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.

Johanna Mirpuri

The way to prepare our students for a more fulfilling life and career as adults is to teach them life skills. Our education system is training kids to become workers. They go to school the same time as a 9-5 employee, waking up every day at the same time as their parents getting ready to go to school, just as their parents do for work. So, they are not taught any life skills that they would normally learn at home. Read more>>

Yve-Car Momperousse

I would make internships start much earlier and mandatory for all students. Early participation in internships offers students valuable experience in communicating professionally and becoming more organized. These skills are not typically gained solely in the classroom, but rather through experiential learning in practical settings. Read more>>

Suzanne Borders

I have a lot of hot takes about this topic that aren’t especially popular. Mostly, I believe that the education system, esp the collegiate system, is so incredibly broken. I don’t think there’s anything the education system can do to prepare students for a fulfilling career, other than maybe pushing more students into apprenticeships and entrepreneurship in general, vs pushing every single student down the ‘college’ track. Read more>>

Jessalyn Burden

What would I change? Wow, that’s a topic I think about a lot. These are my own opinions on the subject. As a former public school teacher in the Special Education Department, I have witnessed and experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly of our current educational system and many things could be changed to make it a little bit better. In today’s rapidly changing world, education needs to prepare students not just for academic success, but for a fulfilling life and career. Read more>>