{"id":190752,"date":"2025-09-16T08:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=190752"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:56:21","slug":"podcast-1085-the-preparation-an-adventure-driven-skill-building-alternative-to-college-for-young-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/social\/fatherhood\/podcast-1085-the-preparation-an-adventure-driven-skill-building-alternative-to-college-for-young-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #1,085: The Preparation \u2014 An Adventure-Driven, Skill-Building Alternative to College for Young Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

For generations, the path to adulthood was straightforward: go to college, get a job, build a life. But many young men are beginning to question the college component of that path; tuition keeps rising, A.I. has made the professional landscape more uncertain, and there’s just a sense that after four years at college, guys graduate feeling like they haven’t been very challenged, haven’t much changed, and haven’t gained a lot of real confidence, competence, and concrete know-how.<\/p>\n

My guest today, Matt Smith, has created an alternative to college \u2014 a 4-year, 16-cycle curriculum designed to shape participants into Renaissance Men: skilled, self-reliant, and grounded in character. Matt co-authored The Preparation<\/em> <\/a>with his son Maxim, who is currently working his way through the program.<\/p>\n

In the first half of our conversation, Matt shares what kickstarted this idea and what’s lacking in the education model for young men today. We then turn to the nuts and bolts of The Preparation, and Matt walks us through several of the program\u2019s hands-on cycles \u2014 including earning EMT certification, building a house, and training as a fighter in Thailand \u2014 and how gaining these real-world skills prepares a young man for whatever is next in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For generations, the path to adulthood was straightforward: go to college, get a job, build a life. But many young men are beginning to question the college component of that path; tuition keeps rising, A.I. has made the professional landscape more uncertain, and there’s just a sense that after four years at college, guys graduate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253,156,42379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fatherhood","category-podcast","category-social"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"\nPodcast #1,085: The Preparation \u2014 An Adventure-Driven, Skill-Building Alternative to College for Young Men | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/social\/fatherhood\/podcast-1085-the-preparation-an-adventure-driven-skill-building-alternative-to-college-for-young-men\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #1,085: The Preparation \u2014 An Adventure-Driven, Skill-Building Alternative to College for Young Men | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For generations, the path to adulthood was straightforward: go to college, get a job, build a life. But many young men are beginning to question the college component of that path; tuition keeps rising, A.I. has made the professional landscape more uncertain, and there’s just a sense that after four years at college, guys graduate […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/social\/fatherhood\/podcast-1085-the-preparation-an-adventure-driven-skill-building-alternative-to-college-for-young-men\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-16T13:59:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-06T21:56:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1085.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" 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