Introduction
The education system is broken. We've been told this for years by politicians, activists and educators–but we didn't listen. Now that our kids are entering classrooms with even more knowledge than they had before, we want to make sure they're equipped with the best possible start in life. So what do we do now?
We believed that the education system is broken.
The education system is broken.
It's not just that it's broken, but that we don't understand why it's broken. We think of schools as places where students learn facts and skills, but more often than not they're places where students get good grades because they did well on tests or worked hard in class. But that's not what makes school successful; it's only one component of a much larger system that includes parents and communities working together to support each other’s learning needs throughout their lives—a system based on collaboration rather than competition or control (see here).
We believed that schools are the primary path to the middle class.
The middle class is shrinking, and the reasons are numerous. Automation has already taken away jobs in manufacturing and clerical work, while globalization has decreased demand for laborers in countries like China. Technology has also reduced the need for physical labor in many fields (think: self-driving cars).
But perhaps most importantly, education itself isn't helping to create a broad middle class—and it's not just because of rising tuition costs or lack of funding from state governments. It's because teachers' salaries don't keep up with inflation; they haven't been raised since 2008; their retirement packages are slashed or eliminated altogether; and schools hire administrators who make more money than their teachers do (which creates its own set of problems).
We believed in the power of standardized tests to determine student success and teacher accountability.
We believed in the power of standardized tests to determine student success and teacher accountability.
In fact, we still do. In 2015-2016, the most recent year for which data is available, nearly half (48%) of all public schools used state or district-mandated assessments as part of their evaluation effort—a number that's remained steady since 2011-2012 even though it hasn't increased significantly over time.
The idea here is simple: if you want to know whether your students are learning what they need at school, then you should look at their test scores. And if those numbers aren't improving over time—or worse yet, starting out low and getting worse—then there might be some problems with how teachers teach them (or maybe even with how students are being taught).
We believed that teachers are interchangeable and that all teachers are good at teaching all kids.
We believed that teachers are interchangeable and that all teachers are good at teaching all kids.
We also thought that the best way to provide our students with a great education was by hiring enough people who could teach them well. We wanted everyone to be able to find a job where they felt valued, respected and capable of doing their job well. This philosophy has led us in many directions since then: from rote learning models like “drill-and-kill” tests to large class sizes where students can never have enough help from one another; from textbooks written for specific grade levels rather than for all children regardless of their individual needs or preferences; from standardized tests administered at different times throughout a school year rather than through an entire career (if you're lucky enough not just one test).
We believed that schools should teach and measure what's important, not what's fun or creative or just out there!
We believed that schools should teach and measure what's important, not what's fun or creative or just out there!
We thought teachers needed to be able to teach what is important, not what's not important. We believed that teachers needed to teach the boring parts of math and science so students would understand them. And in order for teachers to do this, they needed strong math/science backgrounds 
themselves.
But we were wrong!
There are many things we've gotten wrong about education, but what can we do right now?
The problem is that we have been misled by the myth of education, which has been perpetuated by politicians and others who want to keep people dumb. Education is a complicated issue, but there are some simple truths we can agree on:
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It's not just about learning facts or skills; it's also about developing character traits like perseverance and self-discipline. These qualities will help you succeed in life, whether you're going into the workforce or starting a business on your own. And they'll make everyone around you better off too!
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, there are many things that we’ve gotten wrong about education. But what can we do right now? What should we change next?
The first step is to recognize your own biases, and then to get over them. The next step is to ask yourself: What would my kid care about if he or she were an adult today—or even tomorrow? Then, really work on delivering that kind of experience for every child who wants it in their school district.
You’ll find that these efforts will take time and require hard work from everyone involved in education—from teachers and administrators down through parents and students alike—but at least it will be a good thing for everyone involved! We hope you have fun with this project because it's going to be a long road ahead of us all.”;;
