, if they so choose. A LOT more on that subject later, as well.
To accomplish any and all of these goals and tasks, there has to be a change in our behaviors and the way we approach this generational challenge. Opening one’s eyes to the urgent needs of our young people means digging deep in our chests of what matters most, and moving forward with a clear idea of where we need to go, what we need to do, and how we’re going to do it. It takes extreme focus, alterations of some paradigms, and the ability to stay on path and Mission. The work itself is easy, but the willingness to embrace the tasks on the way to a working system can be daunting. Can it be done? That could be a rhetorical question- Of course it can be done. The heavy lifting, the hard work, is how we overcome any obstacles or barriers to what’s right for our children, and theirs. It truly is a generational challenge. The real question is “Who’s going to rise to the occasion?”
G.U.S.T.O. Life Skills Training, Inc. exists solely to embrace that challenge and to initiate a hugely constructive project to address the educational gaps in our aching national system of public schools, and to give these young adults the good tools they need to have in their personal “tool bags” after they cross that stage with their diplomas. Sadly, way too many students don’t even make it to that stage. To the folks who say sincerely, or not, “That is so wrong!”, without even a glimpse of an idea on how to fix it, we offer the alternative. Not an alternative, the alternative. This is your opportunity, your invitation, to be part of a real solution, a turning point.
The kids are waiting. Millions of them.
President’s Message
Welcome to this debut issue of the G.U.S.T.O. Life Skills Training, Inc. website and weblog combo deal! It’s going to be quite the living document simply because there’s so much to do in so many areas of our committed responsibilities. On this site you’ll find charts, stats (of course!) news items, updates, links, examples, testimonials, quotes, all things critical to communicating with and recruiting resources for the efforts to provide a system in which public K6-K12 school students get considerably more than just Common Core Standards educations before they finally get to move out into the world. This is a big deal and it’s screaming for attention.
I want to stress at the outset that this will be a notably upbeat platform, from its Mission & Vision statements, to the challenges it strives to embrace, and to the Posts in all things discussed and shared. In one form or another, school children have been beside our hearts. We all know the histories, have memories good & bad, see what’s happening around us, and have opinions. That just means we all have something to contribute to the Project. We will always strive to keep this forum apolitical, free from unproductive editorializing or bashing of others, and positive. As our mothers would say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, please refrain from saying anything at all!” And this site will be family friendly, as in young people can be logging in to see a different world that calls loudly for them to participate and ask for it.
This is about solutions. Anybody can come up with a list of complaints, problems, deficiencies, barriers, heartburn. That’s when we just have to ask “So what do we need to make it right? Got any ideas?” Here’s the issue- There’s been a generational shift in a critical performance indicator for a society or civilization: The level to which knowledge, skills, and talent have been transferred from one generation to the next, to the on-coming young people entrusted with the future. It simply isn’t happening to the extent that it must in order to meet our needs, and it’s global. Not universal, because there are education systems in many places which have shown how well skills integration works. But for the rest…”What do we need to make it right?”
Well, we need a Plan. We need “To instill confidence and self-esteem through life skills training in Secondary Education”. Because we want to see “Millions of young people graduating from High School with skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives”. How simple is that? Millions of young adults getting their diplomas (or not!) with few vocational or occupational skills, and millions of unfilled, easily skilled jobs vacant or needed in the economy. What is wrong with that math? And what are those young people doing instead? Even more alarming, what about the students who didn’t make it to graduation? When we look at graduation rates, and state that ours is, say 87%, why did we lose those kids in the 13%, and where are they? More chilling are the realities of schools with GHS rates below 50%! We can only imagine where those “…children left behind” are and what they’re doing. Averaging hides those wretched numbers, and they remain unacceptable.
Then we have to ask “How do we fix this?” The logical answer would be to get skills training back into the Middle and High Schools, and many that were built in the 1950’s, ’60’s and even ’70’s still have parts of their buildings that were vocational spaces. Good start. But the Project is going to require a lot more than that. Well, the obvious and onerous first obstacle is Money, of course. It’s right up there with Resolve. But the opening pushback will always be “We can’t afford that” or “There’s nothing in the budget for anything like that”, and my favorite “We can’t afford any more Units” (District Budget line-item term for Teachers) and so on.
So, we have to take Money out of the equation, remove it from the conversation as an excuse for doing nothing. That’s the Purpose of this Non-profit: G.U.S.T.O. is designed to provide all Instructional Materials, Pre- and Post-assessments, Lesson Plans, Curriculum Guides, Supplies & Consumables, Tools & Equipment, Safety & First Aid instruction, and Adult Hourly Pay Rates for Instructors (which will often be that school’s teachers needing the extra income!) In many cases, a school in need may require Facilities improvement assistance for the space their kids must have to participate. Make it so! This isn’t a chipper “Can Do!” moment, it’s a “Must Do!” call to arms.
G.U.S.T.O. is also designed to fit into each school’s Master Schedule almost seamlessly, and can in fact be a benefit to the Building Administrator (Principal). The modules (each module is a Skill Set) can be inserted into the regular school day as Electives, after school during Extended Learning, on weekends (like Saturday Work Detail), and during Summer sessions. It’s wherever we can get this required exposure to the kids. Electives in many schools aren’t offered to the extent needed and I’ve seen them utilized as overflow student repositories to aid Administrators in their efforts to comply with States’ class size amendments, with the result of one, maybe two teachers in a large room with too few computers or work stations, 40 to 90 students (I’ve seen it) in Robotics, or Video Game Design, or PE, etc. Not a lot of learning going on. We can do better.
When a student is learning a skill, there’s a magical moment, a synaptic connection in the brain from the process of Eye-Hand-Brain, Eye-Hand-Brain that will last a lifetime. Generally, one doesn’t forget when one masters a skill. We float the word “Mastery” out there without knowing how important it really is. I’m a product of a Public School upbringing, worked through 10 years of college (4-yr degree) with 35 years in the private steel & aluminum industry (25 in Engineering & Maintenance Management) then 10 years in Florida Public School classrooms (Science & Social Studies) 3 tough schools, thousands of tough kids. The Master’s in Educational Leadership put me in the Admin process in 2 districts. Being “on the floor” and behind the “closed doors” is enlightening, exciting, and sobering. Seeing is knowing as well as believing- after 50+ years immersed in both arenas, formally starting this organization over 5 years ago, and knowing there’s a way to address this pickle in which we find ourselves, there’s no backing down.
Please continue on the site to see how the Program works, the process details, what’s needed for the operations, how you can help, and roles in which you might be interested, or even driven, as I am. I rolled this out last year with a semester in a nearby K-8 school (see the great story below) and am tentatively scheduled for the same school PLUS another in August. I’m now calling for reinforcements!
For the kids,
Leslie J. Snider, MEdL