Our children are our future. Education is at the heart at developing their skills and abilities and yet year after year we hear about the degrading state of our educational system. Our nation has spent trillions of dollars on failed programs that research and experts had promised would work. Achievement gaps persist, performance declines are accelerating and so it is of paramount importance that we explore novel ideas and solutions. You might not agree with many or any of the ideas below, and we certainly are not endorsing policies – our hope is just to create a space where bright, dedicated folks from the community can share their ideas – so that we can all come together and better understand each others experiences, concerns and how we might move forward together to build a brighter future.

Rachael Waggoner

I think that education is extremely important but I disagree that it has to be through a traditional route in order for someone to be successful. I think the most important thing is to learn something your passionate about, hone in your skills and make yourself an expert at whatever you committed to doing. You can build a million dollar business from a 4 year degree exactly the same as from getting a 6 month technical certificate. A person’s success is dictated by their drive, focus, determination and sacrifice. Read more>>

Chase Fisher

I would change so much about our education system. We live in a hyper-connected society and a constantly changing world, yet the system has largely maintained the same outdated curriculum. Firstly, I’d address standardized testing. This was one of my greatest challenges in school. Because I did so poorly on tests, I faced immense social pressure to be “smarter” and was placed in special learning classes. But standardized testing promotes “cramming” and procrastination. Students spend hours and hours on tests they “believe” will decide the success of their future. This testing practice doesn’t teach critical thinking or creative thought leadership, which are pillars of a successful career. Read more>> 

Natashia Blach

I think the current system focuses too much on telling kids what to do instead of how to think, how to trust their own God given intuition, natural talents and drives. We’ve made children themselves into a kind of trainable commodity. Where’s their voice in all this? What do they really want to do in the process of learning? Just one example: There’s much pressure based on taking the tests, getting the right score, to then get into the right secondary education. If you miss a problem on the test that’s it. Read more>>

Chas Metz

Our educational system is failing to teach our youth the importance of personal finance and mental health. I believe these should become core subjects taught in school to all ages of students. Many of the problems our country is facing today are a direct reflection of our lack of education. Unless students are disciplined enough to teach themselves, or are lucky enough to have parents to teach them, important life skills like planning for retirement and overcoming past trauma are simply never learned. Read more>>

Loli Lucaciu

I received my first 8 years of formal education in Romania, where theory was key. I appreciated that we had 15+ subjects to take every year, progressing in difficulty year-to-year, including a few foreign languages; studying those across more than a decade gives one a sense of breadth of knowledge, however superficial some of that knowledge may turn out to be in practice. Initiative and creativity weren’t particularly encouraged since the system seemed to run best on a post-communistic focus on obedience and quiet respect for your elders. Read more>>

Noel Dolan

I can only speak to education in graphic design both as a current instructor and former student, but I think in any education field, there is room for improvement. For the curriculum side in design programs, there’s not enough emphasis on layout and typographic skills. A lot of energy is devoted to Photoshop and Illustrator, but those only make components for the layout work that is so prominent in the design field. The other area for growth is branding. So many student projects focus on logo design, but never expand it to create full branding manuals and systems. Read more>>

Peter Callstrom

Some of our most important and innovative work is about bringing together education and workforce in actionable and transformative ways. Very little is done to truly intersect education/workforce/career-preparation. There are 550 workforce boards in the country. We haven’t seen this done anywhere else. This collaboration shows how it can be tangibly done. This as a critically important part of our future and how to help align students to the workforce – instead of the current broken approach where some make it thru, but many don’t – or have no idea what they want to do. Read more>>

Ryan Fernandez

Being an educator for the past decade, I have come to the conclusion that funding and salary have truly influenced the system. As much as ones heart is in for the sake of the kids, we live in a time where we economically cannot put forth the efforts we would like. Districts all over implement change and expectations without compensation for the work done in and outside of the classroom. Teachers are no longer inclined to go the extra mile because we financially cannot afford to do so. Students these days also see the burnout of their teachers, thus discouraging them in case they plan a career in education. Read more>>

Taylor Mondick

Working with kids is arguably one of the most important and impactful professions. Notably, teachers & coaches have an enormous influence on youths. We can all remember our favorite teacher, and most of us can remember a coach that helped shape us into who we are today. With that said, the current educational system has changed dramatically. In modern academic protocols, we emphasize teaching and neglect the art of learning. The year-long push to pass a standardized test is the perfect example. We learn to walk and talk from seeing and hearing, each in our unique way, so why is our educational system so far removed from this fundamental principle? Read more>>

Derrick Wesley

I believe every school district should teach financial literacy. In the United States, only 17% of districts offer financial education. This is a huge problem! There is an old saying that “money makes the world go round,” and many Americans aren’t getting a slice of the pie due to their lack of financial education. The majority of Americans lack financial literacy, and this must change if we are to make America what it should be. The mission of Seedlyng Financial Education is to provide schools and students with fun, engaging, and innovative classroom resources. Our company was started by educators who saw the pain and suffering of students from low-income homes, homeless students, and more, and we want to do our part to help these students and their families. Read more>>

Betsy Hilliard

My job has two major components. First, building and maintaining a team of scientists able to solve our clients’ hard problems and second, making sure that everything that team delivers to our clients is technically sound and valuable. I see the first as the most crucial part of my job because I can’t do the second without a happy, driven, creative, stable team. One of my biggest challenges to building a strong team and keeping them productive is training them to be generative when defining the problem. From an early age there is an emphasis in education on learning to solve a problem you’ve been given. Obviously, these are important skills, but I wish that there was more training on how to identify the real problem and how to frame that problem in a way that you can solve. Read more>>

Jen Butler

When I was in school, and for most young people, the path to the future is pretty cookie cutter. Graduate high school, go to college and start working. Young people are expected to somehow magically know what they want to do, would be good at, would find joy and fulfillment from doing and be able to support their desired lifestyle before having any real concept of any of these things. The problem I have with the educational system as an adult who has experienced it, a parent preparing for kindergarten and an educator living it daily is there is not and should not be one path that will lead children into a fulfilling life and career. Read more>>

Jessica Bookout

I didn’t go to school specifically for photography, but I do think it’s really important for students to learn the business side off photography before jumping in and starting a career. With any entrepreneurial business you will be wearing many hats within the company and need to know how to create and send contracts to protect your company, how to market your business, talk to customers, keep track of finances, legally own and operate a business, calculate your cost of doing business, and how to successfully make a profit doing what you love. I think a lot of photographers start out not knowing these things and learn them the hard way. It would be great to have affordable education available to those just starting out to help them be successful in their photography careers. Read more>>

Monica Kelly

What would you change about the educational system? How can we prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career? My career background is that of an educator. I have taught in many different capacities. I have taught in the public school setting, private school setting, K-12, teacher credentialing programs, homeschooling my own children as well as others, and consulting and facilitating for homeschool families. My philosophy as a teacher holds true to both children in traditional school settings as well as homeschool settings. A learner should be engaged and curious. A teacher should provide opportunities for a child to explore passions and explore themselves as learners and as growing individuals. Read more>>

Kelly Flowers

One thing I would change about the education system is the access to STEAAM programs for girls at an early age. As an organization that is focused on bridging the diversity, equity, and inclusion gap through STEAAM education, we understand the importance of access. It is extremely important to start girls at an early age exploring and having hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering, arts, architecture, and math. It’s equally important for girls to also explore coding and gaming which is the way of the future. As we are aware, girls are underserved as a whole and most are becoming the head of their households. Read more>>

Morgan Alynn

If I could change the educational system, I would ask them to promote trade-style careers as viable. The school system, from early grades through college, seemed to send me on a journey towards working for a corporate entity. Even art school, it felt, was merely grooming me to be a gallery worker or a professor of art. It wasn’t until I branched out into tattoo, a trade skill, that I finally felt a freedom to create my own work and brand. My husband is also a tradesman, and works in carpentry. We were both able to get steady jobs right out of school, with lots of options to move up and expand. Read more>>

Irene Greaves

I believe our educational system needs to be transformed – not reformed. Our current model is far from meeting the needs of our children and our world as a whole. The first thing I would do to transform the educational system would be to humanize it by making Lovescaping a core component of the school curriculum and culture. Lovescaping’s mission is to transform schools into places where we systematically learn to practice love in action through the intentional engagement of 15 pillars: humility, empathy, respect, care, compassion, communication, patience, honesty, trust, vulnerability, solidarity, liberation, gratitude, forgiveness and hope. Read more>>

Emily Larkin

I would suggest that Interior Design schools give their students more realistic projects as well as train their students further in AutoCAD. When I was in school, I had a couple of classes in AutoCAD in which one was a lecture class (with no hands on experience!) We were also given lots of projects that had no budget restrictions or it wasn’t particularly applicable to the “real life” residential projects that I would be doing in my future career. Read more>>

Audrey Darrow

I would include Mind/Body/Soul teaching including meditation because going to school and learning math, history, economics, etc. does not in any way prepare us for the reality of the human existence. If we learn early on that the only way to find peace/ joy and abundance in your outer world is to first find it in your inner world. The outer will transform based on the vibration you carry from your internal. Read more>>

Danny Adelman

I would change a lot about the educational system as it currently exists. I feel that finding a person’s purpose in life is one of the most important things they can do and the educational system should support that as early on as possible. I think as early as middle school, kids need to be encouraged to do what they feel attracted to and passionate about. They also need to be exposed to entrepreneurship earlier so they can grasp the difference between that and just getting a job and or career later in life. Ideally, this should be done in conjunction with fundamental education of reading, writing, math, science, etc. Read more>>

DeVonte’ Harris

First and foremost I believe the educational system must start with being trustworthy. If the educational system doesn’t start with gaining trust from the people it’s suppose to be helping, then there’s no hope for a successful system. Which then means the system is no longer doing its duty. These systems dictate the world. Whatever the system is feeding itself, in return, it’s going to give it right back to its people. We must have a clearer understanding on the past to be able to present solutions in the future. If we are fed lies, violence, and fear, then that is what we will end up giving each other. Read more>>