In order to “reboot” high school education to meet the needs of a hazy AI future, the first step is addressing the layer of elementary learners now in the pipeline. Parents struggling with the many options available would benefit from some guidelines on choosing the best option for their young learner….traditional education, progressive education, home schooling.
Observing my daughter choose the best kindergarten option for our grandson, she considered easiness of transportation, cost, after school care and a good fit for his interests. The choice is a community cooperative school that makes use of the neighborhood ravine as a resource for learning. The key factor was the outside activities, a large part of the Pacific North West culture.
Of course, she is concerned about the need for high parent involvement since she is a working mom. Isn’t that what grandparents can do?
So here is what a community cooperative school looks like and here is a Wikipedia description of progressive education. Is this the part of the hazy future we are building?
Perhaps we are moving from a one size fits all educational structure, to one more closely adapted to the families in communities who have specific needs, such as learning about the outdoors.
A wise man once commented that in order for reform movements in education to succeed, they need to provide some value for all parents, not just some in a particular niche. This has been hard to accomplish in the past, and large differences exist in support for various schools, even sometimes within the same school district.
Maybe the community school idea is one with application to many different social and economic groups. Looks to appeal to certain families in urban Seattle!