In 1923, English mountaineer George Mallory was asked,”Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?” His response, “Because it’s there.” He would make three attempts at climbing the massive peak , which at that time was known as the Third Pole. On 1924, he and Andrew Irvine trekked up the mountain and never came down. On May 29th, 1953, Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Norgay Tenzing, became the...

School has never been one of my son’s favorite activities. Even in kindergarten, he quickly determined there were other places and other things he would rather do. Then, he’d choose an afternoon of intense Lego-ing over a half-day of classroom reading and group activities.

Now in the fourth grade, he can spend hours watching videos so he can teach himself how to code to improve his experience with Minecraft. This is the same boy who will spend an hour and a half protesting...