Five Minutes

This is what happens when the dads of Larchmont get a tiny break. Five minutes might not seem like a long time, but it is plenty of time for things to go off the rails.

Here's a short video to explain what I mean:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Matt Ritter (@mattritter1)

Shopify Store

Oh yeah! Keep your eyes peeled for the official Shopify store launching soon!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dan Lerman (@danlerman)

Conclusion

Get ready for more because DILFs of Larchmont microcomedy and our shopify store is launching soon.

Follow me on Instagram for more DILFs of Larchmont updates.

Still, from my corner of the universe, it feels big. Since I have committed to writing two articles per month, this is what I’m going to muse on for a bit.

Having a child is, from a sociological, biological, and psychological perspective, monumental. It sure feels that way, too. I want to list some of the ways my life has gotten better and gotten worse since having one, and then end with some predictions about #2.

Life Gets Tougher

No one likes a gloater, so we’ll start with the hard stuff.

I've written more about this in DILFs of Larchmont: Microcomedy and Shopify Store Announcement.

• Fewer stories: When people ask "what are you up to" or "done anything exciting lately?" I don’t have the showstopping stories of days of yore. (Remember to ask me about the time I got roofied in a Polish club and the FBI had to get involved.)
• Feeling like a worse friend: When I don’t respond to texts, or don’t go out of my way to meet someone for coffee, I can feel the weight of this. I have new priorities, and I can sleep soundly at night knowing this, but I am sure I’ve let friends down in this way. And I’m a bit embarrassed about it.
• Less travel: I don’t go to Japan as much as I need to. This applies to all travel.
  

Life Gets Better

And now for the fun part. The trade-offs are worth it.

• Daily laughter: My daughter is hilarious. We are crying-laughing probably three times per day on average. At a pool recently, she screamed to a stranger: "My man! Come swim with me!" He was stunned.
• Inside Jokes: Hazel recently nicknamed our dog "Leash Blanket," and now that’s what we call him sometimes.
• Better focus and energy: I’m in better shape, making more money, and working harder. My good friend Thomas, who had kids early, told me once, "It kind of helps life make more sense." I agree.
  
• Less worry about others’ opinions: On good days, I’m caring a bit less about what people think of me. I’ve always obsessed over this a bit too much, and I’m starting to let it go. Why? I think I’m just out of energy.
• Energy surprises: I actually find myself having more energy now than usual. This will probably take a step back until the next baby is sleeping through the night, but I’m confident people catastrophize the whole energy thing.

Baby #2

Baby #2 is coming via c-section this week. Big baby, upside down, so we don’t really have a choice. We’re going to find out the sex in the delivery room — a friend swore it’s one of life’s great surprises.

My hopes for this new little human: healthy, curious, and playful. Beyond that, we’ll see.

Conclusion

Having a child changes life in ways big and small. Some things get harder. Some things get a lot better. Laughter, love, and priorities take on new shapes.

Stay tuned—we’ll meet baby #2 soon. Will keep you posted!

This is a milestone I’m incredibly proud of, and I wanted to tell you all a little more about it.

First of Its Kind

This is the first-ever university-backed professional tutor training program in the US. Oh yea baby!

I think it’s pretty strange that tutors have been around forever — Alexander the Great was famously tutored by Aristotle — but tutoring is still considered gig work.

We created this program to give tutors the tools, skills, and credibility they need to build successful careers as tutors. I love my job — it’s flexible, lucrative, and you ‘do well by doing good.’ People are starting to catch on (HBS just wrote an article called ‘The Rapid Rise of Private Tutoring’).

Our Mission

Our goal is to professionalize the tutoring industry.

We want to create a standard of excellence and provide a clear path for people who are passionate about education.

The program covers everything from teaching strategies to business practices, all backed by the credibility of Columbia University.

Conclusion

This program has been a long time in the making, and seeing it finally launch is a dream come true.

It’s a huge step forward for the tutoring profession, and I’m so excited to be a part of it.

To learn more about the program or to enroll, you can visit the official page here.

My wife and I have been doing backyard comedy shows for a while, but we always dreamed of doing something bigger for our community.

Inspired by the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we wanted to create something truly special right here in L.A., and seeing it all come together was amazing.

Keep reading below to see how it went and some of my favorite moments from the night!

A Huge Success

We sold over 100 tickets and completely sold out the event. Best of all, we raised about $1,500, with all profits going to two fantastic causes: Hilarity for Charity, which raises awareness for Alzheimer's disease, and our very own Larchmont United Neighborhood Association.

It felt incredible to bring people together for a night of laughter while supporting our community.

Photo Gallery

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this night.

Unexpected Venues

When we first announced the Laughs on Larchmont comedy crawl, the idea was to host shows in places you'd never expect to see a comedian. And we did just that!

We had:

• Stand-up comedy in the back of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
• Storytelling at Chevalier's Books
• A clown show at the Beyond Yoga studio

I was honestly surprised by how fast the three-hour event flew by and how many people stayed for the entire crawl.

The variety of acts and the fun of walking from one unique venue to the next really kept the energy high all night long.

Favorite Moments

People have been asking me about my favorite part, and I have to say, the clown show was something else. The performers were so wonderfully weird.

One act that really stuck with me was a yoga teacher who was going through a divorce. He used his set to teach yoga movements for getting over a breakup.

It was dark, hilarious, and exactly the kind of unique performance we wanted to bring to the neighborhood.

What's Next?

This is just the beginning. The success of our first crawl has us dreaming even bigger.

The ultimate goal is to turn this into a full-blown "Larchmont Comedy Festival" that takes over the entire block. We want to involve even more local businesses, maybe even add film screenings and comedy contests with prizes.

We're excited to make this an annual tradition that keeps getting better.

Conclusion

"Laughs on Larchmont" was a perfect example of what happens when a community comes together to have fun and support great causes. It was an incredible night of entertainment that showcased the unique spirit of our neighborhood.

Thank you again to everyone who came out, performed, and helped make this event a night to remember. We can't wait to do it again and continue bringing more laughter to Larchmont.

Stay tuned for details on our next event. Or follow me on Instagram for upcoming event updates.

So when she came on stage at her Vegas residency, I had a visceral reaction—I started crying. I felt like I was a teenager again and that time travel was, in fact, possible.

Here's a little write up about Alanis, and how that night went.

About Alanis

Alanis has had a crazy life. She wrote Jagged Little Pill when she was just 19, so she's been famous her entire adult life. But on that stage, she looked genuinely happy.

What really made the show special was how vulnerable she was. Normally in concert, she doesn't talk to the crowd much. But in this show, she was an open book. She shared stories about her drug use, her postpartum depression, and her continual struggle to find her identity. Can you believe even Alanis Morissette struggles with this stuff!?

And the depth to which Alanis explored the human psyche was profound – after the show, I was inspired to buy a book about family systems therapy: No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. And was blown away that Alanis actually wrote the foreword to that book! Ugh, she does it all.

I explore this further in DILFs of Larchmont: Microcomedy and Shopify Store Announcement.

The Experience

The show instantly transported me back to the late '90s. When she opened with "Hand in my Pocket," the entire crowd jumped from their seats and just rocked out. I looked around, and there wasn't a single phone in sight. Everyone was completely in the moment.

I knew every word to every song, and it was incredible to hear those tracks live—songs that cover the full range of human experience:

• The weight of ambition in "Perfect"
• The rage from a breakup in "You Oughta Know"
• The search for meaning that has defined my own life in "All I Really Want"

I had so much fun!

A Beautiful Reminder

Another amazing part of the night was getting to meet Kiel Kennedy, the male lead, and Patty Guggenheim, the co-writer. They were both charming, good-looking, full of life, and so thrilled to be playing in Vegas.

The story of how Patty got the writing gig is just unbelievable. Three years ago, Patty did a random backyard comedy show in L.A. where she played a character. Three months ago, Alanis asked her video guy if he knew anyone who could help make her show funny. He remembered Patty. Patty jumped on a Zoom with Alanis, flew to Scotland to meet her, and they decided to work together.

They wrote the entire show in less than three months, and Patty invited Kiel, her collaborator from the Groundlings, to join. It's a beautiful reminder of how things can work out when you put yourself out there!

Conclusion

The whole experience was a journey back in time, a powerful performance, and a lesson in vulnerability and perseverance. From the music to the stories behind the scenes, the night was truly special.

Seeing how one small backyard show for Patty years ago led to her writing a show for her idol in Las Vegas is a perfect reminder to keep creating, keep sharing your work, and keep showing up. You never know where it might lead.

John is a fantastic host, and I was so thrilled to be there.

We started with a laugh about my “James Bond of SAT Tutors” moniker but quickly dove into a topic I’m deeply passionate about: the current war on knowledge in our education system.

We explored what’s causing it, who is waging it, and what we can do to fight back.

Keep reading below for a look at our conversation. Or click here to watch the full episode.

The War on Knowledge

After a fun, dramatic intro from John, we got right to the heart of the matter. He brought up an article I wrote for The Free Press titled “The War on Knowledge” and asked a direct question: who is waging this war?

It’s a great question. In my view, this war stems from a fear of inequity and measurement. True education, focused on quantifiable knowledge, inevitably creates a hierarchy of outcomes. Some students will perform better than others.

I believe that people who are afraid of this natural inequity, whether consciously or not, are pushing an agenda that de-emphasizes knowledge itself.

I wrote more about this article on my blog. Click here to read about it.

The Problem with Equity

John and I agreed that life isn’t fair, and there is no true equity in natural outcomes. Even twins have different IQs. Attempting to force equal outcomes in education is not only impossible but also counterproductive. When the goal shifts from merit to manufactured equity, the entire system suffers.

This mindset leads to what we see in modern education today: a smoothing of the edges. We avoid grading harshly to protect feelings, which can result in a system where everyone becomes equally uneducated. It reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” where in the pursuit of total equality, the most talented individuals are handicapped to bring them down to the average. I can’t help but wonder if a version of that is happening now with the rise of anti-test movements and rampant grade inflation.

Winning the Battle

So, if our schools are moving away from foundational knowledge, how can anyone win this battle? The solution is simpler than you might think.

Almost all standardized tests measure three core skills: reading, grammar, and math. The single biggest barrier I see for students is that they are not elite readers. In an age of shrinking attention spans, the ability to engage with complex texts is a superpower.

My number one tip for parents is to get your kids reading. This doesn’t just mean fun, light books. Encourage them to read material that will expand their minds with complex ideas and advanced vocabulary. This is the fundamental skill that fuels success on standardized tests and, more importantly, in life.

Conclusion

The core issue we’re facing is a cultural shift away from foundational knowledge. When objective facts are seen as secondary to feelings, we risk losing the critical thinking skills necessary to thrive. Intelligence is grounded in facts; it’s the ability to use a base of knowledge to solve new and complex problems.

The good news is that we can fight back. It begins at home, by fostering a love for deep, challenging reading. Building this one skill is the most powerful thing you can do to equip a student to succeed in a system that is increasingly failing to do so.

Enjoyed reading this? Click here to watch the full episode.

Founded in 1986, it is a pillar of the industry with a $40 million headquarters in Manhattan. My journey here began when I met the founder, Arun. I felt an immediate soul connection with him and was in awe of what he had built.

More Than a Gig

For too long, tutoring has been seen as a temporary side job, something you do in college or between jobs.

But it is a true profession, and Arun has done more than anyone on the planet to advance that cause. He built a company that The Evening Standard called:

“A PIONEER IN INSTITUTING THE SCRUPULOUS STANDARDS THAT HAVE ELEVATED TUTORING TO THE RESPECTED PROFESSION IT HAS BECOME.”

A Rigorous Approach

Our approach is rigorous and educational. We believe long term preparation allows students to develop the tools necessary for success. We teach students to apply real skill, knowledge, and reasoning instead of just shortcuts. This helps instill some of education’s most enduring rewards:

• Self confidence
• Academic growth
• Joy in learning
• Intellectual curiosity

Building a Profession

To push this mission forward, I took my experience to the academic world and created the first university-backed tutor training program in the U.S. at Columbia University.

Building on that foundation, I also started the League of Tutors, an online group for the best tutors on the planet.

The standards for these initiatives are high, just as they are at Advantage Testing. Our instructors are experienced, dedicated, and committed to their students.

They are:

• Able to motivate students of all backgrounds to achieve their highest possible scores.
• Required to score in the 99th percentile on any standardized test they teach.
• Energetic and approachable mentors.

Conclusion

My focus is on professionalizing the tutoring industry through high standards, a rigorous approach, and a community of top tier educators. It is about shifting the perception of tutoring from a temporary gig to a respected and impactful career.

This work is about more than just test scores. It is about fostering intellectual growth and academic success in the next generation of leaders.

As The Wall Street Journal said, it’s about:

“HELPING TO FIND THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS WHO WILL BRING DIVERSITY, NEW IDEAS, COMPASSION, AND A DIFFERENT KIND OF LEADERSHIP TO INSTITUTIONS.”

To learn more about our programs and our approach, I invite you to visit the Advantage Testing website.

Now, we are excited to do something even bigger for our community. Inspired by the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we are launching “Laughs on Larchmont,” a one-of-a-kind comedy crawl in Los Angeles.

Short Video Teaser

We have been bringing comedy to Larchmont for a while, and the energy is always amazing.

This video was originally posted on my Instagram. Watch below or click here to watch on my profile.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dan Lerman (@danlerman)

The Comedy Crawl

So, what is a comedy crawl? Think of it like a pub crawl, but with comedians instead of bars.

With a single ticket, you will get to see three different comedy shows at three unique venues, all within walking distance of each other on Larchmont Boulevard.

It is a fun way to enjoy a night of entertainment and explore the neighborhood.

Unexpected Venues

We wanted to create a truly memorable experience by hosting these shows in places you would not expect to see a stand-up comedian.

The venues are:

• A bookshop (Chevalier’s Books)
• An ice cream shop (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams)
• A yoga store (Beyond Yoga)

A Great Cause

This event is about more than just laughter. It is about community. All proceeds from the comedy crawl will be donated to charity.

The money raised will go to supporting the Larchmont community and to Hilarity for Charity, an amazing organization that raises awareness for Alzheimer’s disease.

Conclusion

The Laughs on Larchmont comedy crawl is a chance to enjoy an incredible night of comedy in some of the most unique venues in town. You will see three great shows, explore our local neighborhood, and, most importantly, support two fantastic causes.

This is an opportunity for us to come together as a community, share some laughs, and make a real difference.

For more tickets and more information on this event, visit our website by clicking here.

The DILFs of Larchmont started as a simple idea and somehow became the most talked-about dad group in Los Angeles.

Recently, we even got mentioned on Conan O'Brien's podcast (you can read about that whole wild experience here).

What We Are

The DILFs of Larchmont is an elite society of dads who live in Larchmont Village.

We have two baseline requirements that are non-negotiable:

1. You must be a DILF, and
2. You must reside in Larchmont Village (or adjacent areas).

One question we get all the time: who decided that we were DILFs?

The answer: we did. We did.

Why We Exist

Solidly into middle age, we find ourselves grilling in robes, listening to Elmo on repeat, and taking months to recover from even the most trivial of injuries. We started this group to hang out with people in a similar phase of life. Whereas before, we'd be hitting great restaurants and going to clubs, now we appreciate the simpler things in life. A farmer's market with the family. An occasional poker game. Grilling.

We are attempting to embrace our newfound identity. And some say we are "crushing it" (no one has said this yet).

The Founders

I'm Dan Lerman (DILF #1), also known as the Grand High DILF. I started the Backyard Comedy Series out of my house in Larchmont Village in 2022. It's a charity show that works with Seth Rogen's Hilarity for Charity to combat loneliness. I also produced and hosted Larchmont Boulevard Comedy to raise money for LA firefighters who fought the Sunset fires. I'm a Psychology professor, specializing in DILF psychology.

Matt Ritter (DILF #2) is a lawyer, comedian, and podcast host. Dubbed "the mayor of Larchmont Village," Matt runs the top friendship podcast in the country and holds the title "Chief Friendship Officer."

The Members

We've got quite the crew:

• Evan Ferrante (DILF #3) is the world's top Tom Cruise impersonator
• Luke Macfarlane (DILF #6) is an esteemed Hallmark actor
• Richard Garcia (DILF #16) is a really nice guy
• Nick Risher (DILF #4) is better than you'd expect at tennis
• James Longman (DILF #24) was an executive producer on the Late Late Show with James Corden and will be running SNL UK next year
• Jeff Arkuss (DILF #18) is a really, really good dude

How It Works

Once you're in, you get a custom-made hat, each hand-numbered by me. While our main priority is to adhere to our slogan, "Protect and Provide," we have a monthly meetup at Tacos Tu Madre on Larchmont and Melrose.

We hang out about once a month for happy hours, playing poker, and we're even taking a Krav Maga self-defense class in the near future.

If one DILF encounters another DILF in the wild, much like an exotic bird, he signals his admiration and loyalty with a special signal.

Conclusion

The DILFs of Larchmont represents something bigger than just a dad group. We're men embracing this new phase of life where simple pleasures matter more than fancy dinners, and where grilling in a robe is not just acceptable but encouraged. From our monthly meetups to our custom hats, we've created a community for dads who want to "protect and provide" while having some fun along the way.

Our dream is that one day Conan looks at us, preferably in person, and thinks: "these people are true morons." And then develops a TV series under the Team Coco Banner. Or at least has us on for a fan episode.

Want to join DILFs of Larchmont? Well, if you're reading this, it's already too late. Try Harvard.

I examine how this growing devaluation of factual learning—from basic spelling to critical thinking—threatens our ability to understand reality and to flourish intellectually. I also consider the future implications of an era where even knowing something can feel like a radical act.

Scroll down for the full piece or read it direct in The Free Press.

The War on Knowledge

Can you list the only two countries in the world with an X in their name?

I often toss this question out at cocktail parties. And while my wife cringes at my dorkiness, it’s generally a hit.

People pause, think, blurt out the right answer, and do a little dance. It feels good to know something. (Keep reading for the answer!)

We like facts. They anchor us. They remind us that the world and reality are knowable things—and as we understand them, we better understand our own places in them.

Growing up, facts were an essential part of understanding the world around me. I marveled at the term oblate spheroid and how it perfectly described the shape of our planet. I picked up a nifty trick that let me calculate 20 percent tips in my head (hold your applause). And it still pains me to recount the word that knocked me out of the sixth-grade spelling bee: welp as in a welp of dogs. (I added an H.)

These were seminal experiences in my education, and they all hinged upon the mastery of objective truths.

But schools have decided that facts are no longer worth teaching.

In many classrooms today, the very idea of committing information to memory has become unfashionable. As I tour schools for my daughter, we are often assured that facts will surely not be the focus of her education. “We don’t do rote memorization,” teachers proudly declare with a condescending wink. As if memorization were an outdated relic of a less enlightened era.

But without facts, what are students actually learning?

At the progressive Brooklyn private school where I once taught, spelling wasn’t corrected until middle school. Focusing on spelling, we were told, got in the way of creativity.

I then watched smart, curious kids write macien for machine at age 14, then wilt when people involuntarily gasped at their failed spelling attempts. Their writing was often expressive and insightful . . . and incoherent. They probably weren’t even aware of the $60,000 per annum price tag, or they might have raged against that macien.

Math was treated with the same flippancy. Curious about the curiously low standardized test scores, I once wandered into a math classroom where the teacher was barefoot, in a faded Led Zeppelin T-shirt (it was a great shirt). He then drew a circle on the board and announced, “This is not a circle. It’s a representation of a circle.” The lesson, it seemed, was to gain mystique points by using a stoner voice to say something quirky. I couldn’t help but make a connection between that math lesson, and the school’s undying demand for expensive private tutors.

The war on knowledge isn’t confined to elite enclaves. The Seattle Public School system embraced a “Math Ethnic Studies Framework” starting in 2019. There, teachers were encouraged to reflect in their curriculum: “How can we change mathematics from individualist to collectivist thinking?” Yikes.

That math framework, reaching more than 50,000 students, drew on themes like Power and Oppression and History of Resistance and Liberation. Which reminds me of my favorite math joke: Why was 10 scared of 7? Because 7 ate 9 . . . and 9 was oppressed. Or something like that.

That punchline might be harmless, but the underlying philosophy is not.

In the words of Tracy Castro-Gill, the creator of the Math Ethnic Studies Framework, “decolonial teacher education must actively confront coloniality and create alternative frameworks.” In her words, she casts education itself as a colonial project to be dismantled—a fundamental departure from what the word means.

It’s worth pointing out that the word education comes from two Latin roots: educare, which means to bring up, and educere, which means to lead forth. They’re different shades of “helping someone become,” but what’s interesting is what they are not: They have precisely zero to do with race, racial hierarchy, or any modern politics of inclusion or exclusion. The Romans weren’t secretly coding for systemic anything; they were just trying to get their kids and soldiers not to be idiots.

Seattle isn’t alone. In 2021, California unveiled a draft of its new Mathematics Framework, calling for districts to abandon tracking practices and delaying Algebra I until ninth grade in the name of equity.In doing so, however, they stunted the students who may well have soared, all while affluent families bypassed the system through private options.

Even after this debacle led to historic recall elections and the removal of three commissioners on the Board of Education, the war on knowledge has continued in recent years. Since 2023, several districts in blue cities—including Portland Public Schools, select portions of Los Angeles, and San Francisco Unified—have explored or piloted “grading for equity” reforms. These reforms typically eliminate harsh penalties for missing work or cheating; exclude homework, attendance, behavior, and participation from academic grades; and permit unlimited retakes of tests and essays.

The ostensible logic goes like this: traditional grading penalizes students for circumstances outside of their control, such as late buses, lack of quiet space to study, inconsistent supervision. These policies aim to shift focus toward demonstrated mastery of content.

We like facts. They anchor us. They remind us that the world and reality are knowable things—and as we understand them we better understand our own places in them.

While the intent may be good, one can’t help but wonder if school is still about academic training or has instead set its targets preeminently on engineering social change—a task for which it is woefully incapable.

The College Board, too, has declared facts out of fashion. In 2014, the AP United States History curriculum was revised to focus on broad themes and historical thinking skills. Important dates, names, and events were either removed or deemphasized. Critics from across the political spectrum were baffled. How could a student demonstrate knowledge of the major events in U.S. history without being expected to know when the events happened?

What’s strange, and troubling, is that both political extremes have found a way to undermine knowledge. On the left, measuring knowledge is seen as exposing inequity, so the solution is to stop measuring. On the right, a growing fatalism insists that intelligence is fixed and schools can’t do much to change outcomes, so why invest? Both views lead to the same dead end: a quiet abandonment of learning itself.

None of this is to say that education should become a trivia contest. Knowing facts isn’t the end goal, but facts are a prerequisite to higher orders of thinking, of the ability to separate reality from fiction.

Ask any cognitive scientist and they’ll tell you that factual knowledge is the foundation of thinking. Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, put it simply in his modern classic Why Don’t Students Like School?: “Thinking well requires knowing facts. . . . The very processes that teachers care about most—critical thinking processes like reasoning and problem solving—are intimately intertwined with factual knowledge.”

Our brains are magical marvels of daydreaming and contemplation. We piece ideas together. We pepper and salt. We ponder. And out of this pondering comes . . . virtually everything. Companies. Screenplays. My hilarious Rage Against the Machine joke from earlier.

And what happens when we empty the well? When the reservoir is dry, we see a cacophonous litany of disparate voices, each talking about their feelings and perspectives, with no respect for factual relevance. Yap, yap, yap.

And yet, despite the ideological fog, there are signs of renewal.

Parents, jolted awake by Zoom school during Covid, are paying closer attention to what their children are actually learning—or not learning.

After San Francisco unveiled its “Grading for Equity” pilot program for the 2025–2026 school year, critics warned that removing grading penalties and lowering expectations sent the message that effort doesn’t matter. After just a couple of days of widespread backlash, SFUSD officially pulled the initiative.

Furthermore, some of the most fact-rich students I’ve ever encountered have been in the last few years, bolstered by late nights of chasing their curiosity down Wikipedia rabbit holes. Soon after students began using YouTube for educational purposes, I watched an eighth-grader named Uday deliver an impromptu lecture in my anatomy class on the intricacies of the integumentary system—rattling off sebaceous glands and keratinocytes with the gusto of a TED speaker. It was thrilling (though I feared for my job).

It seems self-evident that, even in an age of AI, we are built to learn. Our brains still get juicy evolutionarily shaped dopamine hits when they form new connections, and we feel proud to demonstrate mastery. This is plainly apparent when I sit my 3-year-old in front of an interactive globe and she proudly looks up a few minutes later to announce with gusto: “Dada! Venezuela!”

But do facts still matter in a world where people are getting dumber by the year? We’re actually not. Contrary to popular belief, a well-researched psychological phenomenon called the Flynn Effect posits that the average human gets more intelligent every generation.

I personally think that the trend will continue in the near future as we harness technology and feed the curious, the Udays, the ones among us who still hold knowledge in high regard.

After all, knowing things is not a crime. It’s a joy.

Now back to that cocktail party question. The answer is Mexico and Luxembourg.

You don’t need to know that. But don’t you feel a little better now that you do?

It's the first week of summer for most UK schools, and I run an SAT Boot Camp for British kids.

I've done it for 9 years, and my wife has come with me for 7 of them. We both agree - London in the summer is incredible!

Here are some more pictures worth sharing.

The experience got me thinking about where this ancient practice is headed and why change is finally coming.

Ancient Practice

It's strange how tutoring, which has been around for thousands of years, has not professionalized in the way that medicine, law, and even wine-tasting has.

This educational approach has remained largely unchanged while other fields have evolved into structured, credentialed professions.

Change is Coming

I think that's changing.

The tutoring industry is finally beginning to transform, moving toward the kind of professional standards and recognition that other fields have long enjoyed.

Victory

Most importantly, my dumb jokes landed in the room full of nerds (self-aware nerds, but nerds nonetheless (myself included)).

Sometimes the best insights come from moments of shared understanding and connection.

Conclusion

The tutoring industry stands at a crossroads.

After millennia of informal practice, professionalization is finally within reach.

The question isn't whether change will come—it's how quickly we'll embrace it.

After my last experience, I'm definitely feeling like the redemption tour begins now.

Here's the full story.

3 Years Ago

It was three years ago when I first went to K Academy.

I can still picture myself on that iconic Coach K Court.

Coach K Court

For those who aren't familiar, K Academy is quite something – it's a kind of secret basketball camp for OLD MEN (you have to be 35+).

No kidding! It’s a unique setup.

And the man running the show? Well, the camp is run by this legend, and by that, I mean the one and only Coach K. Being there is pretty surreal.

Basketball team

Dose of Reality

Being one of the younger guys there that first time, there was this underlying thought that since I was the youngest person there, everyone there (myself included) thought I'd be a very good player.

Let's just say the pressure was on, at least in my own head!

In the zone

To be brutally honest, I broke a rib, got nervous, and played horribly. It was a humbling experience.

The end result for our team? 0-8 record. Definitely not what I was hoping for.

Intense ball game

Second Chance

But that was then, and this is now! I'm heading back this week, and as I told myself while packing my bags, "the redemption tour begins now." I’m feeling determined.

Me at the airport

And it's already been cool to connect with some amazing people. Look who I ran into – here is me with beloved Duke great, Grayson Allen. What a legend!

Grayson Allen and Me

So, that’s the scoop. I’m back on the campus, ready to give K Academy another go.

Armed with a few lessons from last time (and hopefully a stronger ribcage), I’m aiming to make some shots, contribute to the team, and maybe, just maybe, help us get a few wins.

New Story Update

Updated on June 18th.

I played GREAT, and I actually won an award (best FG percentage, number one out of 160 campers). I got Coach K to sign the box score from my first win in Cameron Indoor Stadium—I was 0-9 before that moment. It felt amazing to finally perform at the level I knew I had in me! What I loved most about the experience was watching people compete well into their 60s, really pushing their bodies to the limit.

Here are some photos worth sharing.

Parents often come to me focused on a single number, an SAT/ACR score, believing it’s the golden ticket. And while scores are important, my years of experience have shown me that the real transformation, the kind that creates lifelong learners, happens at a much deeper level. It’s about building what I call “cognitive confidence”, the unshakeable belief in one’s own ability to learn, reason, and solve complex problems.

In this article, I want to distill some of the key insights from our conversation and share my perspective on how we can help students not just perform better, but become more curious, engaged, and confident individuals.

What You’ll Learn

• The true purpose of elite tutoring (it’s not just about test scores).
• Why developing a passion for reading is the single most effective way to boost intellectual growth.
• The concept of “cognitive confidence” and how to cultivate it in students.
• My take on what standardized tests actually measure and why they still matter.
• Practical steps you can take to help your child become a more engaged and confident learner.

Video

Watch my interview on The Nick Halaris Show.

Or watch it below.

Unlocking the Secrets of Elite Tutoring: Top 1% Hack | Dan Lerman

Full Transcript

Nick Halaris: Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Nick Halaris Show. Our guest today is Dan Lerman. Dan is an interesting person. He’s one of the very best private SAT and ACT tutors. He gets flown all over the world. He occasionally teaches at the elite of the elite private high schools around the globe. He’s a Ph.D. from Columbia in Cognitive Sciences and Education. He’s also a professor at Columbia. He’s teaching the first college class in America on tutoring. And an incredible person. So, Dan, welcome to the show.

Dan Lerman: Thank you for the kind intro. Nick, you covered a lot of ground there.

Nick Halaris: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: Did you rehearse it?

Nick Halaris: I didn’t, but hopefully it wasn’t too disjointed.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, we’ll see if I can live up.

Nick Lerman: Yeah, man. I mean, I’ve been excited about having this conversation with you for a long time, ever since we met, ever since our mutual friend introduced us. And it’s become really relevant to me because my family members and some of our close friends, you know, have kids kind of going through this process, and it’s just, you know, I knew there was an issue, right? Like, Operation Varsity Blues happened. That happened for a reason. But this has been eye-opening. And so why don’t we just start with like, how did you get involved in this crazy world of elite tutoring?

Dan Lerman: Wow, great one. I didn’t know. So my origin story: I was in New York City and needed some cash to pay for acting classes. And so I applied. I was always good at standardized tests. I applied to a company called Kaplan that you’ve probably heard of. They paid $20 an hour and they gave you a binder of exactly what to say to a class. And I thought it was a great job. You kind of. And, and that’s how I started. And then eventually got hired at a company called Manhattan GMAT. A guy named Andrew Yang was my boss. They paid $100 an hour. I was like, my financial issues are solved, I’m rich. And. But again, it was kind of just something I did on the side. And then at Manhattan GMAT, I found that there were people who treated teaching as an art, and they were real craftspeople. They were incredible. Some of the best teachers I’ve ever met in my life. They’re incredible. And I was like, wow, this can really be a life and a lifestyle, and the money’s there. So a couple years there, started my own company, and here we are 20 years later.

Nick Halaris: Wow. And just to rewind the clock on, on your own kind of experience with standardized tests. Were you someone who could just, like, do it, or did you have your own kind of tutoring experience?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I was always that way with math. I was like a math, I don’t know, freak. Like, my dad would carry me on his shoulders when I was three years old and ask me, like, “What’s $10^2 – 10$?” And I’d parrot back the answer. So, like, I was always very good at math. That came to me naturally or through, you know, crazy parents or whatever. Verbal, not so much. I was not the strongest reader; that came to me later in life. And, yeah, in high school, I got a perfect score on the math SAT and less on the verbal SAT, and I had to go back and really get solid on the verbal, which I think almost makes me a better verbal tutor because I have to work for it.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. Yeah, right. Like, it’s something you have experience with. That’s interesting.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And when you started. So, like, rewinding the clock back to this GMAT business, like, what was the going rate for a good SAT tutor in New York City then?

Dan Lerman: Yeah. When I was in high school, it’s probably 80 bucks an hour, maybe 100 bucks an hour. Um, GMAT. Yeah. But, like, a couple years later, it kind of started to get into two to three hundreds. And now, 2025, we’re living in a world where I personally know a handful of people who charge over a thousand dollars an hour. I think the top one I know of confirmed is charging $2,100 an hour in New York City.

Nick Halaris: Wow. Which means it’s only accessible to, like, a very small percentage of families in the world.

Dan Lerman: By design. Yeah. Yeah. He doesn’t, you know, and he’s kind of playing the market, and he’s incredibly, incredibly good. He’s really good.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. So let’s talk about that for a second. Like, okay, so there’s this. This new world that’s emerged in the last decade of really wildly competitive and expensive tutors for these standardized tests. Right. Like, a couple, even $1,000 an hour to $2,000 is what, like, an elite partner at the best law firms in the world charges? Like, how much of an advantage is it? Like, what’s the difference between you and your friend who charges $2,000 and sort of like, the average SAT tutor in America?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, it’s a good question. And I’m generally lucky. And I’m lucky enough to not be in the business of selling myself too often. People kind of talk, and they’re like, “Who’s the best SAT tutor? Who can like, get this done no matter what?” And my name pops up and, and it’s, it’s done. But if we, if we, like, zoom out, like, what’s the advantage? I think the top tutors see the core skills that actually move the needle, you know, a lot. I don’t know percentage-wise, Nick, but a huge percentage of tutors are doing this kind of part-time. Some, some people in the industry call it “the new waiting tables.” Like, you kind of, you’re an actor, but you tutor on the side. And people are fine, but they don’t really know how to raise these scores and raise intelligence like the way the elite tutors can. Do you want me to, like, specifically? I know I’m in V-land right now.

Nick Halaris: I’m super interested in, in understanding. Like, I don’t want you to give away your secrets, but, like, the tactics, like, well, I’ll just share my own experience with this. When I was younger, I wasn’t, I don’t think I was naturally good at these standardized tests, but I was incredibly motivated to be good at them. And so I took a bunch of practice tests and bought all these books and studied on my own. I never had a tutor. And then what I realized is that as soon as I could, as soon as my reading speed essentially was up to par and I could like, comfortably complete the exam without any time pressure, my scores started to get higher and higher. And that’s how I ended up getting good scores on the ACT and the LSAT, for example.

Dan Lerman: But yeah, yeah, I love that story, and that. I think that still does happen to some extent, Nick. I think it does. You know, you can’t re. You can coach it a little bit, but you can’t give someone that level of grit. And someone with that level of grit can still figure it out. There’s more free resources and, you know, there’s more free resources on the Internet and on YouTube than there ever have been before. So I think that level of grit, Nick, in 2025 still crushes the test. I think we provide ways of doing it quicker. You know, like, here’s the things that’ll work, here’s what’s not going to work. We can be motivational in some capacity and remind people what they’re capable of. And specifically like, to the core skill. A lot of people, you know, the very common thing, “My kid is very smart, but they’re a bad test taker.” What that is code for, I’ve seen, is they’re not an elite reader. And you nailed it. The key skill, even on the math sections of these tests, the key skill is being a close reader. On the SAT, you actually have to read poetry. Now, I’ve always taught poetry because I think it’s kind of the best mental exercise for close reading. But literally, you have to read poems on the SAT. And I don’t know if you spent much time around high schoolers nowadays, Nick. They’re not reading poetry. They’re doing the opposite. So you’ve got to train the mind. I almost think of it as a meditation. You got to train the mind to just read closely. And, and that’s kind of a. I know I’m, like, kind of simplifying things, but that’s a core skill that I think I’m one of the best in the world at. I can take kids who haven’t read a book that they’ve liked in their entire lives and get them into reading and doing it at a high level.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, fascinating. And what’s the. What’s possible for someone like you? Like, let’s say there’s a kid, and on the first go-around on the SAT, they get 1200.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: What happens if they work with you consistently?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I work with plenty of people who get perfect scores. Every year I get people with 1550s. Once in a while, I’ll get perfect scores. There’s a bit of variance on the test. On the ACT, every year I work with people who get perfect scores. 1200. It kind of depends on the math and the verbal breakdown and how hard that kid tried on the 1200. There’s one kid I worked with. His first test was a 1080, and he just tested last week at a 1500. So I definitely. There are a lot of moving parts. I think the best predictor of it is grit. Like, if a kid really wants it, they’re like, “I want to go to Dartmouth,” and “I know I need a 1500 to get in.” I can get them there.

Nick Halaris: Okay, from a 1200?

Dan Lerman: Oh, definitely from a 1200. Probably from lower. Yeah. 1200 is, like, an average starting score of kids I work with. Maybe a touch on the low end, but unless there’s some, like, major processing issue or they’re going really slow, I can do that 100% of the time.

Nick Halaris: Okay, that’s interesting. So it really is like, just zooming out to, like, examine this from a societal perspective. Like, it actually matters quite a bit. Right. Because, like, you get the untrained kid at 12 that can. That, with a little training, can get to 1500. The opportunity set for that individual is, like, dramatically different. With a 1500?

Dan Lerman: I think so. And it was in a weird place a couple years ago, Nick, when that, you know, during COVID, schools were test-optional. And yeah, now they’re kind of back towards requiring them, and we could talk a little bit about that. But yeah, like the opportunities, again, if you’re, if you’re just trying to apply to Harvard on academics and not something out, you know, outlandish, like something crazy, like you’re a world-class fencer and you apply with a 1200, you have a 0% chance of getting in. Like, you wouldn’t even submit that score. And then 1500, then they start to look at the rest of your application. So yeah, it starts making those schools possible.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. I do want to talk about the societal stuff in a second, but before we do that, I want to close the loop on some of the, the test-specific stuff.

Dan Lerman: Sure.

Nick Halaris: You’ve been working, you’ve been working in the, in the trenches of these tests for a long time. Like, what do you think these things are measuring?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, great question. For sure, ability to read. Right. And there’s been a bunch of articles, Nick, published recently about kids. I think there’s a girl who graduated top of her class, some school in New York, and is now suing her school because she, she actually doesn’t really know how to read at all. And in today’s grade infl. Like, everyone gets a trophy kind of culture, it’s actually possible to graduate with an amazing GPA, seem like an incredibly well-rounded kid, be perfectly pleasant and not be able to read. And so like, if I see a kid has a 1550 on the SAT, that kid’s a great reader, elite reader, like, done. So for sure that box is checked. Beyond that, there’s an element of like, ability to study for a test. Like, just cram knowledge into your brain and like, memorize the semicolon rules, memorize the geometry rules, the math rules. Beyond that, I’m not so sure. You know, I know there are plenty of arguments out there around it correlating to socioeconomic status and stuff like that, but I don’t have a nicely packaged answer about what exactly they’re measuring beyond like, definitely ability to read.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. And what about just. I don’t really know anything about the sort of science of intelligence testing, but like, is there, is there a component of intelligence that’s being actually measured in these scores?

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Very few people know this. And the most common IQ test in the world. Do you know anything about IQ tests, Nick? Yeah. So we talk about IQ, and I think it’s one of the most misunderstood constructs in the history of the world. But the most common IQ test in the world is called the Wechsler, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, or the WAIS (W A I S) Version 5. And it’s worth a peek on the Wikipedia page just to see the structure of that test. But they’re. They’re basically 12 or 15 little subtests that combine to form your IQ score, which is 100, 120, 140, 80. Like, it’s. It’s in that range. I bet you have a high IQ, Nick. It would be measured by. I’m sure you do. It’s measured by these little, little subtests, one of which is reading comprehension, one of which is vocabulary, one of which is arithmetic. So by, you know, it is correlated. There are certain things on the IQ test, like picture completion, like general knowledge. One of the questions on an IQ test is, “Who is the Chancellor of Germany?” Which I think is pretty weird, but that’s not. That’s not on the SAT. So I think correlated. And in the same universe as any IQ test that’s out there.

Nick Halaris: Okay, so like, somebody who first. First attempt on the SAT score, 1600 is likely to score high on the Wechsler.

Dan Lerman: Very, very, very likely. Very likely. Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And just going back to something you mentioned in the early part of this conversation. You mentioned that the work that you do, this. This one-on-one, can actually move the needle on intelligence. Tell me, tell me more about that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, well, first, intelligence is undoubtedly an improvable construct. People don’t really know that. But just from that example, I shared, if a question on the IQ test is, “Who is the Chancellor of Germany?” And I tell you, at least at the time, this was the fourth version of the test. So at the time, it was Angela Merkel. And I’m like, “Hey, Nick, it’s Angela Merkel.” Your IQ, by definition, just went up. There we go, is it. I don’t actually know who it is now or if that’s even a question up. So it is improvable, for sure. And it’s improvable in a bunch of different ways. I think it’s improvable in your cognitive confidence. You know, a lot of kids come to me and they don’t know if they’re smart or not. There’s a certain private school in LA I work with a lot of. I won’t name it by, by name, but it’s probably the most famous private school in LA. And kids there are brilliant, and they come to me kind of broken and unsure because everyone around them is brilliant and they have a culture of kind of creating doubt around your intellectual ability. So one thing I can provide, Nick, is like, “Hey, here’s a reminder. You’re really smart. You’re, like, really able to process things quickly and at a high level.” And this comes from someone who, like, has been out there. And just that, I think, has trickle-down effects which make people feel smarter and act smarter. So I think that’s another part of it.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, it’s interesting you say that about the private school. I had a similar experience in my own life when I got to law school at Stanford. Yeah, there was a part of me.

Dan Lerman: That was just name-drop Stanford on meaning I did.

Nick Halaris: But there’s. This is a moment of vulnerability, so it makes sense.

Dan Lerman: Okay, good.

Nick Halaris: Okay. So when I got there, I, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure if I was smart enough to be there. Yeah, you know, like my, you know, I went to the University of Michigan, which is a great school, but I met all these kids that were from this elite private school track. They had perfect LSAT scores and perfect SAT scores, and some of them were, you know, fantastically successful already financially. You know, people who were multimillionaires when they were in their 20s and stuff like that. So in the first few months of law school, I was like, “Man, I better step it up.” But after, after a semester, I was like, “You know what? I can hang with these people.”

Dan Lerman: So, dude, I love that. Yeah, there’s a term in psychology for that called a narcissistic blow. Right. It’s when you’re surrounded by people who are also badasses and your ego takes a bit of a blow. I had that. I went to Duke for undergrad, and I, like, crushed high school. Had a very, you know, two very loving parents who told me how smart I was and surrounded me with their love. And then I got to Duke and had a similar experience to you, Nick. I was younger. I wasn’t in law school yet. And I. I didn’t respond well. I wasn’t. I kind of didn’t get great grades for a couple years. So I feel what you’re saying. I think you respond, that’s, that’s cool that that was motivational for you, but it is. Yeah. Your environment. I think we, as humans, we look around a lot. “Am I smart? Am I tall? Am I attractive? Am I a good person?” I think we look to our environment, the people around us, to give us answers to that. And being at Stanford Law School, that’s a tense environment.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, for sure. They’re people that were, you know, very confident in class and could think on their feet.

Dan Lerman: And.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, it’s. It was a. It was a very good life experience. Just.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: To get some grit. Some more grit.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, totally. Really cool.

Views on Education

Nick Halaris: Okay, well, let’s zoom out a little bit because I, I feel like this area of the world, your expertise, kind of dovetails to a broader conversation about, like, education and society and fairness and equity and all these things that are in the news for. For one reason or another. And so the first question I have for you is how has developing this level of expertise and engaging with young people in this sort of intimate way, how does it impacted your views on education?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah. I think I grew up kind of middle class at a good public school in Long Island, and I really felt unsure of what was behind the door of, like, wealthy private schools. And I’ve gotten to see it now, and I’ve seen it for quite a bit of time. I do think education doesn’t mean what I thought. I don’t think it’s informational. You know, certainly not in today’s society. Like, to educate is, is not to gain information. I guess back in the day, there were, there were information keepers and you could go to a great med school and get that information. What I think you can check me on this, but I think the original root, or one of the roots, of the word educate is, is educare, which means to, to pull out of, like, to pull out of. And I find myself thinking about that a lot, Nick. Like, I do think these schools, and I’m sure Stanford Law and even Michigan, like, there’s a spirit that wants, you know, that pulls something out of you, that elevates you and brings your best, your, your growth mindset out of you. And I think that’s kind of the special part when education is going well. I don’t know if you were looking for a cynical answer, but I’ll give you the, like, hopeful what is, like, education, its best form right now? I think it’s being in an intellectually curious environment that makes you bring your best foot. Like, put your best foot forward.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, I love that answer, and I agree completely. There’s. I forget the dialogue. We’re getting real nerdy now. But there’s a famous Socratic dialogue, actually, where at one point in the conversation, Socrates basically, like, shows. Shows that someone who doesn’t know anything about triangles actually knows something about triangles. The point of it is, like, it’s inside you. Yeah, I’m pointing. That dialogue is that it’s. It’s a philosophical moral statement that inside every human is the capacity of all knowledge and information. Totally, totally statement. And I. I believe it because I agree. In the best format, like, when you’re learning something, it appears in your mind like an aha. Like, “Oh, I knew that. I already knew that.” Somehow when it appears in your mind.

Dan Lerman: Totally. I know that that sounds hippie-dippy, but I totally, 100% agree. I totally, 100% agree.

Nick Halaris: And do you think. So, to maybe get to another side of this question, do you think, like, now that you’ve. You’ve had a chance to look under the hood of these private schools, do you think that they’re doing a good job of creating an educational environment where that kind of learning happens?

Dan Lerman: I think it depends on the school. I have experience at two schools. One was a very buttoned-up, fancy, traditional British school that was started in the 1500s where they called me “Sir,” and then the other was like a very progressive hippie school in Brooklyn where they call me Dan. So, you know, they’re. They’re quite different places. Pluses and minuses to each. Yeah, I think it depends on the school and, like, it’s a wide range. I think generally their intent is in the right place. Can they get a little bit elitist and exclusionary and, you know, venture into areas that are not quite what I would consider education and more politics? Yeah, I think they do that too, but it’s hard to generalize. And, you know, my own experience is also limited, so I don’t know.

Nick Halaris: Got it. Yeah. I’m thinking in my own life, like, my kids go to one of the best elementary schools, private elementary schools in the world, and they actually are doing a great job of that.

Dan Lerman: And what makes you say that?

Nick Halaris: They just have. It’s. It’s one of the focuses of the school. Like, the basic focus of the school is to try to create lifelong learners and readers.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And they actually kind of live up to the hype. Like, it’s not just like a slogan on the website. Like, their whole program is designed around that. And so they give kids opportunity. Like, there’s some. There is some structure, obviously, because it’s dealing with little elementary students.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: Within that structure, they give kids lots of opportunities to explore on their own and at their own pace. So there’s not like one pace for reading, for example. Kids come to reading when they come to it and are guided along appropriately.

Dan Lerman: Totally. Yeah.

Nick Halaris: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: I mean, that must be magical to see. Like, the school I taught out in Brooklyn, it was just like a culture of learning is cool, growth is cool. They’re reading Shakespeare in third or fourth grade, and I think that that is really special. And does it happen? It didn’t happen in my public school experience. It’s cool to see you acknowledging that that’s happening and creating lifelong curious people who are lifelong readers. I think is really the game. Like, that’s like a key thing I would look for. I have a daughter who’s two and a half years old, and I’ll obviously be talking to you about that school.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, no, it’s.

Dan Lerman: It’s.

Nick Halaris: It’s an amazing place. Yeah. In my own. Just thinking about my own education trajectory. I have a couple of thoughts to share with you. I just want to get. Get your reaction to it.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, sure.

Nick Halaris: I went to public schools in Michigan, in the suburbs of Detroit, which were. Okay. They weren’t like, ranked the best schools, but they also weren’t like problem schools. Right. And what was interesting about that experience, looking back, is that the quality of the experience as a student was directly related to, like, the teacher you got. Yeah, and so I got, like, in the course of my time, you know, maybe five or six exceptional teachers, and they absolutely made a difference. And then a lot of it was mailing it in, you know, like, “Can you memorize some really basic information, and if the answer is yes, then you get an A+ on the test?” Yeah, for a lot of it. But for the exceptional teachers, there was challenge and. And appropriateness. Are you seeing stuff like that going on, you know, dealing with these kids that you’re meeting with? Is that this the same game, or is it. Is it different now?

Dan Lerman: What do you mean by “stuff like that”? Like, related to quality of teacher or memorization? What do you mean?

Nick Halaris: Yeah, quality of teachers. And just what are they reporting to you about their experience? I guess maybe that’s a better question. Yeah.

Dan Lerman: I think another thing you kind of pay for private schools is the variance is much lower. There aren’t as many, like, whack teachers. There are a couple. But 90% of the teachers at both private schools I’ve been at were the real deal. Like, experts, like, treated it as a craft, really cared. Versus at my high school, maybe. Maybe it was 10%, 15, 20%. So my kids report back the same if they’re in. I work with a lot of private school kids. They generally think their teachers are very good. There are other issues that pop up, but they think their teachers are very good. Weirdly, I don’t think at least until this year, until like ChatGPT became kind of mainstream. I don’t think the process and the memorization and like what was required. Like kids are still writing papers, kids are still taking tests they have to memorize. Like what caused World War I. There isn’t a lot. There hasn’t been a lot of change in terms of what’s expected of them, at least in the classroom.

Nick Halaris: I see. Yeah, that was going to be one of my questions for later, but let’s just do it right now because this is something that just in the last several months I’ve been absolutely fascinated thinking about, which is how does education evolve from here in light of these technologies which are basically already there but are on pace to be there in, in a different way. Like maybe like on your shoulder, like, “Hey, what’s the square?” Like, you know, parrot “$10^2 – 10$.” Like, you just, you just ask your shoulder, get the answer. What’s your take based on, on what we’re seeing? Like, where does education go from here?

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Related to AI in particular. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve had to face this a little head-on with my teaching. So like, I teach this class at Columbia called The Psychology of Thinking. And we have fully integrated AI into the curriculum. Meaning each week we’re creating a new custom like AI chatbot. Like one week we’ll be talking to Freud, one week we’ll be talking to Skinner. And we’re using it, we’re using AI as kind of an exploration. It’s really shifted my role. I’m no longer claiming to be, nor I don’t think I ever was, Nick, the, the like factual expert. I’m more the facilitator and like the conductor of an orchestra. And it’s like, “Hey, go like use ChatGPT to like explain Freud’s psychosexual stages theory,” right? And then they come back, and they could do that in a much more organized and robust manner. So I think it’s also teacher dependent. There’s a big fork in the road right now. Do teachers fully embrace AI and use it to help people grow, or do they outlaw it and say, “No AI. This is a no-AI class”? And I think there’s arguments for both. I’ve obviously done the former, and if you do do the former, which I think is going to be big over the next couple years, I think teachers are going to start to use AI and integrate into the classroom. I think the real currency, which you have plenty of, is curiosity. You take a curious kid in like eighth grade and give them ChatGPT, they’re going to know more about biology than I do by November. Right. Like it won’t take long. I started to see this, it wasn’t quite hyper-speed like this. But when YouTube, when going to YouTube to learn things started to become a thing, which I, I don’t know. When was that? 2012, 2013? Maybe a little bit after that. I was teaching this eighth-grade class in Brooklyn at this private school called Anatomy and Physiology. And it’s a very fact-based class. Like, how do you label parts of the digestive system and that kind of thing. And I noticed on day one that there was a kid in the class, his name was Uday. There’s a kid in the class who knew more than I did. He was in eighth grade. And I like, grabbed, I pulled him aside after class, like, “Dude, how do you know? So how do you know what the integumentary system is?” It’s like, “I’ve been watching YouTube videos till 2:00 AM for the last three years.” Like, and he wasn’t cocky about it, but that was basically his answer. And it was like watching this, he went to Harvard obviously. And I was like watching this supercharged human that I, I didn’t even have the chance to be because that, that information was, was kept behind a gate.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. That’s incredible.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: Part of me thinks I have kind of a radical view, and, and I’d love to get your take on it. Like, my view is essentially that the game of mass education is over. It’s, it’s like the writing is on the wall because just thinking about your, your life experience, right. Like this elite tutoring that you’ve been doing for these standardized tests. Like, like I almost feel like if you could give a small group of kids a tutor like you and all the AI tools that exist today, they could rapidly complete the high school curriculum, for example, or multiple college career, you know, course curriculum. And, and just, they would just know so much because these tools are so much better than the standard model of standing in front of classes and delivering lectures for a semester. What’s your take on that?

Dan Lerman: 100% agree. I think we’re just starting to see like human potential has not fully been tapped because the. Yeah, so we’re going to see kids and probably people that are, that can do things that humans have never in history been able to do before. Small example is my eighth grader who knew what the integumentary system was. But like imagine ChatGPT and AI getting involved. So yes, I think one function that cannot be discounted about mass education and these schools is the social experience. You know, if you think back to what it was like when you were in eighth grade, Nick, I’m sure we were thinking about our classes, but a large part of our cognitive energy is like, like person like me. Am I, am I being appropriate? And I think we still, as social primates, learn best. You know, I have not yet seen an AI that can teach tact and how to like, not be annoying the way a middle school can. So I, I wonder if there’s like a split. Maybe there’s like a social pod and then you handle information and education with AI potentially. I don’t, I don’t see the, the end of schools as we know them anytime in the next decade.

Nick Halaris: Okay. Yeah. I had a guest on the podcast recently, a really fascinating individual, Anand Sanwal, who’s a founder of a really cool AI data company, but is getting interested in education and getting interested in particular in using entrepreneurship to accelerate the education of young people.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And his sort of thesis is that you could take care of the, the basics of education with all these tools and small groups and tutors and stuff, and then give the kids real stuff to do, like help them start a business or whatever. It goes beyond entrepreneurship, but his particular focus is entrepreneurship. But you could also have kids do things like try to build a car from scratch or whatever. Like, you could come up with all kinds of interesting experiential models where they have to go through that social stuff that we went through and sitting in a classroom, looking around, bored, you know, trying to cause trouble with our neighbors.

Dan Lerman: Right.

Nick Halaris: They could have that, but in a different way and be learning at the same time is thesis, which I think is kind of fascinating.

Dan Lerman: I love that. And like, what a, like what a rich society that would be if we had kids spending their days, like, solving real problems, building real things. I think that’d be super cool.

Nick Halaris: I do too. I think it would be. Look, I think mass education has been a great democratizing force. If you kind of look, zoom out in a historical standpoint, like, man, what, what a luxury, right? Like even just a couple hundred years ago, right? Like people like President Lincoln were struggling to get a decent education. And if you fast-forward the clock, like, man, imagine what that person would have become if he had access to the stuff that exists today. Right. Like, what kind of a mind would have emerged? So it’s been an incredible force, but it’s ultimately sort of a blunt tool. Right. If you rewind the clock even, even farther. My famous favorite historical example is like, well, how did Alexander the Great become Alexander the Great? And basically his dad was really smart. His dad was a statesman in his own right. But he was like, “Who’s the smartest person on Planet Earth?” “Oh, it’s Aristotle.” And he hired him to be a private tutor to Alexander.

Dan Lerman: Dude, I love that. Tutoring is so interesting in that way. And I’m glad you see it that way. I obviously am biased, but I see it that way too. Like, it’s a great investment. The reason people like me exist, whether you like them or not, is that there’s a market out there for sharp minds and exposing them to your kids. And good things kind of start to happen. Marcus Aurelius wrote a very famous book called Meditations. You know that book?

Nick Halaris: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: I want to just get this quote right. It’s from like the, like page one of the book. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Private tutors. Okay, you ready for this?

Nick Halaris: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: From the book: “Avoid the public schools, hire good private teachers, and accept the resulting costs.”

Nick Halaris: Love it. They were onto it, like now they had, they had all kinds of class issues in their society. And so, like, only very few people. It’s kind of similar, I guess, to today. Only very people do it. But I do think the ancients figured out like, that is actually a really effective way to transmit the learning process, no doubt, from one, one generation to the next. Fascinating stuff. Well, I want to. I want to cover two more topics, and I just want to be mindful of time. So the first one is there’s been all kinds of stories recently. And actually you and I traded an article back and forth just recently about like, “Man, what? There’s some kind of quality issue with young people.” And there’s articles suggesting that young people are graduating that are functionally illiterate. You shared the example earlier. Graduating high school with an eighth-grade writing level, not knowing how to do basic arithmetic. What do you think of these exposes? Is it true? Are these just like people picking out little things, or is it a general trend?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I think it’s a general trend. I think the top kids are still really good and smart and well-rounded. What I’m seeing much, much, much more of, Nick, is the family that calls me. And they seemingly did everything right and sent their kids to the right schools and supported them with love and the yum. And the kid is massively, massively anxious and getting C’s and on the verge of dropping out. And it’s like, I had never seen this type of situation before. It was like, “What is happening?” And across the board, that kid. I. I’ve dealt with it probably a dozen times now. That kid is addicted to their phone to the point where I can’t, like, even having this type of Zoom conversation. If there’s a lull in the conversation, I have, I record all of my tutoring sessions, so I have video footage of this. There’s a lull in the conversation. If I take a pause to collect my thoughts, like that long, they look down at their phone and they’re like, on TikTok. And I have to, like, address it and be like, “Are you talk right now? Get your phone out of here.” So I think. I don’t know if this was a leading question or not, but I am seeing a very clear mental health issue around middle school to high school kids that’s dramatically affecting their performance. And I’m seeing it more than I’ve ever seen before.

Nick Halaris: Okay, interesting. And are you seeing. I mean, you probably don’t. Just because of the nature of the work you’re doing, you probably don’t run across kids who can’t read. Right? Right. Or do you?

Dan Lerman: Once, maybe once a year, I’ll get a kid who is dyslexic. Been told since, you know, they were eight years old that they’re not able to read. And they also have to get the ACT done. And so I do start. That takes a year plus to get them to the level that they want. And it starts with getting them to read out loud. Very often they’re incredibly uncomfortable and they cry when I ask them to read out loud. So I do get that. Not often.

Nick Halaris: Okay, interesting. Yeah. The article that we traded back and forth was. I forget the author, but he. He was careful to not disclose what school he was talking about. But basically he was saying, like, “I’m at a state school, decent school, not like an elite on the rankings.” And his. His allegations were like, “People can’t read a book, like an adult novel.”

Dan Lerman: I’ll agree with. I agree with that. Most common, like, over half the people I work with are like, well-meaning. They get good grades and their family, they. Like I said before, like, “He’s really smart. He’s just not a good test taker.” And what that truly means. The first question I always ask, like, “Do you read? Do you. Do you read in your spare time?” And a lot of times nowadays, people just start laughing like, “No, like, of course I don’t read.” Like, I. So a lot of these kids were getting straight A’s at top, you know, public or private schools. It doesn’t really matter. They have not read a book that they’ve liked maybe ever in their lives, certainly since, like, fifth grade. And if you handed them something like, what were you read in high school? Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men. They speed through it and they get nothing from it. So I have to go in and do the dirty work, which the public school system’s not capable of. It has nothing to do with teachers. It’s just 20 kids in a room. Most teachers aren’t going to practice. Like, “Okay, what goes through your mind as you read this sentence by J.D. Salinger?” Like, so I come in and I show them how to read pretty quickly. Like, it happens quickly, but that’s the work I’m doing. So I am not surprised. Like, if they don’t get exposed to someone like me or a tutor. There’s a very, very easy pathway to just, you know, get into UCLA based on your grades. They’re test-blind. You don’t even. They won’t even look at your SAT or ACT scores. And I imagine there’s a big chunk of people at UCLA, at the UC schools, have basically no reading comprehension.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. Which is kind of. Which is incredible and kind of frightening.

Dan Lerman: If you think about it.

Nick Halaris: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: What do you think, since you mentioned it, about the. The idea of being test-blind? Like, do you think that’s a good policy for a college or not?

Dan Lerman: If they don’t care if their students can read or not or have a work ethic or not? Like, I basically, I think that’s a bad. I think it’s an overcorrection for some valid criticism of these tests. There are elements of these tests that are related to socioeconomic status. There are elements of these tests that are not 100% fair. I think completely ignoring them doesn’t solve the funneling problem, which is if you have five qualified applicants for every seat and all of them are genuinely qualified, it’s not like they’re not all five are qualified. How do you start to pick one of the five? Well, does it make sense to look at other aspects of their life, or is it valuable to know whether or not they’re a good reader and then get rid of three of them because they’re not? I think that’s the right way to approach it. But I know that there are people who don’t agree with me. I think generally the elite schools in this country are starting to swing back towards agreeing with me. Maybe they agreed with me the whole time and they took a pause during COVID for logistical reasons. But it’s really the. The kind of miraculous thing around the SAT and intelligence testing, which started like in the army, to solve a funneling problem. There’s the kind of interesting history of these. Is that it. In a very quick amount of time, Nick, you can make meaningful deductions to solve a funneling problem. If you have too many people, how do you pick the right ones? That’s a tricky question.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. Reminds me, I think it was Andreessen. He was on a podcast. This is a while ago. This might be completely wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s Andreessen and famous venture capital investor. And he was saying that in his view, the entire edifice of the tests and the schools and the rankings and all this stuff that occupies the minds of young people was about that funnel. It’s essentially like companies are not able to effectively evaluate the intelligence of their first hire. Like, it’s. It’s just logistically impossible. So they’ve outsourced that to the schools and it’s.

Dan Lerman: Right.

Nick Halaris: Testing agencies, and it’s created this. The system where. That’s the gating. Right. Like, the gate is how good can you do on the SAT or ACT? And what school did you get into? And then that kind of determines a set of opportunities that you’re going to have when you’re 22, when you graduate.

Dan Lerman: That’s really well put. I think that’s a wise comment.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. I want to talk. I want to finish this conversation by talking a little bit about this sort of meta issue around all this that is controversial. And maybe not controversial, but it’s on everybody’s mind. You know, my niece just went through the college applications. Our good friend’s son just went through it. Like, man, this is an incredibly competitive world that kids are facing, much more so than you and I face, you know, a generation ago.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And I’m curious, you know, you. You work at a school, so maybe you can’t speak super candidly or openly about it, but, like, do the college admissions people know how crazy this is?

Dan Lerman: They do. They do. Yeah. They know there are people kind of like us, and they’re aware. Like, yeah, they’re not ostriches with their head and heads in the sand. It’s an easy. The whole process is very easy to criticize and hard to fix because, like, what, you know, I don’t know about the alternative. Like, if I think they’re aware of it, they’re like, “This is crazy.” And then they say, like, “Try to get your kid to calm down,” is generally what their advice is.

Nick Halaris: Right. Like, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Nick Halaris: And maybe the, the anxiety that you referenced earlier and you see in some of these kids is it’s about social media, obviously, but it’s also about this competitiveness and like the people trying to like rank themselves against their friend. Like, “Oh, I got, I got into Stanford, and so-and-so didn’t.” You know that? Like, that kind of.

Dan Lerman: Totally. Yeah. And I think it’s a human desire to want to be special, to want to be the superhero, to want to be excellent, to want to be told you you are great. And that drive isn’t going away anytime soon, Nick. It’s hardwired into us. So I don’t. Yeah, I don’t know that the, the issue is going to change very much in the next. Yeah. Again, in the next decade. Who knows what happens after that.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. One of my closest friends here, he’s an MIT grad, and one of the things he does is he does interviews. So he, he’s like one of the parts of the admissions process. And what he says he’s been doing interviews for like 10 years, and he says he interviews the most incredible people. Like their resumes are stacked, they have perfect everything. They’re like violin experts or chess expert, whatever. Not a single person he’s interviewed in Southern California.

Dan Lerman: Just doesn’t happen. Yeah, I interviewed for Duke, and I see the same thing. You know, there’s this one last nugget I’ll drop on you, which I think is kind of interesting. There’s this idea in psychology called the Flynn effect. Have you heard of it?

Nick Halaris: No.

Dan Lerman: Okay. The Flynn effect. James Flynn, American psychologist who lives in New Zealand. He studies IQ tests for a living. That’s what he does or did. I think he’s retired. And what he noticed, very data-driven observation, that generation by generation people are getting smarter. You could dive into exactly how, but I think it’s something like 10 IQ points per generation. It goes up and up and up. And the IQ test is re-normed. So everyone has an. The average IQ is always 100. It gets re-normed. But if you have an IQ of 100 today, that’s like an IQ of 140 a couple generations ago. And you know, the media doesn’t report this because it’s not sexy or scary, but it is a nice thing to remind ourselves we’re all as a, as a species, getting smarter. And I think your friend’s realization of like, “Man, these kids are amazing and they’re not getting into an idiot.” I think that’s another thing that’s in line with the Flynn effect. People are getting smarter, their resources are getting more available. And I think it’s going to continue to happen. The human species is going to continue to level up cognitively. I know we don’t feel this way. I know the movie Idiocracy came out. Like, it feels like people are getting dumber. The data says differently. At least until recently. I’ve been reading some stuff, stuff that during COVID we kind of stalled or like reading levels dropped a little bit for obvious reasons. But up until then, like we were getting smarter as a species for as long as IQ tests have existed.

Nick Halaris: Well, that’s fascinating. And it’s kind of a more uplifting story because like the, the flip side, the sort of popular narrative is that this is a manifestation of a. Of a society that’s becoming more and more corrupt, more and more elitist, more and more inside, outside. Like, half you make it into this elite world, then it’s great. But if you don’t, then your opportunities are lower. And Operation Varsity Blues, like, didn’t help the conversation because powerful people got caught up breaking the law to get their kids into school. And that really woke people up to like, “Oh, wow, this really is competitive.”

Dan Lerman: Totally. I mean, it could be both, right? It could be everyone’s getting smarter, but the rich, like, could be getting, like, it could be different rates.

Nick Halaris: So.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, and. And I’m aware of the PR crisis around private, you know, counselors and tutors and all that. Like a lot of it. Varsity Blues related.

Nick Halaris: Exactly. Yeah. Like there was recent, not recently, it’s been a while. I think there was a New Yorker article about your industry, basically, so describing some of the activities where like ultra-high-net-worth families were flying these tutors around the world and sequestering them so that other kids couldn’t use their services.

Dan Lerman: Oh, wow. Didn’t know that was going down.

Nick Halaris: Yeah, but it makes sense, right? Like if there. It’s a zero, it’s kind of a zero-sum game. Like there’s only a certain amount of spots at Harvard. And so if you’re trying to help your kid, like, and you have the financial resources, maybe, maybe that’s a rational thing to do.

Dan Lerman: You say maybe that’s a rational thing to do, to lock it. Lock your tutor in a shed. Yeah, I agree. Not a gig that I’m signing up for anytime soon.

Nick Halaris: Yeah. Well, look, man, this has been a fascinating conversation. I love what you do, and I love getting your perspective. And I look forward to kind of tracking this development because I feel like the work you’re doing in your job as well as at Columbia, like teaching tutoring. I really feel like there’s an incredible positive opportunity and people may have tutors. Like, part of me is thinking, like, people are going to have tutors at many points in their life because the economy is going to be so dynamic. It’s going to be like, “Okay, well, I need a tutor to do well on these tests.” But I also needed a tutor to learn how to be an investor, or I need a tutor to learn how to be an entrepreneur. This is like incredible open space in my view.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Can I make a 30-second plug about that? Please do so. Yeah. If you want to become a tutor, Nick, it’s a weird, outdated apprenticeship model. Like, you have to find like, you’re either out there on your own or you find someone to mentor you, which I was lucky enough to do. And they teach you how to be good. You can’t go to Harvard or Stanford or anywhere and be trained on being a good tutor. That doesn’t exist. So I noticed that. I pitched Columbia on creating the first ever tutoring class, which I taught this past winter. It was called Advanced Tutoring Techniques. We are rolling that into a certificate program which is going to launch in 2026, again at Teachers College, Columbia. And it’s going to be the first of its kind where if you want to tutor, if you want to take your brain and turn that into a business, learn how to use that to spread what you know. That’s what the program is going to teach you how to do.

Nick Halaris: Very cool. Yeah, yeah, it sounds awesome. Sounds like a huge opportunity for a lot of people.

Dan Lerman: Thanks. Appreciate it. It.

Nick Halaris: Well, thanks for being here, Dan. Look forward to doing this again sometime.

Dan Lerman: My absolute pleasure.

Nothing happened. But here's a picture of one of the hats.

Then yesterday, something strange and miraculous happened.

It involves Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend and the DILFs of Larchmont.

Here's the full story.

Big News

I woke up to a lot of texts from friends.

A lot of them were texts with a link to one of Conan O'Brien's podcasts.

Here's a text from my friend Joanna before I even woke up:

Podcast Feature

They did the whole opening segment on the DILFs of Larchmont.

Conan O'Brien: Hey, Conan O'Brien here. Welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Joined, as always, by Sona Movsesian. Hi, Sona. Sona Movsesian: Hi. Conan O'Brien: And of course, Matt Gourley. Matt Gourley: Hi. Conan O'Brien: Good to see you, Matt. Matt, you have some props. You're a prop comic now? Matt Gourley: No, this was handed to me by the lovely Ruthie, in the same way that a child is dropped off at a fire station's doorstep. Conan O'Brien: This or Moses. A young Moses arrives in a reeded basket. Matt Gourley: Well, this was, I believe, the doorstep here. And it said: To Conan O'Brien and Matt Gourley. Conan O'Brien: Huh, that's nice. Matt Gourley: Conan and Matt. Great news. By unanimous vote, the DILFs of Larchmont are proud to grant you honorary membership. We are a highly selective unit of local dads who live up to our slogan, "Protect and Provide." As elite members, you now have the right and responsibility to wear the hat, lean into dad jokes, and grill things in a robe. We know you'll make us proud with honor. Dan Lerman, Founder, DILFs of Larchmont.

An Idea

They eventually riffed on this.

And obviously, a joke turned into an idea.

Conan O'Brian: These aren't prison pajamas. Matt Gourley: Those are prison pajamas. Conan O'Brian: These are not. This is a very nice, beautiful blue shirt type fight. Bill Hader: DILF fight. Sona Movsesian: DILF Fight. Bill Hader: Yeah. Conan O'Brian: DILF Fight. F*ck each other up. Hey, let's make that movie DILF Fight. Matt Gourley: Oh, yeah. Bill Hader: Things get real. Matt Gourley: Oh, my God, that's good. Conan O'Brian: DILF Fight. You know what I mean? It's sort of like Fight Club, but it's just two guys with, like, grilling spatulas. Sona Movsesian: Grilling spatulas. Matt Gourley: And, like, a TV remote. Sona Movsesian: And a baby. And a baby. Whatever, Bjorn. Conan O'Brian: Yeah, DILF fight. Bill Hader: DILF Fight. Matt Gourley: And instead of, like, at the vacant lot at midnight, it's at the, like, Trader Joe's at high noon or something like that. Bill Hader: Yeah. Conan O'Brian: And first they have to make sure they still got those cheddar chips, the peach ones? The peach flavored ones. Yeah, they still got them. All right, let's do the fight. Let's get the chips. Matt Gourley: You still got that pumpkin cider? It comes out every September. Bill Hader: Yeah. Conan O'Brian: Okay. Matt Gourley: All right, I'm ready. Bill Hader: We'll be in.

The Script

I spent all of yesterday writing the script. I also added splattered blood.

Afterward, I dropped it off at Team Coco's podcast studio.

Here's a little sneak peek of the script.

My real dream is that Conan reads the script and thinks, "These people are idiots."

Listen Here

If you want to listen to the full episode click here to listen to it on Team Coco's website.

Episode: Monday, April 28, 2025 | Bill Hader Returns Again

Or click here to listen on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

And here’s what’s wild:

There’s never been a proper training program for tutors.

Not at any university. Not anywhere in the U.S.

Even though everyone knows what a tutor is, no university has taken the lead on showing people how to actually be a great one.

Until now.

The Course

Last winter, I launched a course at Columbia University called Advanced Tutoring Techniques.

It was the first course of its kind at any U.S. university—and it crushed. The students were amazing. The conversations were next-level. The impact was real.

And we’re just getting started.

This fall, we’re hosting TutorCon in NYC—a gathering of the world’s top tutors. Think TED meets Hogwarts.

And in 2026, Columbia will be home to a full Tutor Certification Program.

One that raises the bar for our whole field.

The Video That Started It All

Want to see what got Columbia to say yes?

Click here to watch the exact video I sent that landed me the gig. No gimmicks. Just the real pitch.

The Movement

This isn’t about me. It’s about us.

If you’re ready to sharpen your skills, connect with the best, and help shape the future of education—

Come to TutorCon.

Be part of this.

The era of professional tutors has arrived.

Thanks to their team for the thoughtful conversation about our project.

Reinventing Night Two

When asked about how The Office Haggadah came about, I was able to share something deeply personal: my own childhood Passover memories.

Growing up, I went to my Grandma Clara’s house where we used the traditional Maxwell House Haggadah. While I loved seeing everyone, I distinctly remember the moment when we’d hit the “Rabbi Gamliel says…” section and how it felt like pure torture. I even admitted to the interviewer that I was envious of Israelis who only had to endure one night of Seder while we had two!

That’s precisely why Dave Cowen and I created this alternative. For the past few years, I’ve been hosting second-night Seders in my backyard with about 30 comedy friends. Until this year, we’ve been using Dave’s “Yada Yada Haggadah” (his Seinfeld-themed creation), but now we have our very own Office-themed version.

A Theatrical Approach

One thing I love about our Haggadah is how it transforms the Seder into an interactive experience.

As I explained to GOLDA:

“We dole out parts. People read them. They bring their accents. It’s like a party. It’s what I think our ancestors really wanted: We get together, we tell stories, we laugh, and we actually have a great time.”

The format follows a table read style where everyone gets assigned different characters. In our universe, Pam naturally becomes Miriam (I mean, who else could it be?).

Comedy and Meaning

My favorite parts of the interview were discussing some of the funnier moments in our Haggadah – like when Michael misunderstands what converting to Judaism entails, or when Ryan asks the first question: “Why is this deal different from all other deals?”

But what I really hope readers take away from this interview is the deeper purpose behind our seemingly silly project.

When asked about my goals, I shared:

“The goal is for people to leave having had a really good time, and I actually think there’s an element of depth to it, as well. To have a moment where people realize, Oh, this is a tradition that’s been going on for thousands of years… This is important—this gathering and reminding yourself who you are.”

Community Through Tradition

The interviewer asked an interesting question about how this project relates to the current moment, when many people feel newly connected to their Jewish identity but also anxious about the world we’re living in.

I was able to share something quite personal – that my central struggle over the past decade has been finding community, especially after moving from New York to LA. Judaism has provided that sense of belonging I’ve been searching for, connecting me with others in a meaningful way in this sprawling city.

That’s why, beneath all the jokes and Office references, this project is ultimately about connection. It’s about making our traditions accessible and joyful. As I mentioned in the interview, the Passover Seder is truly the “premier Jewish event” – nothing else quite captures the same spirit of revelry and togetherness.

Conclusion

There’s so much more in my conversation with GOLDA that I couldn’t fit here – including our discussion of the “Disclaimer” (and “Exclaimer”!) at the beginning of the book, the clever way we’ve incorporated the traditional Seder elements, and more details about the storyline we’ve created.

Click here to visit their site.

If you’d like to experience The Office Haggadah for yourself, you can find it on Amazon or on our website.

Let me know if you use it for your second night Seder this year – I’d love to hear how it goes!

A big thank you to Brian Fishbach for the wonderful write-up about our Passover creation.

A New Twist

As Brian so eloquently put it in his article, “Writers Dave Cowen and Dan Lerman don’t want to replace your family’s traditional seder. They just want to make the second night a bit more entertaining.”

That perfectly captures our intention.

When Dave and I connected at that celebrity pickleball tournament last year (life is funny sometimes!), I mentioned that Passover was my favorite Jewish holiday—and yes, I once named my dog Afikomen. Little did I know that casual conversation would lead to this collaboration!

The Office Meets Passover

Our new book, “The Office Haggadah: An Unofficial Scranton Seder” (click here to purchase on amazon), brings the beloved characters from Dunder Mifflin to your Passover table.

As Brian described it:

“Michael vows to convert to Judaism, misinterprets signs from a flaming coffee machine, and leads his staff in a table-read seder meant to prove Dunder Mifflin’s worthiness as a paper supplier.”

I still laugh thinking about scenes we created where Dwight burns chametz snacks and Creed peddles black-market Passover goods.

Creating this Haggadah has been one of the most rewarding projects of my comedy career.

Why This Matters to Me

Passover has always been special to me, but I’ve noticed how traditional seders sometimes struggle to keep everyone engaged—especially the younger folks at the table who are eyeing the clock until dinner.

That’s why our interactive format feels so important. As I told Brian, “I think people like connecting with one another. Anything you can do to encourage people to have their voice heard and to actually have little conversations.”

One idea I’m particularly excited to try this year is starting our seder by asking, “What are you a slave to right now? Talk to your neighbor about that.” These small moments of connection are what make holidays meaningful.

Conclusion

There’s so much more to share about how we’re blending pop culture with tradition, our casting plans for this year’s seder, and where proceeds from our previous Haggadot have gone.

To read Brian’s full article and learn more about our “Office Haggadah,” head over to The Jewish Journal.

And if you’d like to bring Michael Scott’s unique spiritual journey to your own second-night seder, grab your copy by clicking here.

Neil later wrote about our encounter in his blog post, capturing the essence of what we’re trying to accomplish with our humorous take on Passover traditions.

Below are a few excerpts from the article he wrote about that day, along with my reflections.

Our table

Our Modern Takes

What Neil understood perfectly in his blog was our mission.

“Parody Haggadahs aim to meld the teaching of the tradition with the laughs of the modern.”

He even captured the educational aspect of our work, explaining to his readers that “a Haggadah means ‘the telling’ and Seder means ‘order'” and that “Passover is built around an ancient Jewish book with a structure that tells the story of the Exodus through a narrative order of symbols.”

Sitcom-Inspired Celebrations

I was particularly pleased that Neil highlighted how we’ve incorporated “a sacred American storytelling tradition: The Modern TV sitcom” into the traditional Passover narrative.

Our collection includes parodies based on popular shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, and The Office – all designed to make Passover both meaningful and entertaining.

A sample scene

Conclusion

I want to thank Neil for spreading the word about our project.

Neil at our table

“If you want to add some fun while maintaining the traditions at Passover this weekend OR if you want to give a fun gift to those celebrating, you can check of the Parody Haggadah’s”

Click here to visit our website and check out the Parody Haggadahs.

Or click here to purchase our latest book “THE OFFICE HAGGADAH: An Unofficial Scranton Seder” on Amazon.

What started as a little backyard gig with Kimmy has exploded into a massive community event that entertained over 300 neighbors—though, I swear it was closer to 500!

Over 300 people turned out for the first-ever Larchmont Blvd Comedy Show. (photo by Chandler Griffin)

We took the laughs from our backyard to the main street of Larchmont Village, and it was all for a killer cause: supporting our local heroes at LAFD Fire Station 52.

Thanks to your amazing generosity, we raised $2,500 for the firefighters.

It was an epic night, and I can’t wait to spill all the details!

Note from the heart: This wasn’t just a comedy show—it was a full-on community effort, powered by an awesome lineup of local organizations and people who made it happen. From neighbors to businesses, everyone pitched in to bring this vision to life. Thanks to Patricia Lombard who nailed it in her article, capturing the laughter, the togetherness, and the good vibes of the night. Read the full article here.

The Event

Imagine the farmers market parking lot—usually dead quiet on a Friday night—lit up with bistro lights and packed with over 300 neighbors (or 500, if you ask me) ready to laugh their heads off.

Arial photo of the Larchmont’s bistro lights (photo by Chandler Griffin)

Tickets were free, with a suggested $15 donation for the firefighters, and you all came through big time—$2,500 raised!

The Station 52 crew even hung out for part of the show before they had to dash off to save the day.

La Bettola di Terroni brought the goods with food and drinks that had the pre-show crowd raving.

“It was the perfect evening with over 300 neighbors coming together for a worthy cause, to laugh, and to activate the city parking lot for nighttime events under the bistro lights.” Sam Uretsky from LUNA

Community Collaboration

This thing wouldn’t have happened without the dream team of collaborators.

Kimmy and I from the Backyard Comedy Series teamed up with the Buzz, LUNA, the Larchmont Village BID, the Larchmont Boulevard Association, La Bettola, Raw Inspiration (the farmers market folks), and even City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez and his deputy Karla Martinez.

Everyone brought something to the table—whether it was permits, food, or just good vibes.

“When we installed the bistro lights in the parking lot, thanks to a generous grant from the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society, we hoped they would help create moments just like this.” Heather Duffy from the Larchmont Village BID

Behind the Scenes

Pulling this off was no joke!

It took a village, and I mean that literally.

Sam and Patty tackled the city red tape, while dozens of volunteers set up chairs, tents, and tables like pros.

After the show? Cleanup was so fast and thorough, you’d never know we were there an hour later.

Kimmy and I were blown away, telling the Buzz, “It was inspirational to see everyone chip in to move mountains.”

Neil Vacchiano, a producer and Buzz writer, added, “For a show this size, I’m not sure the night could have gone any smoother.”

Oh, and huge props to Chandra Scofield for donating the green room and to Nick Gray’s hosting tips—those guys have been a massive part of getting our comedy series from the backyard to this insane level.

Comedians’ Reactions

The comics were loving it as much as the crowd! Suz Longman called it “magical” and a “quintessential neighborhood event.”

Here's more about what the others said about the event.

“I would do a show in hell if Dan Lerman asked me to. And this was way better than hell.” Max Castillo

“Super fun crowd. A unique show with lots of happy faces.” Dan Black

Me? I was hosting, booking the talent, and tossing out jokes between acts—felt like I was on cloud nine.

It was our own little Woodstock—every seat taken, people standing in the back, even watching from rooftops and sidewalks.

I might’ve said it was like the Beatles’ rooftop concert, but you’ll have to ask the guy yelling that from the crowd—oh wait, that was me!

Conclusion

This night lit a fire under us—figuratively, not like the ones the firefighters handle!

“It was so lovely and amazing to see the farmers market parking lot activated on a Friday night, filled with the community laughing and having a great time.”
Melissa Farwell from Raw Inspiration

Kimmy and I are obsessed with the idea of more Friday night shindigs in Larchmont—there’s clearly a huge appetite for it.

Seeing our little backyard show grow from 30 people to this?

Wild ride doesn’t even cover it.

Next step: Conan O’Brien headlining.

Okay, maybe I’m dreaming, but after this, who knows what’s possible?

Read the full article here.

Even though everyone knows what a tutor is, there is no training for it – and that’s why I created Advanced Tutoring Techniques.

Here’s more about it.

How It Started

I am considered the world’s top private tutor, with a PhD in Cognitive Science, 17 years experience, and a private tutoring rate of $1500/hour.

I have started and sold tutoring companies, trained hundreds of tutors, and taught several top schools in the world (St. Paul’s, Saint Ann’s, Oxford, Columbia).

I also currently run an online community for the top private tutors in the world called The League of Exceptional Tutors.

Then, I won a contest to get the chance to offer the class, and 25 people took it this winter to rave reviews.

I’m now working on a certificate program and a tutor conference as a follow-up.

Course Description

Course Title: Advanced Tutoring Techniques: Integrating Cognitive Science and Educational Practices

Number of Credits: 3

Delivery Mode: Online

Target Audience: Current students in education and psychology programs, educators, tutors, and non-degree seeking individuals interested in advanced tutoring methodologies.

Instructor: Dan Lerman, Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, world-renowned tutor and educator with extensive experience in developing and applying scientific tutoring techniques.

Course Description and Justification: This course offers an in-depth exploration of scientific tutoring techniques grounded in cognitive science principles.

It is designed to equip participants with advanced strategies in reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, cognitive feedback, test-taking, and inclusive tutoring.

The course is timely and relevant, especially in the NYC context, addressing critical issues such as learning loss and educational diversity.

Interdisciplinary Approach: The course uniquely combines neuroscience, psychology, and education, offering a multidisciplinary perspective on tutoring.

It aligns with the pilot program’s preference for courses that incorporate team-teaching and interdisciplinary approaches, although it is led by a single instructor with expertise across these domains.

Course Schedule and NYSED Compliance: The course will follow a structured schedule that accommodates the required contact hours and out-of-class assignments as per NYSED guidelines.

It includes online classes, asynchronous instruction, and supervised out-of-class projects to ensure a comprehensive learning experience within the Winter Session.

Conclusion

This will be my first advanced tutoring course. And I’m very excited about it.

If you are interested in taking this course, email DML2183@TC.COLUMBIA.EDU for more information.

As a creativity instructor who taught at the graduate level at Columbia University, I recognized the book's immense value: a 12-week program designed to unlock your creative potential.

But I also noticed a pattern: everyone owns it, but hardly anyone finishes it.

Why I Created the Accountability Group

After years of teaching creativity in academic settings, I wanted to create something more practical than theoretical.

The solution came to me when I realized what was missing: real accountability.

So I reached out to some of the most creative people in my network – former students, colleagues, and friends – and proposed an idea.

We'd work through "The Artist's Way" together, with one crucial twist: miss a week, and you'd owe each group member $100.

Assembling the Dream Team

My inaugural group brought together an extraordinary mix of talents:

• a professional comedy writer who graduated from USC
• a Harvard MBA who transitioned to indie filmmaking
• a world-renowned book publisher.

I knew that surrounding ourselves with this level of creative energy would be transformative – and I was right.

What Happened During Our 12 Weeks

The results exceeded my expectations. During the program, we:

• Wrote a rough draft of a comedy script
• Submitted a fictional short story to a contest
• Completed 12 clown classes
• Got accepted to a writers group with a stand-up comedy guru
• Created my personal website (Thanks to Nick Gray!)
• And, most surprisingly, landed a role in the TV show "We Should Be Friends" (whoa!)

That $100 penalty? I never missed a week.

Neither did most of our members.

The financial stake created real accountability, but it was the group's support and energy that drove us to exceed our creative goals.

Growing the Community

The success of our first group has led to exciting growth.

I'm now launching a second cohort with eight members in January.

The enthusiasm and results from our initial run have shown me that this approach fills a crucial need in the creative community.

Why This Works

As someone who has taught creativity at the university level, I can tell you that theoretical knowledge only gets you so far.

What makes this program effective is its practical approach:

• Real financial consequences that keep you committed
• Peer support from accomplished professionals
• A structured framework for creative development
• The combination of accountability and community

Looking Forward

What started as a personal solution to a common problem has evolved into something much more meaningful.

I've watched participants transform their creative lives, just as I transformed mine.

For everyone who has "The Artist's Way" sitting unopened on their shelf, I offer this invitation: join us in turning those creative dreams into reality.

Whether you're a writer, artist, performer, or someone who simply wants to live a more creative life, this accountability group provides the structure and support you need.

I've seen firsthand how this approach can turn creative potential into tangible achievements, and I'm excited to continue growing this community of committed creatives.

It’s a great article all about what we’re doing. I’ll include the whole article below, but you can also click here to read it directly on their website.

A huge thanks to Neil Vacchiano for writing this awesome article.

The Backyard Comedy Series

Written by Neil Vacchiano. Originally published on Larchmont Buzz Local News last January 3, 2025.

It's Wednesday night in Larchmont. I'm at the venue of a private comedy show I've been hearing rumblings about all over town.

Sitting across from me are Dan and Kim Lerman. And we are in their backyard, just a block from Larchmont Blvd.

I observe my surroundings and take a moment to appreciate the clear and concise description of the show that is: The Backyard Comedy Series.

The Hosts

I met Dan and Kim a few weeks earlier at a dinner party. My brain intuitively nicknamed him Comedy Dan upon meeting, and I'll refer to him as that going forward because I have (some) free will when I click my fingers on this keyboard.

I'll tell you a little bit about Comedy Dan and Kim, the hosts of this private show in Larchmont. Kim grew up in Calabasas and now works in tech. Comedy Dan grew up in New York and is a Psychology professor – and if you know me, this naturally redirects the conversation. But we refocus. There will be other times to ironically pick his mind on –”what is mind?”

Full house

The origins of the show go back to 2009 you could say, when the couple met. Kim was the stage manager of a play that Dan was acting in – a foundation that would later aid in the show's development and the success it has garnered over the last couple of years.

A Pandemic Story

I self-rate the venue as exemplary, the perfect setting to social distance and listen to comedy amidst a pandemic, which brings Dan to a natural point to speak on the show's establishment.

The couple settled in Larchmont in late 2022 and soon after, they received news of the unexpected passing of Dan's grandfather. He had been battling Alzheimer's, which they believe was exacerbated by the profound loneliness he experienced in quarantine during the pandemic. The loss impacted Dan and Kim, underscoring the devastating effects of prolonged isolation.

As they navigated the grief with the awareness that so many other people and their families were being affected by this, they decided they wanted to put something together locally where people could safely begin to come back together in person.

The idea for The Backyard Comedy Series was born from this desire – not just to entertain, but to bring people together, fostering the kind of human connection that Dan and Kim seek to create.

Building Community

But the project quickly blossomed into a hot-spot event in the neighborhood which has been deemed a 'comedy networking party' due to its unique format and industry crowd.

These days, the show generally sells out within a week of tickets being offered – mainly to Larchmont locals, the majority of whom walk to the show.

Chad Kroeger performing at the Backyard Comedy Series

In classic Larchmont community fashion, the show kicks off a little different than typical crowd work. Instead, they open with ice breakers, giving everyone at the show a chance to meet their neighbors. Comedy Dan's favorite is: 'What's your favorite vice?'

I pause to glance down to my Zyn container, then answer – referencing Andrew Huberman's take on the potential health benefits of minor daily nicotine consumption.

Back to the show. For those worried about public speaking, I'll note the ice breaker isn't an elaborate oratory exercise, it is just to the group sitting beside you.

The Backyard Comedy Series

And while the show has amassed prevalence in the village, at the heart of the series is a commitment to giving back. Kim, who handles the show's marketing, works alongside Comedy Dan to raise funds for Hilarity for Charity, an organization founded by Seth Rogen that supports Alzheimer's care, research, and awareness.

The Lerman's personal connection to this cause makes the series not only an entertaining evening but one with heart and meaning that serves tribute to the legacy of Dan's grandfather.

The series showcases a range of performers – from local comedians to household names including Chad Kroeger, J.T Parr, Al Lubel, Zavior Phillips and The Quiz Daddy, Scott Rogowsky to name a few.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL…

Larchmont’s Own SNL

Think of the Backyard Comedy Series as your local Larchmont Saturday Night Live, just not on Saturday nights.

They generally have a musical act perform, some sketch comedy, clowns, you name it. And of course, in neighborly fashion, they end the show right at 10pm to respect the noise ordinances.

And oh yea, they serve miso soup and hot chocolate in the winter months.

Watch The Show

Speaking of which, the next show will be this January 16th and a few names in the line-up are Willie Simon, Brittany Ross, Jonathan Kite and Dan Ahdoot.

That being said, you never really know what names might show up to perform..

Kiki Andersen performing at the Backyard Comedy Series

They generally put tickets for sale two weeks prior to the show and sell out quick – given there is only space for 80 people to sit comfortably on their own blankets and chairs in the backyard.

If you'd like to get on the list for tickets or if you're a local performer and you'd like to reach Comedy Dan and Kim you can message them on Instagram (@backyardcomedyla) or sign up for notifications HERE.

Click here to read directly on Larchmont Buzz..

This marks a historic moment as the first university-level course dedicated to professional tutoring, representing our commitment to elevating tutoring as a recognized academic discipline.

Course Design for Working Professionals

Drawing from my 18 years of tutoring experience, I've carefully structured this course to accommodate working professionals.

This course represents more than just professional development—it's the beginning of a movement to establish tutoring as a recognized professional discipline within higher education.

As your instructor, I'm excited to share the insights and methodologies I've developed throughout my career.

The program runs from January 2-16, 2025, combining four intensive Zoom sessions with flexible asynchronous learning modules.

This hybrid approach ensures that participants can advance their expertise while maintaining their professional commitments.

Course Coverage

As a Columbia University professor, I'm committed to maintaining the institution's high academic standards while making this specialized knowledge accessible to tutoring professionals.

This course represents the intersection of rigorous academic research and practical application.

My background in cognitive science deeply informs this course's curriculum. Participants will explore:

• Advanced reading comprehension strategies rooted in neuroscience
• Mathematical reasoning techniques based on cognitive psychology
• Inclusive tutoring practices informed by educational research
• Evidence-based approaches to student engagement and motivation

Our online format delivers Columbia's educational excellence directly to you. Through carefully designed live sessions and self-paced modules, you'll experience a learning environment that mirrors the modern tutoring landscape.

Flexible Enrollment Options

Understanding the diverse needs of education professionals, we offer two enrollment paths:

• Graduate Credit Track: $2,050 - For those seeking academic credentials
• Non-Credit Professional Track: $295 - For practitioners focused on skill development

Both options provide access to the same high-quality content and expert instruction.

For detailed information and registration, please contact me directly at DML2183@tc.columbia.edu. Space is limited to ensure personalized attention and optimal learning outcomes.

Professional Growth Opportunities

This course opens multiple pathways for career advancement:

• Enhanced private tutoring practice capabilities
• Foundations for launching independent tutoring businesses
• Advanced techniques for educational consulting
• Professional credentials from a prestigious institution

Looking Forward

As we prepare to launch this pioneering program, I invite you to join me in reshaping the landscape of professional tutoring.

Together, we'll explore advanced methodologies, scientific foundations, and practical applications that will elevate your tutoring practice to new heights.

Join me in this groundbreaking initiative as we establish new standards for professional tutoring education. Your participation will help shape the future of our field.

I've briefly shared about it in one of my podcast interviews here.

For more information, visit Columbia University’s website here.

The way we think about our own intelligence can either limit or expand our potential.

In this article, I'll share evidence-based insights on developing what cognitive scientists call "cognitive confidence" — the belief in your ability to learn and solve problems effectively.

What You'll Learn

• Understanding cognitive confidence and why it matters
• How self-belief shapes intellectual growth
• The relationship between passion and learning
• Practical steps to build learning confidence

Video

Watch my interview on Free Game Production

Or watch it here:

Transcript

Luke Jeraci: Foreign. What's up, beautiful people? Welcome back to the Free Game Productions. I have my friend here, Handsome Dan, Dan Lerman. He's an intelligence expert. PhD in cognitive science and the world's top private tutor. He actually. I'm the one that dropped the ball, but he's gonna teach me and I'm gonna retake my sats at some point. Hell yeah.

Dan Lerman: Hell yeah. Public commitment. Goodness. Now I'm gonna see some follow through. That's great.

Luke Jeraci: It is a public commitment. So one of the things Dan can do is he can help you increase your intelligence. Yes. How can you help people increase intelligence?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, it's a really good question and I probably should have prepared specific answer. There are a couple things that come to mind. I think it would be good to ask yourself what intelligence you're interested in.

Luke Jeraci: Okay. What kind of intelligences are there?

Dan Lerman: Huh. The one that I kind of specialize in is traditional intelligence, the one that is measured by iq. The one that generally is related to. To reading, writing, math and maybe some processing speed in there before we go into that.

Luke Jeraci: Before we go into that what are the other types too?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, there's a lot. You know, Howard Gardner's book Frames of Mind comes to mind. He talks about multiple intelligences, and people love the theory of multiple intelligences. And I think he's got eight of them in there. I don't remember them offhand, but there's like musical and kinesthetic and athletic and I don't know, if you think about the people that you know of that are gifted in any domain, I think you could call those intelligences.

Luke Jeraci: How do you know the definition of intelligence?

Dan Lerman: Not really. No.

Luke Jeraci: My guess would be it'd be something about like an ability to problem solve or figure something out.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, that feels right. That feels right. I think there's definitely a comparative element to it. To describe someone as intelligent, they have to be better than most people or like highly intelligent. So that's maybe something I'd throw in there.

Luke Jeraci: Okay.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. But yeah, let's take this conversation wherever you want to go. I think I can definitely help people get more intelligent in the classical intelligence realm and make them feel more com. Like, confidence is such a big part of this, Luke. Like, if you feel confident in your brain, which is what I really help people do, your whole world opens up.

Luke Jeraci: So like a self fulfilling prophecy of the mind.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Oh, tremendously big. Part of what I do is help people break through the barriers that they've set for themselves. They don't. They don't think they're smart. They've gone to Traditional schools. And they've been in classrooms where they're told they're not that smart. And I help them destroy that belief.

Luke Jeraci: There's. I wish I could remember the name. I should have remember the name of the study. But there was some researcher that did a study, and they went into. I want to say it was an elementary school, and they told. Let's just say, hypothetically, those of you that are familiar with it. I'm sorry if I bastardize this a little bit, but they go into. We'll say kindergarten, and they tell the school that we'll say 15 of the students are geniuses. And they tell the school that 15 of the students are just imbeciles. And they completely randomized it. The 15 that they told the school were geniuses by the time they graduated were all, like, accelerating at a genius level. And the one that told were imbeciles were all way behind.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. So good. So much from that. First of all, I got to say, you know the word imbecile as well as the word moron. And there's one other one that might come to me in a second. These are all words that were created by intelligence psychologists so they would measure people on IQ tests back in, like, the early 1900s when these were created. And if you were a standard deviation below the norm, you were an imbecile. If you were two standard deviations below the norm, you were a moron. And I think the third one was idiot. You guys can double check me online. But. So the words imbecile, moron, and idiot were scientific terms like describing people's intelligence levels. And now we just call everyone an idiot and imbecile and a moron. You know, use that word?

Luke Jeraci: No, no, I used it because that was the word that they use.

Dan Lerman: So good. Yeah, yeah. The other thing that popped up for me, I do, you know, I've had. I've done well in traditional schools. I've got, you know, gotten really good grades, gone to fancy schools, whatever. And I do think one of the thing I think about, like, how that happened, one of the things my parents definitely did was they made me feel like a genius. I don't know if it was true or not, but they definitely made me feel. Feel that way over and over again. I think they. My mom, I remember her using that word a lot. And I have a daughter now who's one year old, and my mom is already calling her a genius.

Luke Jeraci: Beautiful.

Dan Lerman: I know. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I mean, it's like, I don't know if there's a term of it. We'll call it the Kanye west effect.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Where you just.

Dan Lerman: Swagger.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. You just refuse to believe otherwise.

Dan Lerman: There's. There's something there that's like mon. Like, especially around intelligence. It's. It's amazingly powerful to have confidence in your cognitive abilities.

Luke Jeraci: That's a. I like that term. Confidence in the cognitive abilities.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Cognitive confidence.

Luke Jeraci: Okay, so cognitive confidence is a huge determining factor. Would that be similar to, like, something like self efficacy?

Dan Lerman: Huh.

Luke Jeraci: And by self efficacy, I'm thinking of, like, a business psychology term I learned.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Where it's your belief and the ability to get it done causes you to get it done.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I think of that in sports all the time.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. I think self efficacy is broader, and cognitive confidence is specifically with, like, your mental abilities. You could have self efficacy that you're going to run a marathon, it seems like. Right.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: So I think they're. They're related. Maybe cognitive confidence is specifically like, learning or doing things with your mind.

Luke Jeraci: Okay, so how do you help people increase their cognitive confidence?

Dan Lerman: So the main way, like, my. My main business comes from private tutoring. I get flown all over the world to tutor people privately. I charge 12, $50 an hour to do that. And the reason people pay that is because I. I'm able to do this really effectively. And usually there's a whole range of things. I see. But, like, the average kid nowadays has no cognitive confidence, never reads, loves TikTok, and has no interests, like, no passions. Like, what do you do on weekends? I hang out with my friends. What are you into? Like, maybe sports, but you, like, sometimes, like, nothing but hanging out with my friends. So how do you foster cognitive confidence in someone? The first step is I find out what they love, what they're passionate about.

Luke Jeraci: I'm gonna write this down for me and Danielle.

Dan Lerman: Hell, yeah. So I don't know. Can we play with.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: Can we talk about, like, would you be open to doing something that I would do in a session?

Luke Jeraci: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Okay. So, like, typical weekend. Luke, what are you doing.

Luke Jeraci: Saturday? Probably a mushroom ceremony.

Dan Lerman: Nice.

Luke Jeraci: Friday I'm gonna work early. We have our little meetings. After the meeting, I usually run to the gym, and then I come back to the office, try to touch base with with my people, come home, and then smoke, meditate, relax, watch a movie with Danielle, Read Fridays, actually. Like to go to sleep early.

Dan Lerman: Okay, cool. That's pretty good. I'm hearing a lot in there. And you, you're way more active and accomplished than a lot of the, you know, 16 year olds I work with. But let's, let's do go with mushrooms. Okay. You're interested in mushrooms?

Luke Jeraci: Yep.

Dan Lerman: Have you read about them at all?

Luke Jeraci: Yes.

Dan Lerman: What have you read?

Luke Jeraci: A bunch of academic research in the, the ama, a bunch of medical research and then really it's all kind of. And then some actually like history, like esoteric religious books. And there's a book called Psychedelic Gospels which is super cool. I actually have it upstairs. Yeah, I have so much books on them and I like reading about them so that if I speak to somebody who thinks of it the way that it's been portrayed in the media, I'm able to factually explain my positions. They're not going to understand my experiential experience. Like, right. Like, hey, I connected with God at a different. Like, how do you explain that? But I can be like, hey, you know, it actually improves your hearing, your senses, your brain speed, your neurons. It smooths out your brain and helps get rid of depressing thoughts. The fmris have shown. So I like to use like that type of stuff.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And how much are you getting paid to do this type of research work? Reading.

Luke Jeraci: Nothing.

Dan Lerman: Zero. Good. Okay, great. You're an amazing, like finished product of what someone look looks like after they work with me. If it goes well, you know, you, your cognitive confidence with mushrooms is very high. Like if an article came out, you'd read it, you'd learn about it. Sick. Most kids I work with, they're like blank slates. They're like, I want to go into business. Have you ever read anything about business? Well, I know you have, but they're kind of like, no. And they feel ashamed about it. So I get them into what they're. They're, you know, connected to what fuels them and I can't give that to them. We go in whatever different direction they want to go in and then I get them reading great stuff, like mind expanding stuff, stuff that's challenging, complex ideas in that arena. And then little by little, they build towards what you are, which is an incredibly confident learner. Like, it's. You're exactly what I'm aiming for.

Luke Jeraci: Confidence is definitely not something I lack.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Maybe I should call you in and have you talk to some of my kids. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I thought, you know, ideally I'm trying to transform people into confident learners in whatever they love. A big part of that is getting them reading. I'm a big believer in reading. Almost everyone I work with is not a big reader and I have to like go into the weeds, show them Text and tell them exactly what should be going through their mind to enjoy reading and do it effectively.

Luke Jeraci: Okay. So I'm an avid reader, actually. Dan runs a book club. That's awesome. I'm trying to get him to make it like a public thing. So hopefully you guys see Learning with Lerman soon.

Dan Lerman: Learning with Lerman.

Luke Jeraci: On a side note, we'll pretend I'm not an avid reader and we haven't done this. Let's say I want to read a book about physics and how the world is a byproduct of consciousness.

Dan Lerman: Cool.

Luke Jeraci: How would I. How would you get me to go into it? And then would you do book reviews? How would you, how would you go about that?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I mean, I've read a lot of stuff, so I have a lot of introductory articles. I gotta say it's pretty rare that I get a 16 or 17 year old who's like really interested in physics. But what I'd probably do is go like run a Google Scholar search, like run an academic article, search for something cool or find. I really like the New York Review of books. They're like 10 page articles that high brow and challenging. And we'd read it together.

Luke Jeraci: The New York Review of Books.

Dan Lerman: New York Review of Books. Yeah. So yeah, like any article that's like three to 10 pages, that's kind of where we'd start. My. One of my favorites that I think you would love actually. Do you know David Foster Wallace is. Or was.

Luke Jeraci: I know the name, but I don't know why.

Dan Lerman: Famous book called Infinite Jest. And he's kind of this unbelievable modern writer. He actually committed suicide about 10 years ago and he wrote this article called Consider the Lobster. And I love starting people on that because you can get this article online. The first page you think it's about this lobster festival in Maine. This like hokey obese lobster festival in Maine. You're like, what the hell's going on here? Why am I reading this? And by the end, it's not what you expect. And a lot of times people read this article with me and they're like, this is the first thing I've ever read that I've liked. And then that opens up a can of wor. You know, like they start reading things and start liking it and they get smarter, they get more confident. Their test scores usually go up as a byproduct. So that's generally how it works.

Luke Jeraci: I, I heard Jim Rohn, who's one of my favorites, he spoke about maybe Zig Ziglar actually, but they spoke about how improved vocabulary correlates completely with improved finances. Like, in all these different things. Do you go into vocabulary a lot?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I don't drill vocabulary, but it's a byproduct of reading good stuff. So, like, when I keep my skip saying, like, you got to read good stuff, like, I love Harry Potter. I don't think reading Harry Potter is going to make you smarter. Like, you'll have a blast.

Luke Jeraci: Shots fired. Daniel.

Dan Lerman: I'm so sorry, Danielle. That's why I avoided eye contact. The look she's given me, I'm so, so it's a blast. But one of the things I think it makes something like mind expanding when you read it is the vocabulary and the complexity of ideas. So one of the oldest psychological tests in the world is a vocabulary test. If you give someone like 10 vocabulary words, and if you see. If you see how many of the 10 they know, it's not perfectly correlated to intelligence, but it's a good predictor of how quote, unquote, intelligent someone is. So that's why the SAT back when we were taking it had vocabulary words. They were like those analogies. I don't know if you remember those. Those are no longer on the test. But vocabulary is tested in kind of more subtle ways. So, yes, vocabulary is part of being intelligent. Yes. Reading will make your vocabulary go through the roof. I personally think drilling index cards, it's kind of boring and a waste of time, in my opinion.

Luke Jeraci: Do you. Do you touch on etymology at all? I love etymology.

Dan Lerman: I've actually developed a love of etymology. Can we. Do you have a favorite word?

Luke Jeraci: The first word that pops my mind is paradox.

Dan Lerman: Okay. Do you know the etymology? No, I don't know if I do either. I. My favorite word is callipygian. Do you know that word?

Luke Jeraci: No.

Dan Lerman: Callipidian. The prefix cali, like, beautiful, like cali. The name cali from Greek and pidgeon means buttocks. So callipygian means having a nicely shaped ass.

Luke Jeraci: Nice.

Dan Lerman: Isn't that nice that there's a word for that?

Luke Jeraci: Dude, I love it. I love. I love just going back and seeing what the original meaning was and how it shaped over time.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: You have an example, the word create.

Dan Lerman: Oh, yeah. Oh, tell me about that.

Luke Jeraci: So it goes to crayer or create. In. In Latin, I'm probably pronouncing it wrong, but in. In Spanish, it's still C R E A R. And that means to think, to believe, to create. In Spanish. Sick, right? And you remove the r and you put te and you have create. But it's interesting, Right? So first you have to think it, and you have to believe it. Then you can create it.

Dan Lerman: Sick. I love that. I'm. I teach a class on creativity at Columbia, and I. I am gonna use that on day one. That's day one.

Luke Jeraci: That's cool. Yeah, dude, that's so cool. I'd love to take that class with Professor Lerman. And then another one is manifest, and it's like Manny and festival.

Dan Lerman: Festival. And what's Manny?

Luke Jeraci: Shoot. What is it like? I always think of man as, like, I can't even think now, but it's like man with your hands.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Like manicure. That makes sense. Oh, yeah. With your hands. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I don't know that one for sure. I pull my phone out and look at it up the etymology, but I know fest, like the festival. Like Festivus.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So the way I think of it is like, you're creating happily, and often when you manifest, it's. There's an energy.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: In order to. Like, my opinion, it's like the real manifesting is there's a. A belief and efficacy to it. And it's like your belief or that festival that. That high energy is what helps create the manifestation.

Dan Lerman: I love it. Yeah. That's a great one. What a cool word.

Luke Jeraci: And then last week, and I was just. We were just a. Remarks this thing, and Violona Marcus, her thing we were speaking about magic was. She was like, magic is real to the degree that you believe it.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And I think that that's such a powerful reality. So, like, the word. So there's a famous Bible verse in the New Testament, like, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And I reference this all the time on this particular podcast, but the word repent is written as metanoia, which is like, change your way of thinking.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Alter your perception. Thinking about thinking. So in other words, alter your thinking. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. They see, but they don't see. They hear, but they don't hear.

Dan Lerman: So it's like, in some ways, like an alternate to paranoia, which is like thinking of, like, you're kind of negative in your head. Meta noi would be like freeing yourself.

Luke Jeraci: The opposite of paranoid would be pronoia.

Dan Lerman: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. And metanoia is kind of like thinking.

Luke Jeraci: About thinking, but it's the way that they interpret it is like, altered because meta is like the thing of itself.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: But metanoia would be like altered perception.

Dan Lerman: Love it. Cool. We're Deep in the words here.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. Do hope.

Dan Lerman: I find myself thinking about words more often in my. In my old age than. Than I used to.

Luke Jeraci: Do you think primarily in words, or what's your thought? My process. My word or my thought process is probably like 90% or more in words.

Dan Lerman: In words, I think I'm. More images. I told you, you don't think in.

Luke Jeraci: Images unless it's like, a vision. No.

Dan Lerman: What about when you're reading something? Are you. What's going through your mind?

Luke Jeraci: No. And I thought everybody thought the way I did until grad school.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And honestly, because of words, I was reading about an autistic guy, John Elder Robinson, who made, like, the first electric guitar and stuff, and he has a book called Look Into My Eyes or Look At Me In My Eyes. And when I was reading that, I had. I went to Paris right after, and the way they say, nice to meet you is Ashante.

Dan Lerman: Ashante.

Luke Jeraci: Which is. You're enchanted. Yeah. And I was like, oh, my God, it's so much nicer than nice to meet you. And then that got me going down this whole rabbit hole. And in it, I read the autistic book on. Or the book on autism. And then I watched Temple about. Temple Grandin.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And I realized that she doesn't think in words. She completely thought in pictures. And it blew my fucking mind. And I emailed a proposal to a cognitive professor at Sergius University, and it was basically like a way to maybe help autistic people communicate better would be help them program their mind to think more in words. But it's funny that you think primarily in images and you're so articulate and you write books and.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, you know, like Cognitive Science 101. Have you heard of the World Memory Championships?

Luke Jeraci: I've heard of them. I'm unfamiliar.

Dan Lerman: It's exactly what it sounds like. It's like the Olympics for the mind. And this guy named Josh Foer wrote a book called Moonwalking with Einstein, which I love. I highly recommend. He was a journalist that became a memory athlete. And there's some tricks you can use to improve your memory right away. And one of them is thinking in images. Have you heard of the term memory palace?

Luke Jeraci: Is that where you create, like, a house? Yeah, I'm relatively familiar, but yeah.

Dan Lerman: The very basic example is, let's say you want to memorize the first however many digits of PI, like visualize your childhood home. And on the door is a three. And then you open the door, and then on the left you see, like, a wooden table. And there's a 14. And then you go forward from that table, and there's a 15. And then you look to the right, and there's a tiger. And there's like, a nine, six, two on the tiger. And I'm probably breaking some of the rules and not, you know, but whatever. So you go and see the door, and what do you remember? What's on the door?

Luke Jeraci: A3.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And then the first table on the left.

Luke Jeraci: I'm just gonna say 1. I wasn't.

Dan Lerman: It was a 1. 4. You close your eyes. I thought you were doing it. Yeah. So if you actually go through that exercise and visualize it, you can memorize, like, thousands of digits of PI. I was.

Luke Jeraci: What was funny is I closed my eyes and was trying to picture my house, and I, like.

Dan Lerman: You got caught up in the house?

Luke Jeraci: No. I realized even that is hard for me.

Dan Lerman: It's hard for you? Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Which is weird because I have a really good memory.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. You know, people have different minds. Like, this is one trick that generally seems to work, like, to actually visualize something. And if anyone's listening and they're like, I don't really read much, but I'd like to read the number one tip I give is to tap into this. This muscle. And again, this might not work for you.

Luke Jeraci: No, no. It's something I'm sure I could develop.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. You know, if you're reading something, you really want to be having an experience. I like to start with poetry, actually. I sometimes do articles. I sometimes read short poems with my students. One that I'm loving lately is called A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman. It's about feeling alone in the universe. It's really cool. Two paragraphs, and you can have a profound experience reading these two paragraphs if you visualize and personalize it and make it about your life. So a lot. I think a lot of people don't like reading because they haven't been taught to enjoy it. And the visualizing and tying it to your own life, those are two cognitive tools that I teach that let people enjoy the experience.

Luke Jeraci: That's pretty awesome. My. What happens to me visualizations, which is funny, too, because obviously I'm a huge believer in sacred plants and entheogens. So that's a really cool etymology. Entheogen is, like, the real term for psychedelic. We've now stopped using the word, but it's enthusias, the God within.

Dan Lerman: God within? Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So, like, mushrooms, ayahuasca, stuff like that are classified as entheogenic plants on those I don't really get visuals.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I get inner knowings.

Dan Lerman: Sick.

Luke Jeraci: But like a lot of people get visuals and I think it probably has to do with the way that you think your way, your messages primarily come in. But I would like to learn how to do that more because I'm sure that would help me with meditation.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. A couple things to like strengthen that idea that there is a strong visual muscle in your brain. When did we learn to speak as a species? I don't actually know the answer to that question, but call it million years ago, a couple million years ago. And we've been evolving for billions of years. So 99.9% of our brain evolution is non verbal. The verbal evolution is really pretty recent. On top of that, I have a one year old daughter who doesn't speak, but man, she's definitely conscious and she's thinking and putting ideas together. Watch it happen. So there's certainly something to your consciousness that's really strong, that's non verbal.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. And again, what's interesting is when I do get some profound visions, they seem so important to me because I don't normally think that way.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So it's like the laws of power, basically a basic rule of economics. The law of scarcity.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So it becomes more valuable to me.

Dan Lerman: Because it doesn't happen.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. But I would love to be able to think more visually.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I'm sure you could.

Luke Jeraci: I'm sure I could. I'm gonna, I'm gonna.

Dan Lerman: Powerful brain man.

Luke Jeraci: I'm gonna get in touch with you on that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So let's say, let's say I were to hire you for that. Why would I pay 12, 50 an hour to hire you for that?

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Or is that's not.

Dan Lerman: I don't know. Well, the value, I don't know. Imagine most of the people I work with have a ton of money and you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 grand is a drop in the bucket for them. And imagine you have a kid who's probably 15, 16, 17 years old, a little bit lost and not confident in their mind.

Luke Jeraci: Right. There's no price you can put on that.

Dan Lerman: It's like, yeah, I've had parents call me crying tears of joy because their kid brought a Kurt Vonnegut book to the beach. And I'm not one to say whether that's valuable to you or not. I'm telling you, you have a two month wait list. I make a lot of money doing this. It is valuable to a lot of people to have their kids awaken intellectually.

Luke Jeraci: That's that's so awesome. Do you have any favorite success stories?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I do. I'd say my top story that I think about most, it was the most. It was one of the most challenging people I've ever worked with. And I won't use real names here, but it was a 10th grade girl at an elite, very famous New York City private school. Private school that a lot of celebrities send their kids to. And she was in 10th grade and I met with her for the first time. Her parents told me she was dyslexic. And I asked her to read this New York Times article out loud. And she couldn't get through more than five words without choking up. And she eventually started crying. She couldn't read the article out loud and it was not a hard article.

Luke Jeraci: Could she read?

Dan Lerman: She could read. She says she could kind of read. Her ACT score was a 16 out of 36. I think that's like 5th percentile or something like that. So it's really low. And the thing that I saw in her that gave me faith we could, we could have a good result like at the end of the day was she was incredibly driven, really wanted to be a great reader. A lot of her classmates were great readers. She was not. And she really wanted to go to a good university. And I didn't give her that drive. She came to me with the drive. So we worked for a year and a half. Her ACT score went up from a 16 to a 35, which is 99th percentile. Near perfect score. And there were a lot of tough conversations, a lot of tears on both sides throughout. But we busted through huge, like self defeating belief that she could not read because someone told her she was dyslexic. And we had a lot of time to make up for, you know, she was 15 and basically had never read a book.

Luke Jeraci: That's so crazy. So she went from bottom 5% to top 1.

Dan Lerman: Top 1%? Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: How long did that take?

Dan Lerman: A year and a half.

Luke Jeraci: That's gonna be worth every penny to the parents.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I mean, it was expensive, but they were very, very happy. We were all happy. We went out to dinner, we celebrated, we cried, we laughed, we drank some really good wine. It was great and I loved it. It was an amazing transformational experience. So I usually don't work with people for that long. It's usually two to six months, depending on where people are starting. But that was. I loved that one. I poured my soul into that one. And towards the end of it, I actually stopped charging them because I, you know, they paid me enough money, and I felt really committed to seeing it through.

Luke Jeraci: What school did she end up going to?

Dan Lerman: What college did she go to?

Luke Jeraci: She went to Brown, so, like, a really good school.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, she went to Brown, which I think was good. She was very, very creative thinker, very outside the box. And we got her reading and, yeah, I think it helped.

Luke Jeraci: I saw something recently as well. A NASA scientist did a research and children. 98% of children start off classified as geniuses, and then they would go back in and they would check on the children, and each year it would be dramatically less. And by the time they graduated high school, 2% were classified as geniuses.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, you know my thinking. I actually just taught a class on this yesterday. We did a creativity class. We covered. Who did we cover? We talked about Maslow and Rogers.

Luke Jeraci: Do you remember who did that?

Dan Lerman: No, I don't remember who did that. But there's. There's a lot of, like, business, like, similar stuff that does things. Like it takes kindergarteners and asks them to make towers out of marshmallows and toothpicks. And the kindergartners are, like, way more creative and faster than the MBA students who are, like, at Harvard Business School or whatever. You know, I think it's because kids spend a lot of time putting toothpicks and marshmallows together, and it's not something that's, like, challenging. So I think a lot of that research asks kids to do kid, like, tasks. And I think I don't want to. I don't love the idea of, like, you were smarter when you were a kid. Society has ruined you. You know, do that same research with, like, making a business plan, and those kindergartners don't know what to do. So I like the idea that there is this inner creative genius in you. I think the idea that you were better than has to be taken with a grain of salt. And like, specifically that body of research, I've never seen anything where a kid is doing a complex task and performing it better than an adult.

Luke Jeraci: I mean, that. That kind of ties into, like, in physics, like the uncertainty principle and Schrodinger's cat. So, like, Schrodinger's cat, like, everything is all things until it's observed. Yeah. How would. And then with the uncertainty principle, like, the observer always affects things. So with that being said, how is intelligence measured? Like, how would that. Because obviously the way it's measured affects what it is.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Oh, such a cool connection. I don't know that I'm gonna Be able to answer the quantum physics part of.

Luke Jeraci: Don't worry about it.

Dan Lerman: But no, I. Dude, I'm actually reading a book that talks about Schrodinger right now. And it's just so cool, and I love it. What's it called? It's by Benjamin Labatut. And what happens when you cease to understand the world. That's the name of the book. Sick. It's like a hundred pages. Really cool.

Luke Jeraci: I've, like, six books written down.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I know. I read a lot. I read like five or six books at once. So if you're doing that, don't. No shame, no guilt. How do we measure intelligence? Is something I can definitely answer. And, dude, it's fascinating to me. And this is like, I'm so passionate about this. Do you know it's on an IQ.

Luke Jeraci: Test, I don't think I've ever taken one.

Dan Lerman: Most people, I think, like, probably nine out of every 10 people I speak to.

Luke Jeraci: And IQ stands for. Not to cut you off, but Intelligence quotient.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, that's it. Intelligence.

Luke Jeraci: What does quotient mean?

Dan Lerman: A quote. Quotient comes from the, like, divisibility. The word quotient means you're, like, comparing yourself to other people. You're dividing your ability by the average ability in a population.

Luke Jeraci: So that's kind of what you said in the beginning, where intelligence is comparative.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. IQ can't exist unless you compare it to something else. It just can't. Right.

Luke Jeraci: That's interesting.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And an average IQ. Do you know what number is an average IQ?

Luke Jeraci: No. 100.

Dan Lerman: It's 100. Yeah. And it's rescaled to be 100 so that the population is rescaled to be 100 every once in a while.

Luke Jeraci: So to have geniuses, we gotta have dummies.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. There's got to be a spread. It's like to have tall people, we have to have short people.

Luke Jeraci: Very interesting. The polarity of it has to exist.

Dan Lerman: Otherwise the. You know, everyone's the same height.

Luke Jeraci: Right.

Dan Lerman: One cool fact I'll throw in there, it's called the Flynn Effect. It's. There's this researcher, James Flynn, who's in New Zealand. He studies IQ generationally and each generation, generation by generation. This is really surprising to a lot of people. IQ goes up by 5 to 10 points. So we. Our generation is smarter than the last generation, which is smarter than the last generation, so on and so forth, since IQ tests were invented in the early 1900s.

Luke Jeraci: But that could go back to what's being measured. Are we making it easier no, it's.

Dan Lerman: No, no, no. Same test. Same test.

Luke Jeraci: So let's say, are we teaching? Are we creating a system that gets closer to what we're measuring and maybe losing creativity and grit and other things?

Dan Lerman: So I think we got to get back to what's actually on this test, right? This is so cool. It blows my mind. Most people don't know. So the most common IQ test in the world is called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, W A I S. And there have been five versions of this. So the modern one is called the WAIS5. And to get access to one, you can't Google it. It's not on the Internet. Maybe it's on the dark Web somewhere, but I've looked extensively. You cannot get the actual test.

Luke Jeraci: If you're on the dark Web, you're probably not looking. Intelligence test.

Dan Lerman: I mean, you never know. But, you know, why does it make sense to not have this test out there? Because if you know the test, you can control your intelligence. You could either game the system and make it seem like you're highly intelligent or really not intelligent. You can game. The whole business model of this test is the questions have to be protected. But I'm in a PhD program at Columbia, and there's this testing library where you can actually go and. And look at the test. So I do that every once in a while. I just love the test. And I did it a couple weeks ago. I forget why. I think I was just, like, on campus and had an extra hour, and I opened it up, and here's some things that are on the test. You can Google and check on Wikipedia, exactly the outline of the test. But one thing, one question on the test. Here's a question from the actual verified test. Who is the Chancellor of Germany that's on the test? It's like a facts test. So one part is called. It's called, like, general knowledge. I forget the actual term. It's just facts. It's just like, what is the capital of France? That's a question on the test. So this belief that. I really want to shatter this belief. I'm like, kind of on a mission to shatter this belief that people are stuck in their intelligence by showing them by any metric, any metric you can come up with, you can improve it. You know, the Chancellor of Germany at the time the test was created was Angela Merkel. I actually don't.

Luke Jeraci: I was going to say Merkel.

Dan Lerman: There you go. I don't know who. It's someone else now, and I don't know who it Is so I wouldn't get that point on the IQ test. The capital of France is Paris, in case. And another section of the test is vocabulary. What does the word.

Luke Jeraci: And that's something you can improve easily.

Dan Lerman: Oh, my God, totally. Yeah. I have on my phone somewhere the actual questions of the test, but the format is, what does the word empathetic mean? What does the word divergent mean? And you get points if you know what the words mean.

Luke Jeraci: Do you know the etymology of empathetic? I do not. I'm just curious.

Dan Lerman: Pathos is feel, I think. And me is to like. Like ecstasy, step out. So I would guess. My guess is to feel outside of oneself.

Luke Jeraci: So then I wonder why pathetic is pathetic. Because you said it. I was like, huh. Empathetic is good, but pathetic is bad.

Dan Lerman: English is tricky in that sometimes the roots that sound like they're the roots are not.

Luke Jeraci: Right.

Dan Lerman: So I don't. I don't actually know, but I certainly think about that. Another version, another section. They're like 10 or so sections on this intelligence test. Another section is just math problems. You know, Luke runs 65 laps per day, but today he ran 15% fewer laps. Actually, I think it's 60 laps per day. Today he ran 15% fewer laps. How many laps did he run?

Luke Jeraci: Would that be nine?

Dan Lerman: Nine fewer laps? Yeah. Yeah. Boy, that was nice, man. So he ran 51 laps. Nine fewer laps. Really good.

Luke Jeraci: I did 10% of 60 and then 5%.

Dan Lerman: Great. And that's a teachable skill. If you didn't know that, I could teach that to you in 30 seconds. And now you have that skill. Your IQ literally went up. So I encourage. If you're interested in intelligence, I would just go. The Wikipedia page for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale will take you through sample questions. Not the actual questions, but sample questions of all them. And you'll see there are these little subtests that are certainly coachable and maybe shocking to you about, like, you know, what's actually tested for intelligence.

Luke Jeraci: So how did. Obviously, telling you is a huge thing for you, studying cognitive science. Like, what brought you into the path of cognitive science? Yeah, that's basically. And you just wrote a book. Yeah, we'll touch on the book in a moment. But first, why cognitive science and how did you get into it? Because I think I want to go back to school for, like, physics.

Dan Lerman: Sick.

Luke Jeraci: Music theory and psychology.

Dan Lerman: Nice. Yeah, I teach in the psychology department. I don't know. I've always been interested in psychology and my own feelings. I think I, in college, like, started Feeling depressed for the first time and use psychology as a tool to make myself feel better. That's like the real genesis of it. Why intelligence?

Luke Jeraci: Do you remember what made you feel depressed?

Dan Lerman: I was drinking a lot of alcohol. I was in like this quasi fraternity and I was really heavily invested in beer pong and getting really good at it. I got very good, but I was drinking all the time and lost.

Luke Jeraci: And everything has a cost.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So probably that. And I wasn't really going to school class much. A whole slew of. Of things. I was not connected to people. So all those things and I.

Luke Jeraci: Does that have a role in depression, not being connected with others?

Dan Lerman: I think it's tremendously social, I would imagine, and tremendously cognitive. I think those two things are. Are big components of it.

Luke Jeraci: Like, I heard something like, if a baby isn't touched a lot when it's born, it'll, like, have some kind of abnormalities.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And like, people in isolation, like, they wither, kind of wither away and die.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. There's this amazing body of research in rats called licking, grooming, arched back nursing. And if you measure the amount of time a mother rat spends with her baby rats, licking the rats, grooming them, or arched back nursing, like feeding the rats, the more time she spends doing those things, the better off the rats are, the less kind of depressed or anxious or however they measure rat behavior. So that body of research feels very well established and seems to really apply to humans too.

Luke Jeraci: There's. They did something too, with. With beans. They put beans in a bag. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Dan Lerman: Like, talking to the beans?

Luke Jeraci: Yes. One, they spoke positively. So I was just speaking my buddy Sean, whole side topic, but he is brilliant and he was talking about this. And when they spoke positive to the beans, no fungus, no nothing healthy beans spoke negative, a lot of like, fungus, and they got kind of like sickly.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And then when they completely ignored the beans, they withered away and decayed.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci:

So like, even negative was better than nothing.

Dan Lerman: So cool. I haven't. I haven't read about it, but I've spoken to friends about this research, and I think it's cool. And I think, look, something. I'm real. I'm a researcher now. It's strange thing to say, but I do research and I'm a published researcher. And I think the power of research is in the story. You know, researchers have to tell stories. And that's an amazing story. You know, I love that story. If you believe that story and it helps you, great. Go with it. And I think, I hope it's backed by, like, observation and scientific fact, and that's what makes it a scientific story. But really, that connection of stories to research is something that I'm. I'm just realizing.

Luke Jeraci: I would love to. I know we spoke about it before. I would love to do something with our mushroom church and like, quote, unquote, magic and the power of belief and community. Yeah, we'll talk off air on that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, that sounds awesome. Yeah. Maybe we can zoom in. I can. I share a mushroom connection doc. All day. The. I think junior year of college, I read. I was in college, probably 2006 or 2007. There's a famous study at Johns Hopkins which you probably know, about, where people took mushrooms and basically felt like that incredibly profound experience, like the Good Friday. I think that was it.

Luke Jeraci: There's a Good Friday experiment.

Dan Lerman: I read about it. It was very revolutionary at the time to read an academic article talking about the positive effects of psychotropic drugs. And I read it and I was in kind of a tough place at the time, and I had a spring break trip planned to Amsterdam and.

Luke Jeraci: Perfect.

Dan Lerman: Perfect. Yeah. With my best friends in the world, my high school friends. And we got to Amsterdam, I was very scared to take mushrooms. I'm pretty nervous about drugs in general and, you know, you could cause a lot of damage if you don't.

Luke Jeraci: I refer to them as the sacraments or the medicine.

Dan Lerman: Great. Let's call the medicine. Great. I'll use a different word. I was scared of the medicine. I didn't know anything about dosing. It was tough to find. There's this one site called Arrowid, which you could find out a little bit of info about drugs at the time, but generally they were like, medicine. Yeah, sorry, sorry. Medicine at the time, which is just.

Luke Jeraci: I feel like it just creates such a different great feeling towards it.

Dan Lerman: Totally. Yeah. I would have. I didn't expect to go down this path with you, so I would have prepared my vocabulary, but we'll go medicine. So I went to this medicine shop in Amsterdam and on a. You know, I was going to the Van Gogh Museum, and I was like, I'm with my best friends in the world. I'm kind of in a low plate. Let me try it. And I had. And I'm not recommending this because I feel like maybe like it's better to be around professionals when you're using the medicine. And I'm not licensed to give advice on that. But my personal story was I had a profoundly incredible experience that made Me feel much better, made me feel less anxious. It made me feel more certain in my career path and I think shaped my views on medicines forever. And interestingly, I didn't do another medicine until. Until I was probably 25 or 26. So seven years thinking about that one experience and not needing to repeat it. Not having a desire to repeat it.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah, yeah, it's. There's an FRIM. They did a study, and I was talking about this last night. They did a placebo group where they did FMRI before. And the brain is a physical structure. When there's depressing thoughts, it creates a divot. And I'm sure probably familiar with it, like, creates like a divot in the brain, almost like a ski slope. And they did an FRIM, they showed that. And people took ssri, so anti anxiety, like antidepressants, and then they did one with psilocybin, so mushrooms. And they did FMRI as well, the people. And they gave them the dose and they sat with the therapist, both groups. So the SSRI group, they had a small, like, qualitative difference. Like they, you know, they had some differences in how they thought a little bit. No phys. No physiological differences. The group with mushrooms, huge qualitative difference and acceptance and understanding of whatever was causing those thoughts, or at least at a deeper level, physiologically, the brain was repaired.

Dan Lerman: Can we talk about medicines for a little bit? I'm using that term to apply to mushrooms and illicit medicines, ones that are legal, but also SSRIs. And DRI is the ones that are prescribed throughout the country and throughout the world to treat mental.

Luke Jeraci: See that? Those are what I call drugs.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Okay.

Dan Lerman: Got it. All right. Man, it's hard to please you.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah, yeah. You can call whatever you want.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I'm. I taught a class called Psychopharmacology.

Luke Jeraci: That sounds amazing.

Dan Lerman: And, yeah, it should be called drugs. You know, it's the academic version of drugs. And I spent some time, you know, when I'm teaching these classes for the first time, I'm learning a ton. I'm, like, really solidifying my thoughts and reading deeply about this stuff. I think the current state of these medicines and drugs, you have to look at the history. You have to look at the history to understand what's going on and how people view them. And the history really starts with the frontal lobotomy. Do you know what do you know about lobotomies?

Luke Jeraci: When they take out part of your brain, they did it for, like, people that consider you crazy, and it just basically sedates them.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, it was the first, first procedure to treat mental illness. And the frontal lobotomy didn't actually remove part of the brain. There was an ice pick that went up through the nose, through, I think it's called the spheroid or the sphygmoid bone. There's a thin bone and then you get into the brain and the doctor just whips it around. The doctor was named Walter Freeman, and he said he practiced it on ripe peaches. That's how he practiced it. And then he would do it on humans. It took seven or eight minutes. And sometimes they felt better, other times they died of a hemorrhage. Right. But the demand for this procedure, Luke, was through the roof. Why?

Luke Jeraci: So that means that there's always been mental health crisis. People just weren't allowed to talk to it, talk about it.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And I think that the fact that people wanted a simple answer to a complex question was evident then. It was evident in this pseudoscience called phrenology, where they measured the skull and they're like, oh my God, you are depressed because your skull is.

Luke Jeraci: And it's intelligence by the size of the head.

Dan Lerman: And not just intelligence, your whole. They were called faculties, your whole personalities based on your skullship. It's actually used to justify a lot of racist claims as well. Just totally total nonsense, total pseudoscience. But it was incredibly popular. Walt Whitman wrote a poem where he talks about the great sciences is like chemistry, biology, phrenology. At the time it was considered a real science. And I think throughout history we've, you know, people have always struggled mentally at points. It's part of the human experience. And they want simple answers. They want a seven minute procedure to make me feel better. They want a pill that's going to make me feel better. And I think what's being sold currently makes a lot of sense, like an ssri. Here's a pill that'll make you feel better. And by the way, it's expensive and it'll make a lot of people rich, but certainly it'll make you feel better. Watch this commercial about. And it's not new to see people flocking to solutions that don't necessarily work. Now, I have to say I do believe in psychotropic drugs like SSRIs and antipsychotics in certain situations. If someone's having a psychotic break and you need to turn it off, like stop them from hallucinating, we have drugs that can do that, antipsychotic drugs, and they're incredibly valuable and they save people's lives. I think if people are suicidal. I've heard cases where SSRIs have helped people. So I'm not, I would not personally damn them entirely. I just think the line through the roof, like the demand that's through the roof. I am very skeptical that that's the best way to treat some of the issues people are dealing with. And I think what you're getting at, and I fully agree, is that like some of the, like mushrooms, some of the other been around for thousands, if.

Luke Jeraci: Not millions of years, some of the.

Dan Lerman: Other medicines would do as good, if not a better job in way less time. But pharmaceutical companies don't make money on that. So they haven't pushed that yet.

Luke Jeraci: So in some of the first cave drawings ever discovered, people around mushrooms sick. Like, like all these different Super Mario World mushrooms. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. But it's. I mean, everybody wants to be fed, not everybody wants to learn how to hunt.

Dan Lerman: Bingo.

Luke Jeraci: Right. And. And then everybody wonders why not everybody, but a lot of people then wonder why they're not being taken care of better. Right. Because they're not taking care of themselves.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And it's just one of those sips. I'm. It's. It seems primarily a human thing. It doesn't seem like other animals or plants have that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And it's interesting that this isn't new because I keep thinking of it as being new due to society. Like we've outsourced our. I'm guilty of it. I don't know where my food comes from.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Our water.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. It's a great point.

Luke Jeraci: I didn't build this house.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: My friend did. But I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. My friend build a house. He built a basement in the room and stuff. I didn't make this pen notebook. Like literally nothing.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. We just, we know about such a.

Luke Jeraci: Tiny sliver of our universe and, and because so many people are good natured that we can get away with it. But then we. I do too. I'm like, yo, they put poison in the food. And it's like, well, I don't care enough to find out how to do it on my own.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So I'm hoping, and I'm hoping to be a part of it, but that there's going to be a movement of people becoming more sovereign.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I, I think that in particular, as we've moved more and more away from the land and into the cities, we get more and more mental imbalances, hormonal imbalances. Like when I was just in the Amazon. Granted super small sample size. Nobody there's depressed. They have basically nothing. But they built it all. They do their own. It's just a simple familial life. And they're so happy and fulfilled. And literally this little eight year old boy tells Danielle, we get rich people here all the time from America in Spanish and they want more and more. And we see them, they get more and more unhappy. And then they tell us that they could tell us how to live. This kid's like eight.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And he goes and we live in paradise. And he runs up and I swear to God, hugs and kisses a tree. And it was just like.

Dan Lerman: Right, well, yeah, it's different, you know, Tying us back to what we're.

Luke Jeraci: Sorry.

Dan Lerman: No, I love it. Interesting. I don't know how that. I bet that 8 year old boy would not score highly on this intelligence test which our society has created. But isn't.

Luke Jeraci: Probably not.

Dan Lerman: But.

Luke Jeraci: But dude, he was like a little angel.

Dan Lerman: It was massively intelligent. Like. Yeah, yeah. So cool.

Luke Jeraci: So it's an interesting thing. So I'm a believer that if something happened, it was supposed to happen.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: That doesn't mean it has to keep happening. But I believe that the world has been the way it's been for the last thousand years. So that the western world could come up with some of the technologies and the things we have now. And I believe that there's gonna be a migration away from cities back towards land. And I think that's why a lot of these, not a lot, but a couple big name, high worth individuals are buying up a lot of the land. And I think they understand that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I think cities are gonna fall upon themselves. Right. Like especially with AI and technologies, like if you can get things done more efficiently that cost you less with less problems through technology, unless you do it out of the goodness of your heart. And let's be honest, that's not necessarily why you get into business all the time. It's to make money. Why would you keep hiring people that might be unreliable?

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And I think people will be moving back to land. Either that or they'll become like wall. Either like just fat blobs.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah. So like moving back to land with their like robot staff.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like with some of these technologies and stuff is you can have the best of both worlds, but you have to be disciplined enough not to fall for the distractions.

Dan Lerman: What if you want to be around? Like, like really around. I feel like there's definitely a big part of the human population that just wants to be around people.

Luke Jeraci: I think that's the draw of cities. I think what's going to happen is. Right. I'm looking at the best case scenario is. And since I moved to Georgia, what I've noticed is I'm thinking of like, I'll use Dahlonega as an example. Small country town in the mountains, beautiful dope downtown.

Dan Lerman: Dahlonega, Georgia.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. So where I got married and like Canton, Georgia and stuff. You can be in the middle of nowhere and they have these little town squares where people come to meet.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: But then they live off. And I think that there's business studies. I forget the term of it. But after 150 people, it's hard for people to stay connected or feel connected. It becomes like a cannibalistic. It's not like in a literal but a metaphorical sense, cannibalistic society where they don't care about each other, they're eating each other's like opportunities and things.

Dan Lerman: Okay.

Luke Jeraci: I imagine smaller community because I'm willing to guess you'd feel more connected if you had a hundred person community where you knew everybody evolved.

Dan Lerman: Right.

Luke Jeraci: Granted, that would get annoying. You don't want everybody in your business. But the reason why honoring your word and stuff like that mattered so much and the reason why it doesn't matter so much now is before you were in your community, if you're known as a liar, nobody with you.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So you had to honor your.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Nowadays you can just move.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: You just.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Have your online community.

Dan Lerman: Create my new Persona.

Luke Jeraci: People just say things that have no intention of doing. Now I think that causes huge levels of distrust and mistrust and I think that caused a lot of anxiety and depression too. People don't trust themselves.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Yeah. They were definitely outside of my realm of expertise. But as just a thinker, I agree.

Luke Jeraci: Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent. Okay. All right. So what are some of the things like you learn? So kind of with cognitive confidence and things like that, how can somebody take that and apply that to their life, their everyday life?

Dan Lerman: I think just getting involved. There's so much about intelligence that involves participation. You know, you got to participate in culture to know what the word empathy means. Take the, you know, clone Albert Einstein and throw him in the middle of the woods. That person's not going to be smart. That person's actually dead. That person's gonna die. But you know, have them raised in a society that is isolated. They won't become intelligent in the way you And I are talking about it.

Luke Jeraci: So I think you gotta dive from a technological sense.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. I don't know, like a participatory sense. Right. To be considered intelligent, first of all, you have to speak the language. You know that you and I learned to speak the language at a high level.

Luke Jeraci: Right, right. So what I'm thinking now is Scott told me a story about when he was in Jamaica. Somebody came up to him, was like, oh, you think you're intelligent? And then he made like, what do you make?

Dan Lerman: We talking about when he made the.

Luke Jeraci: Door out of the bamboo tree. Yeah. And then some. Some guy takes a bamboo tree and makes a door and was like, you think you're intelligent? Can you do that?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think he's using it. He's talking about a different type of intelligence. Personally. God awful at. I am not a manual person, but you know, this, like, traditional linguistic intelligence, reading cognitive confidence. I've got all that. And I think the original question was, like, how.

Luke Jeraci: How can people take cognitive confidence?

Dan Lerman: Take cognitive confidence? Yeah. I think connecting to what they love and diving in from a content perspective, watching videos. I'm a huge believer in reading good stuff in your domain. Reading good stuff in your domain. So if you're into business or investing and you want to make a lot of money, start with some Warren Buffett essays and then they're in your brain and they, you know, they say, like, in creativity and genius, you have to kind of master the basics before you make a breakthrough. Think about, like, Picasso's early work, which was more traditional before he breaks through, you know, so you got to know the canon of whatever field you're in. If you want to go into business, know what bit like good business people have done, read about that, and then you can get creative and make your breakthrough. So I am not an expert in every field, but I help people. Like, you can take your cognitive confidence, connect it to your passion, find good stuff to read and consume in that field, and you're participating, you become intelligent, you build your skill.

Luke Jeraci: That made me think of the war of art.

Dan Lerman: Oh, hell yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Where like, you get good not because you're inspired, but because you keep working until inspiration comes.

Dan Lerman: It takes time. You cannot become intelligent like that. That's why it's hard. You know, it takes consistent chipping away at it, showing up and doing the work.

Luke Jeraci: Is there a level of intelligence to grit? Because I think that's the biggest success factor.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: No matter what intelligence, I'm willing to guess grit is the underlying connection to who makes it to the top.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. I have anecdotally noticed that that's definitely not measured on IQ tests. There is no grit measure because it.

Luke Jeraci: Takes time to measure.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. You probably have to measure it over weeks, months, years. Right. And the thing with tests in general is they can't by design, they can't last more than a couple hours.

Luke Jeraci: You know, it's just not practical, it's not economic.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Getting an IQ test, by the way, it's a one on one experience and it costs somewhere between three and ten thousand dollars. It's very expensive to get an IQ test.

Luke Jeraci: So what? So it's probably not. Wouldn't even be worth it, I was gonna say. But if you could track somebody's growth, that would probably indicate grit. Right. Like.

Dan Lerman: Like growth on IQ or anything. Yeah. There are some cool studies, like some case studies of people's IQ dramatically changing and it's almost always in the negative. Someone, you know, had a brain tumor removed and this part of their intelligence was dramatically affected, but this part wasn't. It's actually some of the value of IQ tests. Like if you want to really see, I'm getting this brain tumor removed, what's going to be affected? Is it going to be my vocabulary? Is it going to be my math ability? Depending on where the brain tumor is, it's usually something very specific and it's not all of your cognitive abilities. So there's a bunch of studies, I've read a couple of them where people's IQ goes down after brain tumor gets removed. There's a lot that look at. There's some that look at drug use over the long run, like IQ and marijuana use over the long run. Kind of an interesting study that was done in New Zealand there. So yeah, none of them that I can think of. Luke. Measure grit or even mention grit.

Luke Jeraci: And they measure more for decrease and increase.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I have, I cannot remember ever seeing a published paper on an increase in iq. I actually applied for a grant at Columbia. I was going to take an IQ test three times and try and go up every time. And the hack was going to be. I was going to study the test. I was like, watch. My IQ is going to go from here. It's going to go up and up and up and they.

Luke Jeraci: Didn't you get a perfect score on your sat?

Dan Lerman: I did, but that's not, that's a little different from iq. It's a little shorter. It doesn't include all of the domains. It doesn't include like the knowledge domain. There's Some similar stuff. The math is on there, the readings on there.

Luke Jeraci: I have a really interesting idea for you off camera for a resource research project.

Dan Lerman: Okay.

Luke Jeraci: It actually ties into something you brought up to me in the past, but now I have the people I would want in on it.

Dan Lerman: Love it. Can you make it any vaguer for our listeners?

Luke Jeraci: Efficacy, power of belief and magic. Hopefully psychedelics.

Dan Lerman: There you go. Okay, interesting. So you know, taking the SAT on mushrooms, that would be interesting. One of the. I don't know if this is true or not, but one of the rumors circling around campus when I decided to take mushrooms that first time is that your IQ goes up over 200 when you take mushrooms. That I don't think has any scientific basis, but that as much of a.

Luke Jeraci: Mushroom lover as I am. That sounds.

Dan Lerman: Sounds dubious. But I want. I would. I wonder what would happen. Would I be able to take an IQ test or an SAT on mushrooms? I think I'd have a tough time like looking at the words not page.

Luke Jeraci: I think it'd be tough having a macro. Like I think you could do maybe a micro dose.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And. And do just fine.

Luke Jeraci: Probably maybe do better because it does speed up your brain connectivity and stuff that. There is plenty of rumors that it's huge now in Silicon Valley and. Yeah, microdosing is big in business.

Dan Lerman: I'm noticing it amongst my friends.

Luke Jeraci: It's a healthy alternative to Adderall.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. A lot of people are on that three day regimen. Like once every three days they microdose acid or mushrooms.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah, people do acid too. I enjoy acid and it's pretty spiritual to me too. But I just like the natural plant, the mushroom. Right?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah.

Luke Jeraci: But no knocks on anybody on the entheogens. All right. So we're kind of right at the end of the flu. Yeah, yeah. So we try to keep it tight. But before we end it, I think somebody who is really interested and improving their intelligence and they're willing to. How long should they expect it to take? And what are the necessary simplest steps?

Dan Lerman: Yeah. First connect to your passion. Like I don't. In my experience, forcing yourself to learn economics just because someone tells you you should doesn't really work. The fuel isn't there. If you love economics, great. So connect to your passion. Step one. Step two, find a way to participate in the content that people have put together in that field. So you could find great economists or great business people. Read what they've written. Reading is a great way of doing it. Consume their video and anything you can do to keep that flame Going join a group. If you're socially motivated, join a group on Facebook. Find people to tackle this together. And as you increase the amount of stuff you consume, your confidence just grows. You will. You will expand your mind, and I don't know. I don't know how it depends. Couple months, you'll start to feel it, and you'll start participating in ways you never. You never thought were possible. So let's say I'm interested in psychology. Read some Freud.

Luke Jeraci: Read some Jordan Peterson.

Dan Lerman: Do I like Jordan Peterson? Yeah, I do like Jordan Peterson. I feel like that's a contentious thing to say nowadays, but I think he's.

Luke Jeraci: Which is crazy.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I don't think he says anything offensive.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I just think very direct, and I think he's got some really good points. I think he's great. Yeah. So, you know, give. Giving these people who are still alive, giving them a follow on Instagram and consuming their content and, you know, a couple months of consuming their content, and you're just thinking about it. So I don't think it's as complicated as people make it out to be. I think along the way, you got to give yourself props for being like, oh, yeah, like, I am developing that interest, and I am proficient.

Luke Jeraci: Goes back to the beans.

Dan Lerman: It goes back to the beans. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Talk positive.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Yeah. It's such a powerful thought to be like, I am proficient in this. I am good at this. And that. That kind of fuels it. So at the very least, you can give me a call and I'll give you a pep talk.

Luke Jeraci: Awesome. Well, that's gonna be it for. For out of the Cave with Dan Lerman, you know, hopefully. I'm sure you guys learned something. I'm hoping you did. And if not, you got a bunch of book recommendations.

Dan Lerman: Love it.

Luke Jeraci: And keep your eyes open for whenever we get our little research project done.

Dan Lerman: Love it. Luke, thanks so much. What a beautiful, beautiful setup. You've got a beautiful home that you've built. Feels like we're in a Persian nightclub here, and it makes me feel awesome.

Luke Jeraci: I'll get a hookah next time.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, I was. I was actually asking for one in my. In my rider, but really, really appreciate the opportunity. I could talk to you all day, and I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah, dude, come whenever you come to Atlanta, but we'll make. We'll make something, and I'll be out to la. Oh, and Dan also does comedy, so hopefully you can look him up. Can I find you anywhere?

Dan Lerman: It's just danlerman.com. That's my. That's my tutoring website. I don't think I published any comedy on there yet. Although that's a cool idea.

Luke Jeraci: Awesome. We'll try to put, like, a little link when I send it to Jacob on the bottom and stuff.

Dan Lerman: Love it. Cool.

When I first saw the news, I had to pull over my car to process the magnitude of this change and share it with you all. This ruling marks one of the most significant shifts in higher education policy in recent decades.

The decision, which passed in a 6-3 vote, effectively ends race-conscious admissions practices that have been in place for over 40 years. Let me break down what this means and why it matters.

Historically, college applications included a section where students could indicate their racial background—a factor that universities could consider in their holistic review process.

This practice, known as affirmative action, was designed to promote diversity and address historical inequities in higher education.

Video

Watch my Tiktok reel here:

https://www.tiktok.com/@practicalprofessor/video/7250163201868975402

Transcript

Dan Lerman: The Supreme Court just completely changed the college admissions game. I just saw this and I pulled over because

I want to talk about it. So the Supreme Court just decided today to end affirmative action and to end any mention of race in college admissions.

Why is this a huge decision? Because previously when you were applying to college, you had to check a little box saying what race you were and that could help or hurt you depending on your particular situation.

Now, in a 6, 3 decision, the Supreme Court decided there can be no mention of race in college admissions. This was kind of expected because of its because it's a conservatively led court, but this happened way quicker than anyone expected.

And the president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, said it's going to take about five years of chaos before universities figure out what this means.

This is an incredibly sensitive topic and I'm still forming my opinions and gathering information, so I'll post in the future about what it means. But I want to let you guys know what's happening.

Comment with your thoughts below.

Conclusion

While there are still many unanswered questions about how universities will adapt, one thing is clear: the college admissions landscape will look very different for future applicants.

I'll be following this story closely and sharing updates as institutions develop new strategies to maintain diverse and inclusive campus environments within these new legal parameters.

I encourage you to stay informed about these changes, especially if you or someone you know will be applying to college in the coming years.

Your understanding of this new system could be crucial for navigating the admissions process successfully. Don't forget to subscribe and follow for more updates on this evolving situation.

Instead, what they shared left me both surprised and intrigued about the changing face of college admissions.

The college admissions game isn't just evolving – it's undergoing a dramatic transformation. While academic excellence remains important, these officers revealed three unexpected pathways that could significantly boost your chances of acceptance.

Video

Watch my Tiktok reel here:

https://www.tiktok.com/@practicalprofessor/video/7249484138355363114

Transcript

Dan Lerman: So I just got back from a lunch with three Ivy League admissions officers. Here's what they said. College admissions game is obviously changing.

It's very hard to get in but they said one way is and they said this with a straight face. Be an Olympic athlete or be a world class athlete. So if that's not going to work out for you, they said you can simply just be the best or one of the best at really anything.

So if you're like the best Rubik's Cube champion that is good for college admission. And the third one actually surprised me.

They're looking for people who are going to be super fans of the school so people who are going to get tattoos of Michigan or like going to be huge donors to Duke at some point in the future.

I think out of those three that third one is the one you can control the most unless you're an incredible fencer or something like that. So hope that helps.

Conclusion

Remember, while these insights come directly from Ivy League admissions officers, they shouldn't be taken as guaranteed formulas for success.

The admissions process remains complex and multifaceted. However, understanding these priorities might help you better position yourself or guide others in their college application journey.

In my early days as what I call a "bad tutor," I was too focused on appearing polished or "glossy."

Through years of experience and self-reflection, I've discovered that exceptional educators share three fundamental qualities: empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard.

When I'm truly present with a student, forgetting myself completely and focusing entirely on their learning journey, that's when real teaching happens.

It's not just about delivering content—it's about modeling curiosity, showing students how to approach challenges, and helping them discover the joy in learning.

Even after 18 years, I'm still growing, still learning new approaches, and still finding better ways to connect with students.

What You'll Learn

• The three key qualities that make exceptional educators: empathy, congruence, and positive regard
• How stepping away from a problem can lead to better solutions (cognitive incubation)
• The importance of authenticity over polish in teaching
• Whether great teachers are born or can be trained
• What tutors should teach beyond test preparation

Audio

Catch the full discussion of Qualities Of Great Educators And Coaches

https://gettestbright.com/qualities-of-great-educators-and-coaches/

Transcript

Amy Seeley: Welcome, everyone. I'm Amy Seeley, president of Seeley Test Pros and Leap, helping students to succeed in all kinds of tests from 8th grade to grad school throughout Ohio.

Mike Bergin: And I'm Mike Bergin, president of Chariot Learning, helping students with test school and Life, based out of Rochester, N.Y.

Amy Seeley: Between the two of us today, we have over 60 years of experience at the highest levels of the test preparation and supplemental education industries.

Mike Bergin: We both love to talk and learn about the latest issues in education, testing and admissions. So let's get down to Tess and the rest. The fascinating topic we want to explore today is the qualities of great educators and coaches. But first, let's meet our special guest, Dan Lerman.

Amy Seeley: Dan Lerman is a professor of cognitive science at Columbia University. He is passionate about using cognitive science to optimize learning, and his specialty is in creative problem solving. Dan previously taught at St. Paul's School in London, St. Anne's in Brooklyn, and Oxford University, and he has founded three companies in the tutoring space. He is passionate about social skills, personal growth, and combating the loneliness epidemic which has spawned the Backyard Comedy Series. Welcome.

Dan Lerman: Thank you so much for having me. Did I write that intro?

Amy Seeley: You did. I take it from there.

Dan Lerman: That's a good intro.

Amy Seeley: It caused me, actually, Dan, to find out what is the Backyard Comedy Series. So I went to the website because I was so intrigued, and I apologize. That was more intriguing to me than clicking on the link of your other bio, by the way.

Dan Lerman: What do you mean? It's the coolest thing I do. I'm so happy. If I were to send you to one website, that would be the one.

Amy Seeley: I actually saw that there's one November 6th, and I thought to myself, darn, I'm not going to be in California on November 6th.

Dan Lerman: You know why we picked that day?

Amy Seeley: The day after the election is what I presume.

Dan Lerman: Exactly. I think it'll be a good time to be around other people.

Mike Bergin: You know, people will definitely need a little levity that day.

Dan Lerman: I think so. I think so, yeah.

Amy Seeley: So actually, tell us more about your cognitive science background. It's one of the most fascinating things, sort of an education, at least for me. Tell me more about what, you know, kind of how you got into that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, you know, I don't know as I've. It was kind of perennially in school my entire life. I just finished earlier this year. I'm 38 years old, and I kind of, throughout the journey was thinking about, what am I actually an expert in, what am I actually good at? And for better or for worse. I think I've been obsessive about watching my own thoughts for my entire life. It's like, you know, it's led to some good things, led to some bad things. But in college, I was just interested in psychology, kind of selfishly to try and make my own life better. So that's what I majored. Majored in. And then fast forward to my first teaching job in New York, which is at the school called St. Anne's and they had. They didn't pay very much, but they had a professional development budget. You could be taking classes, doing whatever you want. One summer I took a Chinese class and was it. And one summer I signed up for a class at Columbia. Can't remember what the class was, but it was part of this program called Neuroscience and Education. It was just a blast. So like on Tuesdays, I'd take the train up from Brooklyn Heights to Columbia and loved it. So I took more classes and more classes. Before I knew it, I had a master's degree. I kept going, you know, one night a week, turned it to two nights a week. I found a path towards getting a PhD and just kind of followed my passion, what I. What I liked. We took classes on neuropsych testing, we took classes on motivation. And never was like, I must have a PhD. Just kind of following the fun, following the curiosity, following the passion over a long time and here we are.

Mike Bergin: That sounds great. I mean, I know that that path to the PhD might involve some research. Did you do much of that?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, you have to. That wound up being the last, I think four years of it was designing a study. And Covid made things a little bit trickier in terms of getting research, getting data. So, yeah, my research was, you know, they talk about PhDs getting niche down as you keep going and getting more and more and more specific. And my research was on phenomenon called cognitive incubation. You guys know what that is?

Mike Bergin: No

Amy Seeley: I do not.

Dan Lerman: Okay. So if you get to a problem, it actually came to me. I was on the subway in New York City. I was doing the New York Times crossword, and I noticed that I got to a clue and I didn't know how, I didn't know the answer. And I moved on. I went through the puzzle and I got back to the clue, and somehow I knew the answer with no extra information. And so I don't know if either of you have experienced like getting to a problem, getting stuck, leaving the problem.

Amy Seeley: It sounds like taking a test with students, right?

Dan Lerman: Oh, there we go. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, so something I teach

Mike Bergin: And that's called cognitive incubation.

Amy Seeley: I love it. I didn't know that term.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, incubation. Like you're, you're. There's two, two reasons it might be happening. One is just a fresh look at the problem. The other is, is like the unconscious mind is working on it in the background and you could see it when you're thinking of someone's name. The tip of the tongue phenomenon. Like I can't remember their name but like I start thinking about something else and then the name comes back to me. Or writer's block or coder's block or. Yeah, of course, like on the ACT, if you just feel like you can't get the answer and then you leave and then you come back. I actually the title of my dissertation is. Is. Is a method that like just like leave the problem and come back later is. Is the rough non academic explanation of my, my dissertation.

Mike Bergin: That is some fascinating stuff. But we're going to skip to an entirely different topic which is equally compelling to all of us. And that's the qualities of great educators and coaches. And we know, Dan, that you give a lot of thought to this. What do you see are the foundational qualities of a great tutor or coach?

Dan Lerman: I love this question, Mike. Thanks. I spent fair amount of time thinking about this when I was building my tutoring company. And wasn't until recently that I've really started to kind of elucidate these feelings, write them down, start to communicate them to others. I'm a big fan of the psychologist Carl Rogers. He's a humanist psychologist from the 1950s and 60s. Kind of mentioned in the same breath as Maslow. Maslow, famous for his hierarchy of needs. Carl Rogers wrote a book called On Becoming a Human and in it he outlines the quality of a great therapist and his framework. He has three qualities that make a great therapist and those qualities are empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. Empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard. And I think those are foundational for a good tutor. Empathy. I think we all know what empathy is. The ability to feel what another person is feeling. Congruence I think is less talked about and I think it's just so important. When I was a bad tutor, I started.

Amy Seeley: When I was a bad tutor. I love that.

Dan Lerman: Oh, it lasted a long time.

Amy Seeley: Early days.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, in the early days when I was a bad tutor, I. I was fortunate enough to have some mentors who were very open about what wasn't working for me. You know, one of them. I remember Dan Gonzalez at Manhattan gmat, which is now Manhattan Prep. I was auditioning for a job with them, and he described my teaching as glossy. Ooh, glossy, glossy. And he was very kind about it, but, like, very clear. Like, Daniel, I feel like I.

Amy Seeley: So slick, would that be an appropriate, like, synonym for that? Slick. I don't know.

Dan Lerman: Slick. I think what he was saying is, like, I just wasn't being myself, you know, I was like, oh, and now, Amy, you can back solve. And like, it just wasn't the way I've interpreted it is. I wasn't being congruent. Like, I maybe was feeling uncomfortable, but trying to present as polished or feeling angry and trying to present as nice. And I think this is what congruence means. Like, are you being genuine, authentic? Am I being Dan Lerman right now? And I hope. I don't know. I haven't done a ton of podcasts. I hope I'm coming through as being authentic and not glossy right now. And I try and bring that to my tutoring. Like, if I'm confused, I'll be like, oh, man, that is confusing. Like, I'll actually speak my experience.

Amy Seeley: I wonder if that authenticity translates into, like, relatability, do you think?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I hope so. I don't know. I can't control anyone else's experience. I hope I'm relatable. But I looked, man, I looked at a lot. Hundreds of hours of videos of me tutoring, which is painful to do when. When you're as bad as I was.

Amy Seeley: Actually, that makes me think with our Fathom note takers these days. Right. And recordings, that's actually a really. Would be a very good exercise for a lot of us teachers and tutors, especially if you've been in the space for a while. Because we kind of take for granted how we're coming across. And yet if we were to watch ourselves, that's a real exercise, right?

Dan Lerman: Totally. I love, love, love that idea, Amy. And you could even take the transcript of Fathom and feed it into an AI tool and say, critique me. Like, what went well here? Which I've done with a couple of my tutor friends couple of times. Not like, we do this regularly, but right when these tools came out, we're like, take this transcript. What am I doing well? What am I not doing well? It doesn't capture things like vocal quality and authenticity, but it does capture the words that you're using and can give you some feedback there. But I think. I think looking at yourself in the mirror and saying what. What's good what's not having trusted colleagues, trusted friends of yours that are great tutors. You give you feedback that has helped me come a long way, and I hope to continue to do that.

Mike Bergin: So, you know, we can identify great qualities or take qualities of great educators or coaches. Are great educators born or made? Can anybody be trained to be a great tutor or coach?

Dan Lerman: This might be my personal optimism as a human being. I think with enough time, anything can be coached. I think with enough time, anything can be coached.

Amy Seeley: That is a growth mindset, Dan.

Mike Bergin: So anyone can be taught to exhibit congruence. Anyone can be taught to display unconditional positive regard. Right. You can be technical about it. Even if you don't feel that unconditional positive regard, you can orient yourself to at least manifest the physical appearance of it.

Dan Lerman: I think that's exactly right, Mike. You know, how does that happen? Right. I think a conversation. If you and I were working together, Mike, and I was a starting tutor and was delivering. I think it really requires looking at you while you're tutoring. Yeah. And if. If while I was tutoring, someone got a bad score on the ACT reading, and the. The news I delivered to that student was, you really suck versus. Okay, look, what I'm seeing here is you don't know how to read. But great news. I'm gonna. I'm gonna show you. Like, I know exactly what's going on. I've been here before. I've seen people in 19s before. I think you're just tuning out, and I think I can help. Like, let's take a look. I think that second one is better objectively than the first, and sometimes it doesn't even occur to people. So what I'm. I'm trying to say is with. With good mentors, good mentorship, alternative approaches, alternative words, alternative phrasings can be taught. I see it in myself. I'm still learning. I'm picking up little phrases and language in areas that I maybe didn't think about as much as other people have. And I'm using them. So I think I'm getting better. 18 years into this game, well.

Amy Seeley: Would almost propose a sensitivity to a student to try to meet them where they're at, like, to try to. Like, I find myself in that very first session with a student, like, really within the first 10 minutes, trying to figure out, like, what's the student going to be all about? Like, what's going to drive them, what's going to upset them? Right. You know, sort of. Because I feel like a great tutor can sort of almost modulate, right. To sort of figure out where do I get this student? You know, and because it's not going to be the same for every student. Students might have the same goals. I want a better score. But how to get there. Sometimes, really, there's a nuance to that.

Mike Bergin: Yeah. I'm going to push back a little on the concept that anybody can be a great tutor or coach, because I think that the great ones have empathy and without.

Amy Seeley: Is that teachable? Is that coachable? That's the question I have.

Mike Bergin: Can you exhibit sufficient interest, compassion, and where required social intelligence to navigate challenges? I think a lot of educators are technicians. They're like, I'm good at calculus. This is calculus. I'm going to give you calculus. And you're going to take it the way I give it to you.

Amy Seeley: You're going to take this dosage.

Mike Bergin: Right. And that might be a decent tutor. Right. Because they know the material. They may be professional, they may show up on time, they may be responsive. They may have all those things, but without the ability to create a connection, which is, you know, I mean, it's. It's. Again, it was one of those Rogers qualities that you describe. I feel like the true spark can't happen.

Dan Lerman: I think it's really, really well put. And again, I haven't had this con that it's so fun to be having this conversation with you guys, because these conversations happen with myself in my head.

Amy Seeley: When I'm in the shower.

Dan Lerman: Can you teach sensitivity? Can you teach hearing? I think, you know, I agree with both of you. Amy's point about sensitivity is, I think, one that I was just mulling over. Can sensitivity be taught? And in my experience, I think when I wasn't as sensitive or present or trying to, you know, being as focused on that connection as you're talking about, I'm like, I was very much in my head and egotistical. I was worried I might not know enough. I was worried I don't. I might not be able to fill this hour.

Amy Seeley: Yeah, well, I think in the beginning, I mean, I think back because I started my tutoring journey. I mean, I was fresh out of college. I mean, I was 22. I did have an education degree. And I remember the fear that I had, you know, with testing, right? Students bring you a test and you look over questions. Now, I was. I was very formally trained at Princeton Review. So all the materials, everything I knew because I'd been provided, and I looked over those and, you know, studied those But I remember the fear if someone were to bring me a question that I had not done before, and usually that specifically is going to be math, Right? A math question where I remember that it was like, you know, I had ways of trying to dash that, like, oh, let's do that next session, or. And I remember that fear. But what's interesting, over my career now that we, we got so many tests over the years, like TIR’s from acts where they'd show up and there it is. I actually found myself being more relatable or empathetic because I would look at a question not having ever seen it before, but I could talk to my students if I was in their position. Wow. If this were the question I were given, what would I do? And I found that I could express the fact that I wasn't sure initially or how would I process this, but I would walk through it with them. And I think that the fact that your tutor could look at something and find it difficult and to express that, I think allows a student to feel like, oh, if they have to think through this, you know, I can still. I can think through this too. Like, it's possible to see something initially and not know it or understand it, but then work through it.

Mike Bergin: That's good, Amy. I'm going to throw out what I think is an easy question.

Dan Lerman: Thanks.

Mike Bergin: How do you know if you are not a great tutor?

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Amy Seeley: Dad's like, I don't know because I've only known myself to be great tutor.

Mike Bergin: You can take it from the other side and say, how do you know if you're a great tutor?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, no, I like the question. How do you know if you're not a great tutor? Well, Mike nailed the importance of connection. It's a very kind of intimate, present feeling to be a great tutor, to form a connection, to know someone's mind. If you don't have the desire to do that, if the desire to connect is not there, if you are in sessions and they feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable, you know, of course there are moments of uncomfortability, even in great tutoring sessions. But if you leave a long tutoring session, like, man, that painful. Wasn't comfortable. That was painful. I really barely escaped that one without them figuring me out. You know, I think I'm just trying to recreate memories from my early tutoring days. Doesn't sound like you're doing a good job. I think the flip side is when things go well, I really feel in flow. I feel like God is coming through me. You know, I. I really do Feel.

Amy Seeley: Channeling the divine

Dan Lerman: Completely. I. Honestly, this sounds silly and insane. I had a tutoring session the other day. I walked down, I told my wife. It's like I just felt like. Like God came through me. I was having a bad day, personally. I went into a tutoring session, forgot myself completely, left myself. I love the fact, and this is a little bit random, but someone taught me a couple years ago the root of the word NA XECHORIZEI. Do you guys know the root of the word NA XECHORIZEI?

Amy Seeley: Oh, God. You're asking the right guy, Mike.

Mike Bergin: Yeah, it's like to stand out.

Dan Lerman: To stand outside of oneself is one interpretation from ancient Greek to stand outside. Very good, Mike. No one I've asked has ever known that.

Mike Bergin: I do publish the roots to words.

Dan Lerman: Word of the day makes a lot of sense.

Amy Seeley: That means NA XECHORIZEI is going to be on next week's Roots.

Mike Bergin: It might have already been on. I didn't.

Dan Lerman: There it is. Yeah, but that is such a stand outside oneself. Yeah.

Amy Seeley: That's funny. I've never thought about that. Being in a session where you're. You actually. You don't have a sense of yourself. It's all about the student. That's a very interesting thought. I've never thought about that.

Mike Bergin: So I'm going to come at this from a totally different. And I think, Dan, this is betraying that we might come from different schools of psychology because I look at it as completely behavioral or mechanistic. You're a great tutor if you get results and you get referrals. You're not a great tutor if you're missing one or both of those things. Yeah, right. It's not how you feel about it. I think that a person can be really good at something and not enjoy it.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Amy Seeley: Well, no, I think what you're. I think that what we're talking about, maybe, Dan, because I can relate to what you're saying is it's almost like you're not even thinking about it. And I think. But you're right. That's almost like actually, let's call that tutor Zen. Right. Where you can get to that level. Right. Where that there's almost nothing. The thought about it. It's just the. The moment, being in the moment, being present for your student. I think that's what you're describing. And I can relate. Shouldn't say that I'm good at that, but I would say that I can relate to that being like, wow. But that comes, I think, from time, experience, knowing students, knowing your content, where that can happen.

Dan Lerman: I think you're both Right. You know, just like psychology, there are Freudians, there are behaviorists, there's a couple, their cognitive psychology, there's different lenses with which to look at this. And yeah, I agree with both. Amy, I agree with you because, you know, that was the point I brought up. Of course I agree with myself and like, you know, the idea that you, by leaving yourself, make it entirely about the other person or present for that person. But Mike, your point's a really good one. And in thinking about this conversation, I was thinking about a psychologist named B.F. skinner. Do you know, do you know about Skinner?

Mike Bergin: The founder of behaviorism? Right, exactly.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And the Psychological association came from Pavlov. Very good, Amy. So he, I think, would totally agree with you, Mike. He would say human emotion, human feelings are all overrated and they're so subjective that we shouldn't even talk about them. Forget feeling, throw it away. Let's just look at behaviors, let's just look at results. And that is an interesting, I think, business forward and objective data heavy way of looking at quality of tutors. I have at points been in moments where I've been running a company and been looking at myself and other tutors that way. I think it's totally valid. I think it's totally valid. What are your results objectively and how many referrals are you getting? I think are two great metrics.

Amy Seeley: Well, let's, let's talk about, we're talking about results. Let's kind of translate this into what we all do, which is test prep. So beyond teaching to a test, what do you think DM that a great tutor teaches?

Dan Lerman: Yeah. One thing I keep coming back to is curiosity, academic curiosity, curiosity about the test. If there's a situation like the one you described, Amy, where there's a question I've never seen before. Just like saying I've never seen, you know, box and Whisker Plaza. You know, there was a moment in whatever 2018 where that popped up for the first time. I was like, oh, I like, I vaguely remember this from college. But look, you'll get to see me figure this out in real time and, oh, it's that interesting. It's a little rectangle. And so I think curiosity in, in the micro, but also the macro. I get to know my students very well on a personal level. I go out of my way to do that, to build rapport. I think it's a really important part of the whole process, the whole job and ultimately getting referrals too. But modeling curiosity and talking about what I'm reading. Oh, here's this book called the Artist's way. It's a 12 week guide to unlocking your creativity. And I'm going through it with a couple of my friends. It's really fun. That's a true fact. And you know, I share the fact that I'm a very almost pathologically curious person with my students. I think that helps. I think that helps beyond the test, beyond curiosity. I, I think especially nowadays it's a novel idea to let people know that you could, you could associate reading with pleasure. Is a big one. Yeah.

Mike Bergin: Yeah. that's a big thing to teach.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Mike Bergin: I think any educator or coach, anybody in any walk of life who impacts a teen should be trying to really drive that lesson home. You can be a sports coach, you could be a music teacher, whatever. Anybody should be helping people find that pleasure.

Dan Lerman: Totally, totally. And it's, I, I joke with people about it, but really this thought has not occurred to a lot of 11th graders because English class has been such a drag. You know, it's been going through the motions and pretending like you understand what the Scarlet letter means. And it's just I, you know, I really early on make a push that you learning to read in an elite level, learning to enjoy it will change your life. So I think that goes beyond the test and some of the most lasting impacts I've had when tutoring goes really well. Sure. 35 on the ACT. But you know, I love Kurt Vonnegut now. You know, I've read every one of his books. Years later. I love that.

Mike Bergin: So I guess we should talk about the current state of tutor training because we can try to quantify the qualities that educators and coaches should have, but there really aren't many formal ways for educators to develop that. Right.

Dan Lerman: I'm actually curious with how you guys got to where you are. For me, I, to pay for acting classes when I was 20, got hired by Kaplan. I don't remember who Kaplan.

Amy Seeley: People in the room.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't remember who trained me. It was at the Long Island Center. I remember getting a binder and you know, like, yeah, Princeton had this big script.

Amy Seeley: Big, big red binder.

Dan Lerman: Totally. Yeah. I can't remember the colors. Color various, but it was probably purple. But the. Not only did they have a script for what you should say that I remember on the bottom of each page they had a transition to the next page. So it was very, very. Here's the, here's everything you can say it was a script. It was unbelievable.

Mike Bergin: When I write curriculum, I still incorporate stuff like that, you know, just because, like, you learn that model and it makes a lot sense and it's helpful. I think what you're getting at is, right, that most formal tutor training comes if you work for a company and that you have to work for someone who's going to invest professional development time in you. It's not like going to school and going to tutor school.

Amy Seeley: Well, think about why that is, though. A big company, it's like a McDonald's. You need to walk into McDonald's and a cheeseburger McDonald's is the same no matter where you buy that McDonald's cheeseburger. So for a big company, the reason why that training has to be so formalized is intentionally to try to make sure as. As much as you can that that tutoring or that that teaching is the same.

Mike Bergin: But great tutors aren't like, no, no, no, no, no.

Amy Seeley: No, no, they're not. What I'm saying is that is a great foundation. What someone does with that training is what will elevate them to an amazing tutor. Because was very useful for me, but I don't use that script.

Mike Bergin: But I'm saying I think that that's fine. In an industry where the only tutors are tutors that work in those environments, shouldn't there be some ways for people to get tutor training where they don't have to apprentice themselves 100%?

Amy Seeley: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Sure, sure. Yeah, I get that.

Mike Bergin: I mean, if this is a professional craft and nobody teaches it, that's weird. There's a big disconnect that people can have tremendous careers as tutors, not as classroom teachers. Certified class, like teacher certification doesn't really carry in the tutor space. Right. A person can go and become a school counselor, but that won't teach them to become a college counselor.

Amy Seeley: Truth.

Mike Bergin: College counselors at least have certification programs.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. I'm so happy you guys brought this up. I think every tutor training program that exists is. Is created by someone who employs you, who would employ you. I think that's how it currently works. Like. Like an apprentice model. It's how. How mine have worked. And I think, Mike, I love how you're comparing it to other fields, other educational fields. This is strange. And it's time for a change. So over the last two years, I've been applying and bugging Columbia to let me teach a course on tutoring. Here's how to be a great tutor. I don't think again, someone might. A listener might correct me on this, but I don't think course on tutoring, on being a great tutor has ever been taught at the university level. And after two years Columbia finally listened to me and in January they have a kind of shortened winter term. From January 2nd to January 16th I'm teaching almost like a boot camp. It's called Advanced Tutoring techniques and I'm running the course. I think as long as 25 people sign up and they feel confident that number of people sign up. So that course is kind of my baby. I care very much about it. I'm putting a lot of work, a lot of thought into how to get some of these ideas that we're talking about across. And maybe, you know, if things go well, the hope and dream would be to turn it into a deeper thing. Whether it's, you know, full semester course as tutor certification program through Columbia. I've I floated all of these ideas and people are aware of them. But I think it depends on this first kind of pilot going well to maybe start to shift towards a direction where the people who train you are focused on pedagogy, not on employing you.

Mike Bergin: Yeah, that is fascinating. We will look forward to hearing how that goes and maybe have a follow up episode find out how that goes. But for now though, we could talk about this all day. We are out of time. Thanks for joining us today, Dan.

Dan Lerman: You guys rock. Thanks so much.

Mike Bergin: If listeners would like to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Dan Lerman: They want to email me directly. My email address is DML2183. That's Daniel Matthew Lerman 2183@TC.Columbia EDU. Or they could check out my personal website which is just dan lerman.com awesome.

Amy Seeley: We hope you enjoyed this discussion as much as we did. Be sure to join us for another fascinating topic and guest on the next Tests and the Rest.

Host: Did you enjoy this episode as much as we did? Find expanded links and more for this and all of our episodes at our show page of tests and the rest.com while you're there, be sure to explore everything the larger Test Bright site has to offer, including real, expert, unbiased answers to the toughest admissions testing questions. Of course, we'd love for you to rate, review and subscribe to Test and the Rest on your favorite podcast platform. If there's a topic or guest you'd like us to feature, just let us know and spread the word.

Most Viral Tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@practicalprofessor/video/7187548995424750891

Bonus Funny Video

https://www.tiktok.com/@practicalprofessor/video/7192374676499287342?_t=8qzkqTqi9Vu&_r=1

If you want to be a doctor, you go to medical school. If you want to be a CPA, you need to take the Series 7 (is that right? I have no idea about how to become and accountant). If you want to become a tutor, you…

Do it with me now, just say it out loud: “I’m a tutor!”

Great. Now you, too, are a tutor.

And if you want to get good, maybe you can convince someone who runs a tutoring company to train you before they plug you into their system and take 50% of your earnings.

This is a strange system. It reminds me of the middle ages.

While there are some exceptions to this rule (LXT member Alicia Carpenter is the CEO of Forum Education, which takes a much lower percentage), the status quo makes this industry a bit like the wild, wild west.

It got me thinking: if there was a certification program, what would it look like? Here are some ideas:

​

1. Teach Established Principles of Cognitive Science

Spaced repetition, metacognition, and cognitive load are really basic principles of Cognitive Science that teachers ignore all the time. Reducing Cognitive Load = don’t make shit too complicated, yet I see slides like this one all the time:

2. Give Personalized Feedback

Oooooh, this is one scary but necessary. I have interviewed and hired hundreds of tutors, and most people are terrible when they start. They talk to much, they don’t know what to say, they are nervous, they keep bringing up the Yankees, etc etc. I was there, too, for a long time. But training programs where I got real feedback (notably Manhattan Prep’s 100 hour training program and the guidance of Matt Bardin at Zinc) made me better. How often in this life do you get the chance to get real, honest feedback from a master?

Video of me being a terrible teacher in 2011.

3. Encourage schemas that work

At its core, tutoring involves sharing frameworks (or schemas) that work to accomplish the task at hand. I have a famously good one for teaching commas (8 rules; 4 major and 4 minor uses). If you have great schemas, you can communicate them and change thinking effectively. Schemas.

LXT Member of the Month:

See you next month!

LXT

A beacon of academic and cognitive exploration, Dr. Lerman has consistently pushed the boundaries of education. His illustrious career commenced with a fellowship at St. Paul’s School in London as a Colet Fellow, where his diverse teaching portfolio included Science and Drama between 2011 and 2012. He further enhanced his pedagogical repertoire at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, contributing to students’ academic and creative growth from 2012 to 2021.

With degrees from Duke University and Columbia University, Dr. Lerman’s expertise spans psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, underscoring his specialty in creative problem-solving.

Dr. Lerman’s trajectory continued at Oxford University, where an innovative approach to cognitive science distinguished his pedagogy and research. This was complemented by his service at Manhattan Prep, where he honed his skills in standardized test preparation, commanding a rate of $1250 per hour, solidifying his status as one of the world’s premier private tutors.

Creating the League of Exceptional Tutors is another testament to Dr. Lerman’s dedication to educational excellence, fostering a community of world-leading private tutors. This initiative, coupled with his professorship at Columbia University, epitomizes his influence and commitment to advancing the field of education.

With degrees from Duke University and Columbia University, Dr. Lerman’s expertise spans psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, underscoring his specialty in creative problem-solving.

His contributions extend beyond academia into philanthropy, with initiatives like the Humans Teach Foundation, which promotes AI literacy. His ingenuity also shines through the “The Backyard Comedy Series,” a charitable endeavor in his backyard designed to alleviate the contemporary challenge of loneliness.

Dr. Lerman’s foresight in educational innovation, allied with an ethical and professional ethos, continues to guide his endeavors. His path is marked by the high regard of his clientele and his leadership in educational strategy and community engagement.

About Marquis Who’s Who®

Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who’s Who in America®, Marquis Who’s Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who’s Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who’s Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

Passion

I chose a subject that I genuinely love – Cognitive Science (inspired by the book Thinking Fast and Slow). Since I was connecting with a love of learning, there was was no pressure to finish the degree (or even progress). Made it much easier to chip away!

Professional Development Budget

While teaching at Saint Ann’s, they generously offered to pay about $5k per semester for classes. This covered about half of the costs.

Scholarships

I got good grades and got an academic scholarship. This covered almost all of the rest of the costs (I had to pay for college fees, and a few classes at the end). I took 1-2 classes per semester, got a Masters in 2017, another Masters in 2020, and then finally defended in December and got the PhD in 2024.

Pictures

Conclusion

In true Dan Lerman fashion, I had a strict deadline to finish before getting kicked out of the program (was taking too long), and I handed in my dissertation 1 hour before that deadline. The dissertation is 111 pages and it’s called “To LERM or Not To LERM?” If you could get a PhD in anything, what would it be?!

Let’s talk about what is changing, what that means, and what’s next.

What’s Changing for the SATs

This isn’t just about one school.

Dartmouth’s decision to make SAT scores mandatory could trigger a domino effect across all universities.

The message is clear: strong reading skills are non-negotiable.

• Test-optional policies are out.
• SAT scores become mandatory for Dartmouth applicants.
• Reading comprehension skills take center stage.

What This Means

We’re potentially seeing a major shift in college admissions: after years of declining standardized testing requirements, this could mark the beginning of their resurgence.

So what’s next?

Watch for other universities’ responses. This could be the start of a new trend in college admissions.

If Dartmouth’s on your radar, you need to dust off those SAT prep books.

TikTok Video

Check out the full video on my TikTok below:

@practicalprofessor The SAT is baaaaack #college #sat #thinkingsmart #act #practicalprofessor ♬ Looking for a Place – The Spyres

Follow me on TikTok for more updates on college admissions trends and analysis.

In this episode, we explore practical tips and science-backed strategies to enhance cognitive function, boost learning, improve reading comprehension, and strengthen memory.

Video

Watch the full conversation on YouTube by clicking here.

Or watch it below:

Full Transcript

Luke Jeraci: Hey, what's up, beautiful people? Welcome back to Free Game Productions. I have my friend here, Handsome Dan, Dan Lerman. He's an intelligence expert, PhD in cognitive science, and the world's top private tutor. He actually—I'm the one that dropped the ball—but he's gonna teach me, and I'm gonna retake my SATs at some point. Hell yeah.

Dan Lerman: Public commitment. Goodness. Now I'm gonna see some follow-through. That's great.

Luke Jeraci: It is a public commitment. So, one of the things Dan can do is he can help you increase your intelligence. Yes. How can you help people increase intelligence?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, it's a really good question, and I probably should have prepared a specific answer. There are a couple things that come to mind. I think it would be good to ask yourself what intelligence you're interested in.

Luke Jeraci: Okay. What kind of intelligences are there?

Dan Lerman: Huh. The one that I kind of specialize in is traditional intelligence, the one that is measured by IQ, the one that generally is related to reading, writing, math, and maybe some processing speed in there before we go into that.

Luke Jeraci: What are the other types too?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, there's a lot. You know, Howard Gardner's book Frames of Mind comes to mind. He talks about multiple intelligences, and people love the theory of multiple intelligences. And I think he's got eight of them in there. I don't remember them offhand, but there's like musical and kinesthetic and athletic, and I don't know—if you think about the people that you know of that are gifted in any domain, I think you could call those intelligences.

Luke Jeraci: How do you know the definition of intelligence?

Dan Lerman: Not really. No.

Luke Jeraci: My guess would be it'd be something about, like, an ability to problem-solve or figure something out.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, that feels right. That feels right. I think there's definitely a comparative element to it. To describe someone as intelligent, they have to be better than most people or, like, highly intelligent. So that's maybe something I'd throw in there.

Luke Jeraci: Okay.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. But yeah, let's take this conversation wherever you want to go. I think I can definitely help people get more intelligent in the classical intelligence realm and make them feel more confident. Like, confidence is such a big part of this, Luke. Like, if you feel confident in your brain—which is what I really help people do—your whole world opens up.

Luke Jeraci: So, like, a self-fulfilling prophecy of the mind.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Oh, tremendously big. Part of what I do is help people break through the barriers that they've set for themselves. They don't think they're smart. They've gone to traditional schools, and they've been in classrooms where they're told they're not that smart. And I help them destroy that belief.

Luke Jeraci: There's—I wish I could remember the name. I should have remembered the name of the study. But there was some researcher that did a study, and they went into—I want to say it was an elementary school—and they told—let's just say, hypothetically, those of you that are familiar with it, I'm sorry if I bastardize this a little bit—but they go into, we'll say, kindergarten, and they tell the school that, we'll say, 15 of the students are geniuses. And they tell the school that 15 of the students are just imbeciles. And they completely randomized it. The 15 that they told the school were geniuses, by the time they graduated, were all, like, accelerating at a genius level. And the ones that were told were imbeciles were all way behind.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. So good. So much from that. First of all, I gotta say, you know the word "imbecile" as well as the word "moron." And there's one other one that might come to me in a second. These are all words that were created by intelligence psychologists so they would measure people on IQ tests back in, like, the early 1900s when these were created. And if you were a standard deviation below the norm, you were an imbecile. If you were two standard deviations below the norm, you were a moron. And I think the third one was "idiot." You guys can double-check me online. But, so, the words "imbecile," "moron," and "idiot" were scientific terms, like, describing people's intelligence levels. And now we just call everyone an idiot and imbecile and a moron. You know, use that word?

Luke Jeraci: No, no, I used it because that was the word that they used.

Dan Lerman: So good. Yeah, yeah. The other thing that popped up for me—I do, you know, I've done well in traditional schools. I've gotten really good grades, gone to fancy schools, whatever. And I do think one of the things I think about, like, how that happened—one of the things my parents definitely did was they made me feel like a genius. I don't know if it was true or not, but they definitely made me feel that way over and over again. I think they—my mom, I remember her using that word a lot. And I have a daughter now who's one year old, and my mom is already calling her a genius.

Luke Jeraci: Beautiful.

Dan Lerman: I know. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I mean, it's like, I don't know if there's a term for it. We'll call it the Kanye West effect.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Where you just swagger. Yeah. You just refuse to believe otherwise.

Dan Lerman: There's something there that's, like, monumental. Like, especially around intelligence, it's amazingly powerful to have confidence in your cognitive abilities.

Luke Jeraci: That's a—I like that term. Confidence in the cognitive abilities.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, cognitive confidence.

Luke Jeraci: Okay, so cognitive confidence is a huge determining factor. Would that be similar to, like, something like self-efficacy?

Dan Lerman: Huh.

Luke Jeraci: And by self-efficacy, I'm thinking of, like, a business psychology term.Concurrent I learned.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Where it's your belief in the ability to get it done causes you to get it done.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I think of that in sports all the time.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. I think self-efficacy is broader, and cognitive confidence is specifically with, like, your mental abilities. You could have self-efficacy that you're going to run a marathon, it seems like, right?

Luke Jeraci: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: So I think they're related. Maybe cognitive confidence is specifically, like, learning or doing things with your mind.

Luke Jeraci: Okay, so how do you help people increase their cognitive confidence?

Dan Lerman: So the main way—like, my main business comes from private tutoring. I get flown all over the world to tutor people privately. I charge $1,250 an hour to do that. And the reason people pay that is because I'm able to do this really effectively. And usually there's a whole range of things I see. But, like, the average kid nowadays has no cognitive confidence, never reads, loves TikTok, and has no interests—like, no passions. Like, what do you do on weekends? "I hang out with my friends." What are you into? Like, maybe sports, but, like, sometimes—like, nothing but hanging out with my friends. So, how do you foster cognitive confidence in someone? The first step is I find out what they love, what they're passionate about.

Luke Jeraci: I'm gonna write this down for me and Danielle.

Dan Lerman: Hell yeah. So, I don't know. Can we play with—yeah, we talk about, like, would you be open to doing something that I would do in a session? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, like, typical weekend, Luke, what are you doing?

Luke Jeraci: Saturday? Probably a mushroom ceremony.

Dan Lerman: Nice.

Luke Jeraci: Friday, I'm gonna work early. We have our little meetings. After the meeting, I usually run to the gym, and then I come back to the office, try to touch base with my people, come home, and then smoke, meditate, relax, watch a movie with Danielle, read. Fridays, actually, I like to go to sleep early.

Dan Lerman: Okay, cool. That's pretty good. I'm hearing a lot in there. And you—you're way more active and accomplished than a lot of the, you know, 16-year-olds I work with. But let's go with mushrooms. Okay. You're interested in mushrooms?

Luke Jeraci: Yep.

Dan Lerman: Have you read about them at all?

Luke Jeraci: Yes.

Dan Lerman: What have you read?

Luke Jeraci: A bunch of academic research in the AMA, a bunch of medical research, and then, really, it's all kind of—and then some, actually, like, history, like esoteric religious books. And there's a book called Psychedelic Gospels, which is super cool. I actually have it upstairs. Yeah, I have so many books on them, and I like reading about them so that if I speak to somebody who thinks of it the way that it's been portrayed in the media, I'm able to factually explain my positions. They're not going to understand my experiential experience—like, right? Like, "Hey, I connected with God at a different—" Like, how do you explain that? But I can be like, "Hey, you know, it actually improves your hearing, your senses, your brain speed, your neurons. It smooths out your brain and helps get rid of depressing thoughts. The fMRIs have shown." So I like to use that type of stuff.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And how much are you getting paid to do this type of research work? Reading?

Luke Jeraci: Nothing.

Dan Lerman: Zero. Good. Okay, great. You're an amazing, like, finished product of what someone looks like after they work with me—if it goes well, you know. You—your cognitive confidence with mushrooms is very high. Like, if an article came out, you'd read it, you'd learn about it. Sick. Most kids I work with, they're like blank slates. They're like, "I want to go into business." Have you ever read anything about business? Well, I know you have, but they're kind of like, "No." And they feel ashamed about it. So I get them into what they're—they're, you know, connected to what fuels them, and I can't give that to them. We go in whatever different direction they want to go in, and then I get them reading great stuff—like mind-expanding stuff, stuff that's challenging complex ideas in that arena. And then, little by little, they build towards what you are, which is an incredibly confident learner. Like, it's—you're exactly what I'm aiming for.

Luke Jeraci: Confidence is definitely not something I lack.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Maybe I should call you in and have you talk to some of my kids. Oh, yeah, yeah. So, I thought, you know, ideally, I'm trying to transform people into confident learners in whatever they love. A big part of that is getting them reading. I'm a big believer in reading. Almost everyone I work with is not a big reader, and I have to, like, go into the weeds, show them text, and tell them exactly what should be going through their mind to enjoy reading and do it effectively.

Luke Jeraci: Okay. So, I'm an avid reader, actually. Dan runs a book club. That's awesome. I'm trying to get him to make it, like, a public thing. So, hopefully, you guys see Learning with Lerman soon.

Dan Lerman: Learning with Lerman.

Luke Jeraci: On a side note, we'll pretend I'm not an avid reader, and we haven't done this. Let's say I want to read a book about physics and how the world is a byproduct of consciousness.

Dan Lerman: Cool.

Luke Jeraci: How would I—how would you get me to go into it? And then, would you do book reviews? How would you go about that?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I mean, I've read a lot of stuff, so I have a lot of introductory articles. I gotta say, it's pretty rare that I get a 16- or 17-year-old who's, like, really interested in physics. But what I'd probably do is, like, run a Google Scholar search—like, run an academic article search for something cool—or find—I really like the New York Review of Books. They're, like, 10-page articles that are highbrow and challenging. And we'd read it together.

Luke Jeraci: The New York Review of Books.

Dan Lerman: New York Review of Books. Yeah. So, yeah, like, any article that's, like, three to 10 pages—that's kind of where we'd start. My—one of my favorites that I think you would love, actually—do you know David Foster Wallace is—or was?

Luke Jeraci: I know the name, but I don't know why.

Dan Lerman: Famous book called Infinite Jest. And he's kind of this unbelievable modern writer. He actually committed suicide about 10 years ago, and he wrote this article called "Consider the Lobster." And I love starting people on that because you can get this article online. The first page, you think it's about this lobster festival in Maine—this, like, hokey, obese lobster festival in Maine. You're like, "What the hell's going on here? Why am I reading this?" And by the end, it's not what you expect. And a lot of times, people read this article with me, and they're like, "This is the first thing I've ever read that I've liked." And then that opens up a can of worms—you know, like, they start reading things and start liking it, and they get smarter, they get more confident. Their test scores usually go up as a byproduct. So that's generally how it works.

Luke Jeraci: I heard Jim Rohn—who's one of my favorites—he spoke about—maybe it's Zig Ziglar, actually—but they spoke about how improved vocabulary correlates completely with improved finances, like, in all these different things. Do you go into vocabulary a lot?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I don't drill vocabulary, but it's a byproduct of reading good stuff. So, like, when I keep saying, like, you gotta read good stuff—like, I love Harry Potter. I don't think reading Harry Potter is going to make you smarter. And you'll have a blast.

Luke Jeraci: Shots fired, Danielle.

Dan Lerman: I'm so sorry, Danielle. That's why I avoided eye contact. The look she's giving me—I'm so—so, it's a blast. But one of the things I think makes something, like, mind-expanding when you read it is the vocabulary and the complexity of ideas. So, one of the oldest psychological tests in the world is a vocabulary test. If you give someone, like, 10 vocabulary words, and if you see how many of the 10 they know, it's not perfectly correlated to intelligence, but it's a good predictor of how—quote, unquote—intelligent someone is. So that's why the SAT, back when we were taking it, had vocabulary words—they're, like, those analogies. I don't know if you remember those. Those are no longer on the test. But vocabulary is tested in kind of more subtle ways. So, yes, vocabulary is part of being intelligent. Yes, reading will make your vocabulary go through the roof. I personally think drilling index cards—it's kind of boring and a waste of time, in my opinion.

Luke Jeraci: Do you touch on etymology at all? I love etymology.

Dan Lerman: I've actually developed a love of etymology. Can we—do you have a favorite word?

Luke Jeraci: The first word that pops into my mind is "paradox."

Dan Lerman: Okay. Do you know the etymology? No, I don't know if I do either. My favorite word is "callipygian." Do you know that word?

Luke Jeraci: No.

Dan Lerman: Callipygian. The prefix "cali"—like, beautiful, like "Cali," the name "Cali," from Greek—and "pygian" means buttocks. So "callipygian" means having a nicely shaped ass.

Luke Jeraci: Nice.

Dan Lerman: Isn't that nice that there's a word for that?

Luke Jeraci: Dude, I love it. I love just going back and seeing what the original meaning was and how it shaped over time.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: You have an example—the word "create."

Dan Lerman: Oh, yeah. Oh, tell me about that.

Luke Jeraci: So it goes to "creare" or "create" in Latin—I'm probably pronouncing it wrong—but in Spanish, it's still C-R-E-A-R. And that means to think, to believe, to create—in Spanish.

Dan Lerman: Sick, right?

Luke Jeraci: And you remove the "r" and you put "te," and you have "create." But it's interesting, right? So, first, you have to think it, and you have to believe it. Then you can create it.

Dan Lerman: Sick. I love that. I'm—I teach a class on creativity at Columbia, and I—I'm gonna use that on day one. That's day one.

Luke Jeraci: That's cool. Yeah, dude, that's so cool. I'd love to take that class with Professor Lerman. And then another one is "manifest," and it's, like, "mani" and "fest."

Dan Lerman: "Fest." And what's "mani"?

Luke Jeraci: Shoot. What is it, like? I always think of "man" as, like—I can't even think now—but it's, like, "man" with your hands. Yeah.

Dan Lerman: Like "manicure." That makes sense. Oh, yeah, with your hands. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: I don't know that one for sure. I'd pull my phone out and look it up—the etymology. But I know "fest," like the festival—like "Festivus."

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So the way I think of it is, like, you're creating happily, and often when you manifest, it's—there's an energy.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: In order to—like, in my opinion, it's, like, the real manifesting is—there's a belief and efficacy to it. And it's, like, your belief or that festival—that high energy—is what helps create the manifestation.

Dan Lerman: I love it. Yeah. That's a great one. What a cool word.

Luke Jeraci: And then last week—and I was just—we were just at Ram Dass's thing, and Violaine Marcus—her thing we were speaking about magic was—she was, like, "Magic is real to the degree that you believe it." And I think that that's such a powerful reality. So, like, the word—so, there's a famous Bible verse in the New Testament, like, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And I reference this all the time on this particular podcast, but the word "repent" is written as "metanoia," which is, like, change your way of thinking.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Alter your perception—thinking about thinking. So, in other words, alter your thinking. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand. They see, but they don't see. They hear, but they don't hear."

Dan Lerman: So it's, like, in some ways, like, an alternate to "paranoia," which is, like, thinking of, like, you're kind of negative in your head. "Metanoia" would be, like, freeing yourself.

Luke Jeraci: The opposite of "paranoid" would be "pronoia."

Dan Lerman: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. And "metanoia" is kind of, like, thinking—

Luke Jeraci: About thinking, but it's the way that they interpret it is, like, "altered," because "meta" is, like, the thing of itself.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: But "metanoia" would be, like, altered perception.

Dan Lerman: Love it. Cool. We're deep in the words here.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah.

Dan Lerman: I find myself thinking about words more often in my—in my old age—than I used to.

Luke Jeraci: Do you think primarily in words, or what's your thought—my process—my word—or my thought process is probably, like, 90% or more in words.

Dan Lerman: In words? I think I'm more images. I told you—you don't think in—

Luke Jeraci: Images, unless it's, like, a vision. No.

Dan Lerman: What about when you're reading something? Are you—what's going through your mind?

Luke Jeraci: No. And I thought everybody thought the way I did until grad school.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And honestly, because of words, I was reading about an autistic guy, John Elder Robison, who made, like, the first electric guitar and stuff. And he has a book called Look Me in the Eyes. And when I was reading that, I had—I went to Paris right after, and the way they say "nice to meet you" is "enchanté."

Dan Lerman: "Enchanté."

Luke Jeraci: Which is "you're enchanted."

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And I was, like, "Oh, my God, it's so much nicer than 'nice to meet you.'" And then that got me going down this whole rabbit hole. And in it, I read the autistic book—or the book on autism—and then I watched Temple about Temple Grandin.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And I realized that she doesn't think in words. She completely thought in pictures. And it blew my fucking mind. And I emailed a proposal to a cognitive professor at Syracuse University, and it was basically, like, a way to maybe help autistic people communicate better would be to help them program their mind to think more in words. But it's funny that you think primarily in images, and you're so articulate, and you write books, and—

Dan Lerman: Yeah, you know, like, Cognitive Science 101. Have you heard of the World Memory Championships?

Luke Jeraci: I've heard of them. I'm unfamiliar.

Dan Lerman: It's exactly what it sounds like. It's, like, the Olympics for the mind. And this guy named Joshua Foer wrote a book called Moonwalking with Einstein, which I love—I highly recommend. He was a journalist that became a memory athlete. And there's some tricks you can use to improve your memory right away. And one of them is thinking in images. Have you heard of the term "memory palace"?

Luke Jeraci: Is that where you create, like, a house? Yeah, I'm relatively familiar, but yeah.

Dan Lerman: The very basic example is, let's say you want to memorize the first however many digits of pi—like, visualize your childhood home. And on the door is a 3. And then you open the door, and then on the left, you see, like, a wooden table, and there's a 1-4. And then you go forward from that table, and there's a 1-5. And then you look to the right, and there's a tiger. And there's, like, a 9-6-2 on the tiger. And I'm probably breaking some of the rules and not—you know—but whatever. So you go and see the door, and what do you remember? What's on the door?

Luke Jeraci: A 3.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And then the first table on the left?

Luke Jeraci: I'm just gonna say 1—I wasn't—

Dan Lerman: It was 1-4. You close your eyes—I thought you were doing it. Yeah. So, if you actually go through that exercise and visualize it, you can memorize, like, thousands of digits of pi.

Luke Jeraci: I was—what was funny is I closed my eyes and was trying to picture my house, and I, like—

Dan Lerman: You got caught up in the house?

Luke Jeraci: No. I realized even that is hard for me.

Dan Lerman: It's hard for you? Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: Which is weird because I have a really good memory.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. You know, people have different minds. Like, this is one trick that generally seems to work—like, to actually visualize something. And if anyone's listening and they're, like, "I don't really read much, but I'd like to read," the number one tip I give is to tap into this—this muscle. And again, this might not work for you.

Luke Jeraci: No, no. It's something I'm sure I could develop.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. You know, if you're reading something, you really want to be having an experience. I like to start with poetry, actually. I sometimes do articles. I sometimes read short poems with my students. One that I'm loving lately is called "A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman. It's about feeling alone in the universe. It's really cool—two paragraphs—and you can have a profound experience reading these two paragraphs if you visualize and personalize it and make it about your life. So, a lot—I think a lot of people don't like reading because they haven't been taught to enjoy it. And the visualizing and tying it to your own life—those are two cognitive tools that I teach that let people enjoy the experience.

Luke Jeraci: That's pretty awesome. My—what happens to me with visualizations—which is funny, too, because obviously I'm a huge believer in sacred plants and entheogens. So that's a really cool etymology. "Entheogen" is, like, the real term for psychedelic. We've now stopped using the word, but it's "entheos"—the God within.

Dan Lerman: God within. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So, like, mushrooms, ayahuasca, stuff like that are classified as entheogenic plants. On those, I don't really get visuals. Yeah, I get inner knowings.

Dan Lerman: Sick.

Luke Jeraci: But, like, a lot of people get visuals, and I think it probably has to do with the way that you think—your way your messages primarily come in. But I would like to learn how to do that more because I'm sure that would help me with meditation.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. A couple things to, like, strengthen that idea that there is a strong visual muscle in your brain—you know, when did we learn to speak as a species? Like, I don't know—I don't actually know the answer to that question. But call it a million years ago—a couple million years ago. And we've been evolving for billions of years. So, 99.9% of our brain evolution—nonverbal. The verbal evolution is really pretty recent. On top of that, I have a one-year-old daughter who doesn't speak. But, man, she's definitely conscious, and she's thinking and putting ideas together. I watch it happen. So there's certainly something to your consciousness that's really strong that's nonverbal.

Luke Jeraci: Yeah. And again, what's interesting is when I do get some profound visions, they seem so important to me because I don't normally think that way.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So it's, like, the laws of power are basically a basic rule of economics—the law of scarcity.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So it becomes more valuable to me.

Dan Lerman: Because it doesn't happen often. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: But I would love to be able to think more visually.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I'm sure you could.

Luke Jeraci: I'm sure I could.

Dan Lerman: You're a powerful brain, man.

Luke Jeraci: I'm gonna get in touch with you on that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So, let's say I were to hire you for that. Why would I pay $1,250 an hour to hire you for that? Yeah, that's not technical.

Dan Lerman: I don't know. Well, the value—I don't know. Imagine most of the people I work with have a ton of money, and, you know, 10, 20, 30, 40 grand is a drop in the bucket for them. And imagine you have a kid who's probably 15, 16, 17 years old and a little bit lost and not confident in their mind.

Luke Jeraci: Right. There's no price you can put on that.

Dan Lerman: It's, like, yeah, I've had parents call me crying tears of joy because their kid brought a Kurt Vonnegut book to the beach. And I'm not one to say whether that's valuable to you or not. I'm telling you, I have a two-month waitlist. I make a lot of money doing this. It is valuable to a lot of people to have their kids awaken intellectually. That's—

Luke Jeraci: That's so awesome. Do you have any favorite success stories?

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I do. I'd say my top story that I think about most—it was the most—it was one of the most challenging people I've ever worked with. And I won't use real names here, but it was a 10th-grade girl at an elite, very famous New York City private school—a private school that a lot of celebrities send their kids to. And she was in 10th grade, and I met with her for the first time. Her parents told me she was dyslexic. And I asked her to read this New York Times article out loud. And she couldn't get through more than five words without choking up. And she eventually started crying. She couldn't read the article out loud. And it was not a hard article.

Luke Jeraci: Could she read?

Dan Lerman: She could read. She says she could kind of read. Her ACT score was a 16 out of 36—I think that's, like, 5th percentile or something like that. So it was really low. And the thing that I saw in her that gave me faith we could—we could have a good result, like, at the end of the day—was she was incredibly driven, really wanted to be a great reader. A lot of her classmates were great readers—she was not. And she really wanted to go to a good university. And I didn't give her that drive. She came to me with the drive. So we worked for a year and a half. Her ACT score went up from a 16 to a 35, which is 99th percentile—near-perfect score. And there were a lot of tough conversations, a lot of tears on both sides throughout. But we busted through a huge, like, self-defeating belief that she could not read because someone told her she was dyslexic. And we had a lot of time to make up for—you know, she was 15 and basically had never read a book.

Luke Jeraci: That's so crazy. So she went from bottom 5% to top 1%?

Dan Lerman: Top 1%. Yeah. Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: How long did that take?

Dan Lerman: A year and a half.

Luke Jeraci: That's gonna be worth every penny to the parents.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I mean, it was expensive, but they were very, very happy. We were all happy. We went out to dinner, we celebrated, we cried, we laughed, we drank some really good wine. It was great, and I loved it. It was an amazing transformational experience. So, I usually don't work with people for that long—it's usually two to six months, depending on where people are starting. But that was—I love that one. I poured my soul into that one. And towards the end of it, I actually stopped charging them because—you know—they paid me enough money, and I felt really committed to seeing it through.

Luke Jeraci: What school did she end up going to?

Dan Lerman: What college did she go to?

Luke Jeraci: She went to Brown, so, like, a really good school.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, she went to Brown, which I think was good. She was a very, very creative thinker—very outside the box. And we got her reading. And, yeah, I think it helped.

Luke Jeraci: I saw something recently as well—a NASA scientist did research, and children—98% of children start off classified as geniuses, and then they would go back in and they would check on the children, and each year it would be dramatically less. And by the time they graduated high school, 2% were classified as geniuses.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, you know, my thinking—I actually just taught a class on this yesterday. We did a creativity class—we covered—who did we cover? We talked about Maslow and Rogers.

Luke Jeraci: Do you remember who did that NASA research?

Dan Lerman: No, I don't remember who did that. But there's a lot of, like, business—like, similar stuff that does things—like, it takes kindergarteners and asks them to make towers out of marshmallows and toothpicks. And the kindergartners are, like, way more creative and faster than the MBA students who are, like, at Harvard Business School or whatever—you know. I think it's because kids spend a lot of time putting toothpicks and marshmallows together, and it's not something that's, like, challenging. So I think a lot of that research asks kids to do kid-like tasks. And I think—I don't want to—I don't love the idea of, like, "You were smarter when you were a kid; society has ruined you." You know, do that same research with, like, making a business plan, and those kindergarteners don't know what to do. So, I like the idea that there is this inner creative genius in you. I think the idea that you were better then has to be taken with a grain of salt. And, like, specifically that body of research, I've never seen anything where a kid is doing a complex task and performing it better than an adult.

Luke Jeraci: I mean, that—that kind of ties into, like, in physics—like, the uncertainty principle and Schrödinger's cat. So, like, Schrödinger's cat—like, everything is all things until it's observed. Yeah. How would—and then with the uncertainty principle—like, the observer always affects things. So, with that being said, how is intelligence measured? Like, how would that—because, obviously, the way it's measured affects what it is.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. Oh, such a cool connection. I don't know that I'm gonna be able to answer the quantum physics part of it.

Luke Jeraci: Don't worry about it.

Dan Lerman: But no, dude, I'm actually reading a book that talks about Schrödinger right now. And it's just so cool, and I love it. What's it called? It's by Benjamín Labatut—and When We Cease to Understand the World. That's the name of the book. Sick. It's, like, a hundred pages—really cool.

Luke Jeraci: I’d like six books written down.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, I know. I read a lot. I read, like, five or six books at once. So, if you're doing that—don't know—no shame, no guilt. How do we measure intelligence? is something I can definitely answer. And, dude, it's fascinating to me. And this is, like—I'm so passionate about this. Do you know it’s on an IQ—

Luke Jeraci: Test? I don’t think I’ve ever taken one.

Dan Lerman: Most people—I think, like, probably nine out of every 10 people I speak to—and—

Luke Jeraci: And IQ stands for—not to cut you off—but Intelligence Quotient.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, that’s it.

Luke Jeraci: What does "quotient" mean?

Dan Lerman: A quotient is—comes from that, like, divisibility. The word "quotient" means you're, like, comparing yourself to other people. You're dividing your ability by the average ability in a population.

Luke Jeraci: So that's kind of what you said in the beginning—where intelligence is comparative. Yeah.

Dan Lerman: IQ can't exist unless you compare it to something else. It just can't, right?

Luke Jeraci: That's interesting.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. And an average IQ—do you know what—what number is an average IQ?

Luke Jeraci: No. 100?

Dan Lerman: It’s 100. Yeah. And it’s rescaled to be 100. So that the population is rescaled to be 100 every once in a while.

Luke Jeraci: So, to have geniuses, we gotta have dummies.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. There’s gotta be a spread. It’s, like, to have tall people, we have to have short people.

Luke Jeraci: Very interesting. The polarity of it has to exist.

Dan Lerman: Otherwise, you know, everyone’s the same height.

Luke Jeraci: Right.

Dan Lerman: One cool fact I’ll throw in there—it’s called the Flynn Effect. There’s this researcher, James Flynn, who's in New Zealand. He studies IQ generationally, and each generation—generation by generation—this is really surprising to a lot of people—IQ goes up by 5 to 10 points. So we—our generation is smarter than the last generation, which is smarter than the last generation, so on and so forth, since IQ tests were invented in the early 1900s.

Luke Jeraci: But that could go back to what’s being measured. Are we making it easier?

Dan Lerman: No, it’s—no, no, no. Same test. Same test, but—

Luke Jeraci: So, let’s say—are we teaching—are we creating a system that gets closer to what we’re measuring?

Dan Lerman: Interesting.

Luke Jeraci: Maybe losing creativity and grit and other things.

Dan Lerman: So, I think we gotta get back to what’s actually on this test, right? This is so cool—it blows my mind. Most people don’t know. So, the most common IQ test in the world is called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—W-A-I-S. And there have been five versions of this. So the modern one is called the WAIS-5. And to get access to one, you can’t Google it. It’s not on the internet—maybe it’s on the dark web somewhere, but I’ve looked extensively. You cannot get the actual test.

Luke Jeraci: If you’re in the dark web, you’re probably not looking for intelligence tests.

Dan Lerman: I mean, you never know. But, you know—why does it make sense to not have this test out there? Because if you know the test, you can control your intelligence. You could either game the system and make it seem like you’re highly intelligent or really not intelligent—you can game it. The whole business model of this test is the questions have to be protected. But I’m in a PhD program at Columbia, and there’s this testing library where you can actually go and look at the test. So I do that every once in a while—I just love the test. And I did it a couple weeks ago—I forget why—I think I was just, like, on campus and had an extra hour, and I opened it up, and here’s some things that are on the test. You can Google and check on Wikipedia exactly the outline of the test. But one thing—one question on the test—here’s a question from the actual verified test: "Who is the Chancellor of Germany?" That’s on the test. It’s, like, a facts test. So one part is called—it’s called, like, general knowledge—I forget the actual term—it’s just facts. It’s just, like, "What is the capital of France?" That’s a question on the test. So this belief that—I really want to shatter this belief; I’m, like, kind of on a mission to shatter this belief—that people are stuck in their intelligence by showing them, by any metric—any metric you can come up with—you can improve it. You know, the Chancellor of Germany at the time the test was created was Angela Merkel. I actually don’t—

Luke Jeraci: I was going to say Merkel.

Dan Lerman: There you go. I don’t know who—it’s someone else now, and I don’t know who it is. So I wouldn’t get that point on the IQ test. The capital of France is Paris, in case—and another section of the test is vocabulary: "What does the word—”

Luke Jeraci: And that’s something you can improve easily.

Dan Lerman: Oh, my God, totally. Yeah. I have on my phone somewhere the actual questions of the test, but the format is: "What does the word 'empathetic' mean?" "What does the word 'divergent' mean?" And you get points if you know what the words mean.

Luke Jeraci: Do you know the etymology of "empathetic"? I do not—I’m just curious.

Dan Lerman: "Pathos" is "feel," I think. And "em" is to, like—like "ecstasy," step out. So I would guess—my guess is "to feel outside of oneself."

Luke Jeraci: So then I wonder why "pathetic" is "pathetic." Because you said it—I was, like, "Huh. 'Empathetic' is good, but 'pathetic' is bad."

Dan Lerman: English is tricky in that sometimes the roots that sound like they’re the roots are not, right? So I don’t—I don’t actually know, but I certainly think about that. Another version—another section—they’re, like, 10 or so sections on this intelligence test. Another section is just math problems. You know, "Luke runs 60 laps per day, but today he ran 15% fewer laps. How many laps did he run?"

Luke Jeraci: Would that be nine?

Dan Lerman: Nine fewer laps. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, that was nice, man. So he ran 51 laps—nine fewer laps. Really good.

Luke Jeraci: I did 10% of 60 and then 5%.

Dan Lerman: Great. And that’s a teachable skill. If you didn’t know that, I could teach that to you in 30 seconds. And now you have that skill—your IQ literally went up. So I encourage—if you’re interested in intelligence—I would just go—the Wikipedia page for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale will take you through sample questions—not the actual questions, but sample questions of all them. And you’ll see there are these little subtests that are certainly coachable and maybe shocking to you about, like, you know, what’s actually tested for intelligence.

Luke Jeraci: So how did—obviously, tutoring is a huge thing for you, studying cognitive science—like, what brought you into the path of cognitive science? Yeah, that’s basically—and you just wrote a book.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: We’ll touch on the book in a moment. But first—why cognitive science, and how did you get into it? Because I think I want to go back to school for, like, physics—

Dan Lerman: Sick.

Luke Jeraci: Music theory and psychology.

Dan Lerman: Nice. Yeah. I teach in the psychology department. I don’t know—I’ve always been interested in psychology and my own feelings. I think in college, like, I started feeling depressed for the first time and used psychology as a tool to make myself feel better. That’s, like, the real genesis of it—why intelligence?

Luke Jeraci: Do you remember what made you feel depressed?

Dan Lerman: I was drinking a lot of alcohol—I was in, like, this quasi-fraternity, and I was really heavily invested in beer pong and getting really good at it—I got very good—but I was drinking all the time and lost—

Luke Jeraci: Everything has a cost.

Dan Lerman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, probably that. And I wasn’t really going to school—class—much. A whole slew of things—I was not connected to people—so all those things—and I—

Luke Jeraci: Does that have a role in depression—not being connected with others?

Dan Lerman: I think it’s tremendously social—I would imagine—and tremendously cognitive. I think those two things are—are big components of it.

Luke Jeraci: Like, I heard something—like, if a baby isn’t touched a lot when it’s born, it’ll, like, have some kind of abnormalities.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And, like, people in isolation—like, they wither—kinda wither away and die.

Dan Lerman: Yeah. There’s this amazing body of research in rats called licking, grooming, arched-back nursing. And if you measure the amount of time a mother rat spends with her baby rats—licking the rats, grooming them, or arched-back nursing—like, feeding the rats—the more time she spends doing those things, the better off the rats are—the less kind of depressed or anxious or however they measure rat behavior. So that body of research feels very well-established and seems to really apply to humans, too.

Luke Jeraci: There’s—they did something, too, with—with beans—they put beans in a bag—do you know what I’m talking about?

Dan Lerman: Like, talking to the beans?

Luke Jeraci: Yes—one—they spoke positively—so I was just speaking to my buddy Sean—whole side topic—but he is brilliant, and he was talking about this—and when they spoke positively to the beans—no fungus, no nothing—healthy beans—spoke negatively—a lot of, like, fungus—and they got kinda, like, sickly—

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: And then when they completely ignored the beans, they withered away and decayed.

Dan Lerman: Yeah.

Luke Jeraci: So, like, even negative was better than nothing.

Dan Lerman: So cool—I haven’t—I haven’t read about it, but I’ve spoken to friends about this research, and I think it’s cool. And I think—look, something—I’m real—I’m a researcher now—it’s a strange thing to say—but I do research, and I’m a published researcher. And I think the power of research is in the story—you know, researchers have to tell stories. And that’s an amazing story—I love that story—if you believe that story and it helps you—great—go with it. And I think—I hope it’s backed by, like, observation and scientific fact, and that’s what makes it a scientific story—but really—that connection of stories to research is something that I’m—I’m just realizing—

Luke Jeraci: I would love to—I know we spoke about it before—I would love to do something with our mushroom church and, like—quote, unquote—magic and the power of belief and community—yeah—we’ll talk off-air on that.

Dan Lerman: Yeah—that sounds awesome—yeah—maybe we can zoom in—can I share a mushroom connection, though? All day—the—I think junior year of college—I read—I was in college—probably 2006 or 2007—there’s a famous study at Johns Hopkins—which you probably know about—where people took mushrooms and basically felt like they had an incredibly profound experience—

Luke Jeraci: Like the Good Friday—

Dan Lerman: I think that was it—

Luke Jeraci: There’s a Good Friday experiment—

Dan Lerman: I read about it—it was very revolutionary at the time—to read an academic article talking about the positive effects of psychotropic drugs—and I read it—and I was in kind of a tough place at the time—and I had a spring break trip planned to Amsterdam—and—perfect—perfect—yeah—with my best friends in the world—my high school friends—and we got to Amsterdam—I was very scared to take mushrooms—I’m pretty nervous about drugs in general—and—you know—you could cause a lot of damage if you don’t—

Luke Jeraci: I refer to them as the sacraments—or the medicine—

Dan Lerman: Great—let’s call it the medicine—great—I’ll use a different word—I was scared of the medicine—I didn’t know anything about dosing—it was tough to find—there’s this one site called Erowid—which you could find out a little bit of info about drugs at the time—but generally they were like—medicine—yeah—sorry—sorry—medicine at the time—which is just—

Luke Jeraci: I feel like it just creates such a different—great—feeling towards it—

Dan Lerman: Totally—yeah—I would have—I didn’t expect to go down this path with you—so I would have prepared my vocabulary—but we’ll go "medicine"—so I went to this medicine shop in Amsterdam—and on a—you know—I was going to the Van Gogh Museum—and I was, like—I’m with my best friends in the world—I’m kinda in a low place—let me try it—and I had—and I’m not recommending this because I feel like maybe it’s better to be around professionals when you’re using the medicine—and I’m not licensed to give advice on that—but my personal story was I had a profoundly incredible experience that made me feel much better—made me feel less anxious—it made me feel more certain in my career path—and I think shaped my views on medicines forever—and interestingly—I didn’t do another medicine until I was probably 25 or 26—so seven years thinking about that one experience and not needing to repeat it—not having a desire to repeat it—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—yeah—there’s an fMRI—they did a study—and I was talking about this last night—they did a placebo group where they did fMRI before—and the brain is a physical structure—when there’s depressing thoughts—it creates a divot—I’m sure you’re probably familiar with it—like—creates—like—a divot in the brain—almost like a ski slope—and they did an fMRI—they showed that—and people took SSRIs—so anti-anxiety—like antidepressants—and then they did one with psilocybin—so mushrooms—and they did fMRI as well—and the people—and they gave them the dose—and they sat with the therapist—both groups—so the SSRI group—they had a small—like—qualitative difference—like—they—you know—they had some differences in how they thought a little bit—no physiological differences—the group with mushrooms—huge qualitative difference and acceptance and understanding of whatever was causing those thoughts—or at least at a deeper level—physiologically—the brain was repaired—

Dan Lerman: Can we talk about medicines for a little bit? I’m using that term to apply to mushrooms and illicit medicines—ones that are legal—but also SSRIs—and DRIs—the ones that are prescribed throughout the country and throughout the world to treat mental—

Luke Jeraci: See that—those are what I call drugs—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—okay—got it—all right—man—it’s hard to please you—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—yeah—you can call whatever you want—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—I’m—I taught a class called psychopharmacology—

Luke Jeraci: That sounds amazing—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—it should be called "drugs"—you know—it’s the academic version of "drugs"—and I spent some time—you know—when I’m teaching these classes for the first time—I’m learning a ton—I’m—like—really solidifying my thoughts and reading deeply about this stuff—I think the current state of these medicines and drugs—you have to look at the history—you have to look at the history to understand what’s going on and how people view them—and the history really starts with the frontal lobotomy—do you know what—do you know about lobotomies?

Luke Jeraci: When they take out part of your brain—they did it for—like—people—they consider you crazy—and it just basically sedates them—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—it was the first—first procedure to treat mental illness—and the frontal lobotomy didn’t actually remove part of the brain—there was an ice pick that went up through the nose—through—I think it’s called the sphenoid or the sphygmoid bone—there’s a thin bone—and then you get into the brain—and the doctor just whips it around—the doctor was named Walter Freeman—and he said he practiced it on ripe peaches—that’s how he practiced it—and then he would do it on humans—it took seven or eight minutes—and sometimes they felt better—other times they died of a hemorrhage—surprisingly—ice pick in the brain—right?—but the demand for this procedure—Luke—was through the roof—why?

Luke Jeraci: So that means that there’s always been a mental health crisis—people just weren’t allowed to talk about it—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—and I think that the fact that people wanted a simple answer to a complex question was evident then—it was evident in this pseudoscience called phrenology—where they measured the skull—and they’re like—"Oh my God—you are depressed because your skull is—”

Luke Jeraci: And it’s intelligence by the size of the head—

Dan Lerman: And not just intelligence—your whole—they were called faculties—your whole personality is based on your skull shape—it’s actually used to justify a lot of racist claims as well—just total—total nonsense—total pseudoscience—but it was incredibly popular—Walt Whitman wrote a poem where he talks about the great—great sciences—like chemistry—biology—phrenology—at the time it was considered a real science—and I think throughout history—we’ve—you know—people have always struggled mentally at points—it’s part of the human experience—and they want simple answers—they want a seven-minute procedure to make me feel better—they want a pill that’s going to make me feel better—and I think what’s being sold currently makes a lot of sense—like an SSRI—"Here’s a pill that’ll make you feel better—and by the way—it’s expensive and it’ll make a lot of people rich—but certainly it’ll make you feel better—watch this commercial about"—and it’s not new to see people flocking to solutions that don’t necessarily work—now—I have to say I do believe in psychotropic drugs—like SSRIs and antipsychotics—in certain situations—if someone’s having a psychotic break and you need to turn it off—like stop them from hallucinating—we have drugs that can do that—antipsychotic drugs—and they’re incredibly valuable—and they save people’s lives—I think if people are suicidal—I’ve heard cases where SSRIs have helped people—so I’m not—I would not personally damn them entirely—I just think the line—through the roof—like—the demand that’s through the roof—I am very skeptical that that’s the best way to treat some of the issues people are dealing with—and I think what you’re getting at—and I fully agree—is that, like—some of the—like mushrooms—some of the other—been around for thousands—if—

Luke Jeraci: Not millions—of years—some of the—

Dan Lerman: Other medicines would do as good—if not a better job—in way less time—but pharmaceutical companies don’t make money on that—so they haven’t pushed that yet—

Luke Jeraci: So—in some of the first cave drawings ever discovered—people around mushrooms—sick—like—like all these different Super Mario World mushrooms—yeah—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: It’s great—but it’s—I mean—everybody wants to be fed—not everybody wants to learn how to hunt—

Dan Lerman: Bingo—

Luke Jeraci: Right—and—and then everybody wonders why—not everybody—but a lot of people then wonder why they’re not being taken care of better—right—because they’re not taking care of themselves—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: And it’s just one of those—it’s—it seems primarily a human thing—it doesn’t seem like other animals or plants have that—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: And it’s interesting that this isn’t new—because I keep thinking of it as being new due to society—like—we’ve outsourced our—I’m guilty of it—I don’t know where my food comes from—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: Our water—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—it’s a great point—

Luke Jeraci: I didn’t build this house—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: My friend did—but I don’t—I don’t know what I’m doing—yeah—my friend built a house—he built his basement and the room and stuff—I didn’t make this pen—notebook—like—literally nothing—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—we just—we know about such a tiny sliver of our universe and—

Luke Jeraci: And because so many people are good-natured—that we can get away with it—but then we—I did too—I’m like—"Yo—they put poison in the food"—and it—it’s like—"Well—I don’t care enough to find out how to do it on my own"—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: So I’m hoping—and I’m hoping to be a part of it—but that there’s gonna be a movement of people becoming more sovereign—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: I—I think that—in particular—as we’ve moved more and more away from the land and into the cities—we get more and more mental imbalances—hormonal imbalances—like—when I was just in the Amazon—granted—super-small sample size—nobody there’s depressed—they have basically nothing—but they built it all—they do their own—it’s just a simple familial life—and they’re so happy and fulfilled—and—literally—this little eight-year-old boy tells Danielle—"We get rich people here all the time from America"—in Spanish—and "they want more and more—and we see them—and they get more and more unhappy—and then they tell us that they could tell us how to live"—this kid’s, like, eight—he goes—"and we live in paradise"—and he runs up and—I swear to God—hugs and kisses a tree—and it was just—like—right—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—it’s different—you know—tying us back to what we’re—

Luke Jeraci: Sorry—

Dan Lerman: No—I love it—interesting—I don’t know how that—I bet that eight-year-old boy would not score highly on this intelligence test—which our society has created—but is intelligent—

Luke Jeraci: Probably not—but—but—dude—he was, like, a little angel—it was incredible—

Dan Lerman: Massively intelligent—like—yeah—yeah—so cool—

Luke Jeraci: So it’s an interesting thing—so—I’m a believer that if something happened—it was supposed to happen—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: That doesn’t mean it has to keep happening—but I believe that the world has been the way it’s been for the last thousand years—so that the Western world could come up with some of the technologies and the things we have now—and I believe that there’s going to be a migration away from cities back towards land—and I think that’s why a lot of these—not a lot—but a couple big-name—high-worth individuals—are buying up a lot of the land—and I think they understand that—yeah—I think cities are going to fall upon themselves—right—like—especially with AI and technologies—like—if you can get things done more efficiently—that cost you less—with less problems—through technology—unless you do it out of the goodness of your heart—and let’s be honest—that’s not necessarily why you get into business all the time—it’s to make money—why would you keep hiring people that might be unreliable?—yeah—and I think people will be moving back to land—either that—or they’ll become, like, WALL-E—like fat blobs—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—so—like—moving back to land with their—like—robot staff—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—that’s what I’m saying—like—with some of these technologies and stuff—you can have the best of both worlds—but you have to be disciplined enough not to fall for the distractions—

Dan Lerman: What if you want to be around—like—like—really around—I feel like there’s definitely a big part of the human population that just wants to be around people—

Luke Jeraci: I think that’s the—the draw of cities—I think what’s going to happen is—right—I’m—I’m looking at the best-case scenario is—and—since I moved to Georgia—what I’ve noticed is—I’m thinking of—like—I’ll use Dahlonega as an example—small country town in the mountains—beautiful—dope downtown—

Dan Lerman: Dahlonega, Georgia—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—so—where I got married—and—like—Canton, Georgia—and stuff—you can be in the middle of nowhere—and they have these little town squares where people come to meet—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: But then they live off—and I think that there’s business studies—I forget the term of it—but after 150 people—it’s hard for people to stay connected—or feel connected—it becomes—like—a cannibalistic—it’s not—like—in a literal—but a metaphorical sense—cannibalistic society—where they don’t care about each other—they’re eating each other’s—like—opportunities and things—

Dan Lerman: Okay—

Luke Jeraci: I imagine smaller communities—because I’m willing to guess you’d feel more connected if you had a hundred-person community where you knew everybody involved—

Dan Lerman: Right—

Luke Jeraci: Granted—that would get annoying—you know—everybody in your business—but—the reason why honoring your word and stuff like that mattered so much—and the reason why it doesn’t matter so much now—is—before—you were in your community—if you’re known as a liar—nobody fucks with you—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: So you had to honor your shit—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: Nowadays—you can just move—you just—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—have your online community—create my new persona—

Luke Jeraci: People just say things that have no intention of doing—now—I think that causes huge levels of distrust and mistrust—and I think that caused a lot of anxiety and depression too—who don’t trust themselves—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—they were definitely outside of my realm of expertise—but as just a thinker—I agree—

Luke Jeraci: Sorry—I’m going off on a tangent—okay—all right—so—what are some of the things—like—you learn—so—kinda with cognitive confidence and things like that—how can somebody take that and apply that to their life—their everyday life?

Dan Lerman: I think just getting involved—there’s so much about intelligence that involves participation—you know—you gotta participate in culture to know what the word "empathy" means—take the—you know—clone Albert Einstein and throw him in the middle of the woods—that person’s not going to be smart—that person’s actually dead—that person’s going to die—but—you know—have them raised in a society that is isolated—they won’t become intelligent in the way you and I are talking about it—so I think you gotta dive—

Luke Jeraci: From a technological sense—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—I don’t know—like—a participatory sense—right—to be considered intelligent—first of all—you have to speak the language—you know—that you and I learned to speak the language at a high level—

Luke Jeraci: Right—right—so what I’m thinking now is—Scott told me a story about when he was in Jamaica—somebody came up to him—was, like—"Oh—you think you’re intelligent?"—and then he made—like—what do you mean?

Dan Lerman: We talking about when he made the—

Luke Jeraci: Door out of the bamboo tree—yeah—and then some—some guy takes a bamboo tree and makes a door—and was, like—"You think you’re intelligent?—Can you do that?"

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—yeah—so I think he’s using—he’s talking about a different type of intelligence—which I personally am awful at—I am not a manual person—but—you know—this—like—traditional linguistic intelligence—reading—cognitive confidence—I’ve got all that—and I think the original question was—like—how—

Luke Jeraci: How can people take cognitive confidence—

Dan Lerman: Take cognitive confidence—yeah—I think connecting to what they love and diving in from a content perspective—watching videos—I’m a huge believer in reading good stuff in your domain—good stuff in your domain—so—if you’re into business and investing and you want to make a lot of money—start with some Warren Buffett essays—and then they’re in your brain—and they—you know—they say—like—in creativity and genius—you have to kinda master the basics before you make a breakthrough—think about—like—Picasso’s early work—which was more traditional—before he breaks through—you know—so you gotta know the canon of whatever field you’re in—if you want to go into business—know what good business people have done—read about that—and then you can get creative and make your breakthrough—so—I am not an expert in every field—but I help people—like—you can take your cognitive confidence—connect it to your passion—find good stuff to read and consume in that field—and you’re participating—you become intelligent—you build your skill—

Luke Jeraci: That made me think of The War of Art—

Dan Lerman: Oh—hell yeah—

Luke Jeraci: Where—like—you get good not because you’re inspired—but because you keep working until inspiration comes—

Dan Lerman: It takes time—you cannot become intelligent like that—that’s why it’s hard—you know—it takes consistent chipping away at it—showing up and doing the work—

Luke Jeraci: Is there a level of intelligence to grit?—because I think that’s the biggest success factor—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—

Luke Jeraci: No matter what intelligence—I’m willing to guess grit is the underlying connection to who makes it to the top—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—I have anecdotally noticed that—that’s definitely not measured on IQ tests—there is no grit measure—because it—

Luke Jeraci: Takes time to measure—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—you probably have to measure it over weeks—months—years—right—and then—the thing with tests in general is—they can’t—by design—they can’t last more than a couple hours—

Luke Jeraci: You know—it’s just not practical—it’s not economic—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—exactly—getting an IQ test—by the way—it’s a one-on-one experience—and it costs somewhere between three and ten thousand dollars—it’s very expensive to get an IQ test—

Luke Jeraci: So what—so it’s probably not—wouldn’t even be worth it—I was going to say—but—if you could track somebody’s growth—that would probably indicate grit—right—like—

Dan Lerman: Like growth on IQ or anything—yeah—there are some cool studies—like—some case studies of people’s IQ dramatically changing—and it’s almost always in the negative—someone—you know—had a brain tumor removed—and this part of their intelligence was dramatically affected—but this part wasn’t—it’s actually some of the value of IQ tests—like—if you want to really see—I’m getting this brain tumor removed—what’s going to be affected?—is it going to be my vocabulary?—is it going to be my math ability?—depending on where the brain tumor is—it’s usually something very specific—and it’s not all of your cognitive abilities—so—there’s a bunch of studies—I’ve read a couple of them—where people’s IQ goes down after a brain tumor gets removed—there’s a lot that look at—there’s some that look at drug use over the long run—like IQ and marijuana use over the long run—kinda an interesting study that was done in New Zealand there—so—yeah—yeah—none of them that I can think of—Luke—measure grit—or even mention grit—

Luke Jeraci: And they measure more for decrease than increase—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—I cannot remember ever seeing a published paper on an increase in IQ—I actually applied for a grant at Columbia—I was going to take an IQ test three times and try and go up every time—and the hack was going to be—I was going to study the test—I was, like—"Watch—my IQ is going to go from here—it’s going to go up and up and up"—and they—

Luke Jeraci: Didn’t you get a perfect score on your SAT?

Dan Lerman: I did—but that’s not—that’s a little different from IQ—it’s a little shorter—it doesn’t include all of the domains—it doesn’t include, like, the knowledge domain—there’s some similar stuff—the math is on there—the reading’s on there—

Luke Jeraci: I have a really interesting idea for you off-camera for a research project—

Dan Lerman: Okay—

Luke Jeraci: It actually ties into something you brought up to me in the past—but now I have the people I would want in on it—

Dan Lerman: Love it—can you make it any vaguer for our listeners?

Luke Jeraci: Efficacy—power of belief and magic—hopefully psychedelics—

Dan Lerman: There you go—okay—interesting—so—you know—taking the SAT on mushrooms—that would be interesting—one of the—I don’t know if this is true or not—but one of the rumors circling around campus when I decided to take mushrooms that first time is that your IQ goes up over 200 when you take mushrooms—that—I don’t think has any scientific basis—but that—as much of a—

Luke Jeraci: Mushroom lover as I am—that sounds—

Dan Lerman: Sounds dubious—but I—I would—I wonder what would happen—would I be able to take an IQ test or an SAT on mushrooms?—I think I’d have a tough time—like—looking at the words—not page—

Luke Jeraci: I think it’d be tough having a macro—like—I think you could do maybe a microdose—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—and do just fine—

Luke Jeraci: Probably—maybe do better—because it does speed up your brain connectivity and stuff—that—there is plenty of rumors that it’s huge now in Silicon Valley—and—yeah—microdosing is big in business—

Dan Lerman: I’m noticing it amongst my friends—

Luke Jeraci: It’s a healthy alternative to Adderall—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—a lot of people are on that three-day regimen—like—once every three days—they microdose acid or mushrooms—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—people do acid too—I enjoy acid—and it’s pretty spiritual to me too—but I just like the natural plant—the mushroom—right—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—

Luke Jeraci: But no knocks anybody—and entheogens—so—we’re kinda right at the end of the flow—yeah—yeah—so—we try to keep it tight—but—before we end it—I think somebody who is really interested in improving their intelligence—and they’re willing to—how long should they expect it to take?—and what are the necessary—simplest steps?

Dan Lerman: Yeah—first—connect to your passion—like—I don’t—in my experience—forcing yourself to learn economics just because someone tells you you should—doesn’t really work—the fuel isn’t there—if you love economics—great—so—connect to your passion—step one—step two—find a way to participate in the content that people have put together in that field—so—you could find great economists—or great business people—read what they’ve written—reading is a great way of doing it—consume their video—and anything you can do to keep that flame going—join a group—you’re socially motivated—join a group on Facebook—find people to tackle this together—and—as you increase the amount of stuff you consume—your confidence just grows—you will—you will expand your mind—and—I don’t know—I don’t know how—it depends—a couple months—you’ll start to feel it—and you’ll start participating in ways you never—you never thought were possible—so—let’s say I’m interested in psychology—read some Freud—

Luke Jeraci: Read some Jordan Peterson—

Dan Lerman: Do I like Jordan Peterson?—yeah—I do like Jordan Peterson—I feel like that’s a contentious thing to say nowadays—but I think he’s—

Luke Jeraci: Which is crazy—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—

Luke Jeraci: I don’t think he says anything offensive—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—I just think he’s very direct—and I think he’s got some really good points—I think he’s great—yeah—so—follow—you know—giving these people who are still alive—giving them a follow on Instagram and consuming their content and—you know—a couple months of consuming their content—and you’re just thinking about it—so—I don’t think it’s as complicated as people make it out to be—I think along the way—you gotta give yourself props for being, like—"Oh—yeah—like—I am developing that interest—and I am proficient"—

Luke Jeraci: Goes back to the beans—

Dan Lerman: It goes back to the beans—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—it’s such a powerful thought—to be, like—"I am proficient in this—I am good at this"—and that—that kinda fuels it—so—at the very least—you can give me a call—and I’ll give you a pep talk—

Luke Jeraci: Awesome—well—that’s gonna be it for—for Out of the Cave with Dan Lerman—you know—hopefully—I’m sure you guys learned something—I’m hoping you did—and—if not—you got a bunch of book recommendations—

Dan Lerman: Love it—

Luke Jeraci: And—keep your eyes open for whenever we get our little research project done—

Dan Lerman: Love it—Luke—thanks so much—what a beautiful—beautiful setup—you’ve got a beautiful home that you’ve built—feels like we’re in a Persian nightclub here—and it makes me feel awesome—

Luke Jeraci: I’ll get a hookah next time—

Dan Lerman: Yeah—yeah—I was—I was actually asking for one in my—my rider—but—really—really appreciate the opportunity—opportunity—I could talk to you all day—and I’m looking forward to continuing this conversation—

Luke Jeraci: Yeah—dude—come whenever you come to Atlanta—but—we’ll make—we’ll make something—and I’ll be out to LA—oh—and Dan also does comedy—so—hopefully—you can look him up—can I find you anywhere?

Dan Lerman: It’s just danlerman.com—that’s my—that’s my tutoring website—I don’t think I publish any comedy on there yet—although that’s a cool idea—

Luke Jeraci: Awesome—we’ll try to put—like—a little link when I send it to Jacob and on the bottom and stuff—

Dan Lerman: Love it—cool—

Here are some of the most memorable things he said.

‘We are so privileged to be Americans. If I could pick any time and any place to be born in history, it’d be today in America.’

‘I was reading the 1932 Ford Earnings Report the other day…’

He said something like this at least 10x. The man reads incessantly.

‘AI is going to change a lot of things. It won’t change the way humans behave.’

He compared AI to the atom bomb in that it can’t be un-invented, but he is (mostly) optimistic about the future.

‘There’s nothing like working for yourself. If you can’t do that, working at Berkshire isn’t a bad option.’

The man LOVES his work. Thinks retiring would be the worst thing that could happen to him.

‘We never look at where people went to college. It doesn’t tell us anything useful.’

Conclusion

I was BLOWN AWAY by Buffett’s ability to answer questions about everything — from railroads, to inflation, to a deal from 1966.

He’s like an oracle, and after 7 hours of talking, the stadium was still ~90% full.

Click each image for high-quality, print-ready file.

Adventure Photos

Teaching Photos

1. We Just Made History in Professional Tutoring
2. The First University-Backed Tutor Training Program
3. Tutoring Just Became a Real Profession

A milestone I have been working toward for years finally wrapped last week.

I just finished teaching the inaugural cohort of the Professional Tutoring Program at Columbia University.

This is the first university-backed professional tutor training program in the United States.

The Problem

Tutoring has existed since Aristotle taught Alexander the Great.

Yet it is still treated like gig work.

That never sat right with me.

The Solution

This program changes that.

It gives tutors real tools, real standards, and real credibility.

It is built for people who love teaching and want tutoring to be a craft, not just a side hustle.

The Experience

Seeing this first cohort come through was surreal.

It felt like watching the profession step into a new era.

And it got renewed for January.

Conclusion

After years of work, I am proud to have launched the first university-backed professional tutor training program in the United States at Columbia University. This program elevates tutoring from gig work to a true craft with real standards and credibility. The profession is stepping into a new era.

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