I write, more than you probably all want to read, about re-envisioning school and education. You might think me a young idealist, a dreamer and that’s ok, but when I talk to students like I did on Saturday and ask them, “What is school?” and their very first response is “It’s a place where…” I know I have to keep writing.
School isn’t a place and the more students and parents see school and understand place, the less likely this idea of school that we have created has any change of surviving the next 5 years.
Shouldn’t instead we hope that school means an invitation or an opportunity to experiment and try new things?
That’s what I want to hear from my students. I want to hear that they had a chance to try something new or try on some new personality: teacher, artist, producer, film critique and that this list is endless in their minds.
School isn’t a place and the school of the future won’t focus so much on buildings and grounds and chairs and desks. It will focus on students or it simply won’t survive.