on education

don’t fill the pail, light the fire.

overhauling education made simple:

we curate giant spaces with unimaginable tools to explore, unlimited ways to create & engage, and plenty of time to try — and then we set the little minds free to eat their way through their own education.

we support teachers to embrace the chaos. to let go of their rigid demands on how class ought run. we free up administration to support teachers to support students to support themselves to initiate their own badass.

we make school sexy and suddenly students are addicted to their own education. suddenly teaching becomes the most coveted occupation on the planet.

it is time for less teaching and more facilitation. if we build thriving environments, rich with possibility — spaces promoting growth and exploration — our kids will shine.

there will be great halls with plants and natural sunlight, and cushy cafes where lectures and talks are routinely given. students will choose what to attend. just like everything else.

students map out their day. they will be enabled to hop around, working on several projects, ideas, and subjects at once. building a cohesive body of work from their experience — and our tax dollars.

and every hour there will be a school-wide checkin. performances, collaborations, competitions, etc.

and every hour there will be 5-minutes of school-wide silence. yoga will be offered but not required.

they will learn to read and do their maths. but they will also learn about themselves. about the process and power of learning itself. how it works and why it matters. they will learn self-care and empathy. they will learn to explore and investigate rather than bowing to authority’s demand.

education strips precisely what it aims to achieve.

education is ultimately about exploration and expression. about learning skills to survive, finding avenues to thrive.

it’s simple: stay curious. curiosity keeps us thoughtful.

untold genius lies dormant under textbooks and powerpoint.

teaching to the tests has killed vision and perspective.

school must move beyond the human assembly line. schools are more than babysitting facilities where you learn the rules and where you fit.

children are naturally curious and capable. eager to know. it is only killed off as we navigate a programmed world of should, must, ought, and demand.

a world that shames you if you’re different. a macho world that has no room for vulnerability. for being wrong. for feelings and emotion. disempowerment is built into the system.

generations passing the torch of misinformation, of heavy conditioning ever-bent towards prejudicial habit — has created a robot society of ‘where do i fit and what’s my piece of the pie?”

it’s time to release our stomachs, to move beyond base modes of survival. what could we accomplish feeling safe enough to try?

newly-nourished, self-empowered creatures capable of growth and expanse.

we flock to what we know. even if we know that what we know should be a no-go. we cannot let go of the show. that keeps us out of flow. only, feeling low leaves no room to grow, ya know?

if we provide tools — space and time, trust and support, fuel for their interests

if we let them be curious cultivators of their own journey, built to their own specifications

we will witness a planet of diverse, happy, successful contributing members of society who feel grounded — with purpose, empathy, and compassion.

it feels opposite from much of what we know from experience. because it is. which is good.

we are taught to keep quiet, obey authority, and do as we are told.

this is very bad advice.

we are afraid of what we don’t know. of ideas that are foreign to us. what we have always done has worked well enough to get us to where we are today — so we accept it.

but new ideas are the very source of growth. innovation, creation, wealth — these are built by explorer’s effort.

down with textbook teaching !

yes to dialogue over dogma.

yes to yoga. yes to radical expression, diversity and contact. yes to rattling cages and endlessly renegotiating beliefs and systems and habit.

yes to art. yes to life. yes to express over survive.

oh, and yes to school starting after 10!