May 23rd, 2026

I’ve been thinking about the education system a lot this week. Granted, I think a lot about the education system most weeks, but it feels like it’s been more than usual. Perhaps it is because the Fels graduation on Sunday reminded me of my first master’s program. Perhaps it was the frightening statistics I heard about learning losses at generational levels that our society has not experienced before. Whatever it was, today I want to write about my hopes for education.

Off the bat, I believe that our education system gets the concept of education wrong. Education is a process of lifelong learning and development. It does not start at the age of five, we learn throughout our entire lives, and that same notion indicates that we certainly don’t stop learning when we are 18. The fundamental concept of K-12 as the formal education system is misguided. And I know that many people continue going to school beyond their teenage years, but the name “post-secondary” in addition to the fact that so many people do not go to college makes it feel like something else. I am not going to advocate that everyone should go to college, I have seen college be wonderful for some and a mistake for others, and I have seen not going to college be wonderful for some and a mistake for others. But the other fundamental flaw in our understanding of education is that we treat education as though it only takes place in a classroom. We, as a society, actually do not value lived experiences the same way we do classroom experiences, which I understand is harder to measure, but nuance is a powerful tool.

As with much of my writings right now, I am working through a lot of thoughts. So this will be imperfect, there will be room for improvement, and I look forward to people sharing their thoughts on what that should look like. But to me there is no doubt that our education system can and must be improved. There has been an intentional degradation of the public education system in the United States. I experienced No Child Left Behind early in elementary school, when recess was taken away so we could have thirty more minutes of classroom instruction, which is remarkably out of touch with the actual needs of young children. I have come to learn further in adulthood the ways in which that was intentionally designed to harm already struggling schools with the goal to make them fail, creating a new market for schools that people could profit from running. We see similar energy with the high costs and low acceptance rates from public colleges, and while I know I mentioned how higher education feels like a different thing to me than the formal education system, the privatization of public schools is problematic to me.

If education is a lifelong process of learning and growth, then it is a tool to support people in reaching their full potential, which is what I believe it should be. And everyone’s potential, in a big and heterogeneous society like ours, should not look the same. But the mechanistic nature of the system kind of forces everyone to squeeze into the same box, and those who do succeed and those who don’t, or at least don’t easily, struggle. I was not always the best student, it’s not how I am naturally wired, but it wasn’t my choice to be well positioned for school, I had a family that prepared me to be successful in the education system before I even started school. So that is another flaw I need to point out before musing what better could look like, that our education system has largely developed to reinforce class divides. This was likely always the case, but especially after No Child Left Behind, when worse performing schools received fewer resources than better performing schools, this reality only grew. And now, especially with technology’s growing role in the classroom, and we know that COVID didn’t help, we see the impacts on an entire generation of students, disproportionately impacting already marginalized communities. 

So if I could redesign the education system, what would I do? For today, I’ll lay out more of a framework than a detailed answer, but try to provide an outline that we can color in the lines on moving forward. First, let’s discuss the transgenerational realities of education. Like I said, my family prepared me for success in school whether I wanted to or not. That is a privilege in this world, but I can imagine a world where every child is read to from an early age, where every child is engaged with and taught to think critically. So I want to start our framework for education before a child is even born. Are parents prepared to welcome a child? What economic stabilities exist to ensure families can meet their child’s basic needs, and what social supports exist to ensure families can meet more than just the basic needs? How are we supporting thoughtful planning and healthy pregnancy before a child is born, and then of course supporting healthy environments for a child when they are brought into this world? Education and opportunities for parents matter, and while that is far from my expertise, it must be part of the discussion.

In line from that point, we are thinking about redesigning the education system long before a child is old enough to enter kindergarten. For folks who have access to either preschool or pre-kindergarten, the earlier the better, but let’s expand that argument. Our education system as it currently exists was designed at a time where the cost of living and gender inequality created conditions where many households had one person working. Additionally, reduced geographic mobility also led to more people living closer to their families where both parents did work or in single parent households. And, where the parent or both parents worked and did not live close to or did not have an extended family to rely on, social bonds were often stronger than they are today. Whatever the circumstance, there is an assumption embedded within our education system that young children will have a nurturing environment before school starts that is a non-reality for so many, and given current conditions continues to become less true. 

We must create a system that intentionally engages caregivers (using this word intentionally here as I have been talking about parents specifically yet recognize that many students grow up with caregivers they do not consider to be their parents) as a child goes to school. Throughout the outline being developed in this blog post, it is also worth saying again that we are not just talking about schools. The siloing of the education system away from other systems does a massive disservice to building the strongest possible educational system. So in filling this gap early in life, we must think about what family supports exist so that parents are better able to stay home and take care of their children, in addition to expanding preschool to be available for all children well before kindergarten begins. If this all sounds like a pipedream and far too expensive to be realistic, I’d encourage you to look at how much it costs our society when this reality is unavailable. I will come back to this point later in the piece again. 

When we get to preschool, the goal should be more around socialization than academics. This should be enhanced not just in preschool, but also within the communities in which children grow up, as we must reweave the social fabric so we all live in healthy, nurturing environments. We should read to kids and work on vocabulary, but we must ensure that children learn to cooperate and get along with others. We are social creatures, and as much as our economy and society relies on people with expertise, it relies more on people working together. We can let kids play together and have fun - what a concept! - and this is not just wasted time. To a young child, this exploration is major learning about not only themselves, but also other people and the world around them. They should be exposed to nature, they should be fed nutritious meals, they should be provided safe environments to explore. We should not be worried about deeming a child “good” or “bad” as much as we are concerned with helping every child be the best they can be. Learning to come to school and be part of a community, sitting down for story time, cleaning up when a mess is made, helping a friend who falls down, being creative with arts and crafts, these are the habits children can learn that expand meaningfully throughout life.

As we get to kindergarten age, we begin to enter into a more structured education environment that already exists in our society. I would nurture more of a Waldorf style of education, especially early in a student’s education, as that has been shown to increase curiosity and wonderment, perhaps scoring worse on standardized tests early but catching up and surpassing their peers who are in traditional classroom environments early on. I will say that especially during primary school ages, we need to continue to let kids be kids. There is a reason to provide supervised and safe, but unstructured environments for kids to play. And there is not a reason to give kids huge amounts of required homework that they need to do at home each day. Optional practice for kids who want to, and engaging caregivers to support where children may need some extra support beyond the classroom, is important. So I am not saying no homework. But what a sin to take childhood away from children. Oftentimes the best thing a kid can have is play, and we need to be sure to not just create those conditions in school, but also outside of school.

My other big gripe with education at this age is with grades. I believe fully that we should have ways to measure various skills, and am even open to an annual standardized test, as flawed as they may be, as a tool, not to increase or decrease funding for schools, but just as a way to measure where our students are and, given recent reports, how our education system is either advancing or declining from generation to generation. But I do not think we should be giving kids grades at this age. As I said before, nuance is a powerful tool. If a kid is struggling with a concept or skill, then their teacher(s) should talk with them, they should engage their caregivers, and come up with a plan to best support that child. But I have heard far too many times where kids who get bad grades get the message that they are dumb, which turns off their want and will to try, creating a self fulfilling prophecy that does nobody any good. On the other end of the spectrum, I got perfect grades throughout the whole school year in second grade, and I became an arrogant little kid who thought I didn’t have to try hard to succeed in school. This also did nobody any good. I just genuinely don’t see a reason to give kids grades in elementary school. 

Now, let’s discuss secondary school. I do believe that academic rigor is necessary, and this is where I think grades start being more appropriate. It is a skill to learn how to take criticism and reckon with poor performance, and use that to motivate us to work harder to succeed. I do not believe that we get the culture of schools right, where students seem to always be competing against each other. While some competition is good and pushes us to work harder to reach our full potential, we must not forget that collaboration is a major skill that people need to learn to be successful in the workforce and more broadly throughout their lives. But unlike primary school, where I think grades do more harm than good, I see the reason for them here.

What I do believe is deeply flawed is that we only grade one skill. At this point, different students will exhibit different aptitudes that are truly excellent. This may be seen before secondary school in some students, but at this age skill development has had time to mature and it really starts to become apparent in different ways. We should measure all skills to support students in reaching their full potential, which necessitates finding useful ways to contribute to society with their skills and interests (which very often, not surprisingly, go together). This leads me to a conversation about the stigma that exists in schools for students whose skills do not align with traditional academic success. Stigmatization of non-traditionally academic pathways is harmful not only to students but to our society at large. We literally have a negative workforce in many trades. This has downstream consequences that our society is grappling with today. Housing is more expensive than it would otherwise be because there is a shortage of labor (materials is another conversation) to build homes. The same goes with repairs that need to be done to infrastructure including but also beyond just homes. Stigma around trades harms students and our society. 

If a student enjoys being in the classroom (generally, at least) and is good at traditional academics, that is great. If a student does not enjoy the classroom and traditional academics are not their strength, then they should be supported in exploring other areas that are needed and their interests and strengths may more closely align. We need people who can cook and farm, food is a very important part of life. We need carpenters and electricians and mechanics and all other sorts of skills for our society to function, skills that are much more resilient with the growth of AI by the way, that are supported in some ways by but are not learned in a traditional classroom. But the amount of students who feel pressured to stay in school, and the students who don’t have the opportunity to explore other options, is a real problem in today’s society. 

Another piece of secondary education that must be addressed in this piece - again I recognize I am only touching on bits and pieces in each of these sections, and again they can and should be further developed over time - is supporting arts and sports. We have seen major cuts to these programs in schools that have done so much harm to students, and in such, to school cultures at large. I believe that sports saved me when I was growing up on more than one occasion. First of all, during hard times, it gave me something to look forward to and work hard for. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Second, the repetitions and practice provided more than just becoming a good baseball player, but helped create healthy neural pathways and architecture that have continued to serve me throughout my whole life. Third, it gave me healthy opportunities to process things that I did not have words to express. For me it was sports. I am not artistic, I wish I was but just am not, but sports were everything to me (they’re still a lot to me). But for other kids the exact opposite is true. But these opportunities are incredibly important, while recess may not be available in secondary school these more than make up for it, and provide structure that helps kids most importantly in their wellbeing, but also in class.

In a capitalist society, we must teach students financial literacy as well. I will get more into this a bit in discussing student debt, but beyond just preparing students to make wise decisions as they enter their post-secondary lives, understanding money in America is critical. In my own experiences it is also a wonderful opportunity to teach skills like math and planning as well. The fact that there is not a structured curriculum that supports financial literacy from an early age is a sin. It leaves students who don’t independently develop an interest in financial systems with only their environments outside of school to teach them about money, which reinforces privilege in more ways than is necessary. This is a necessary skill that must be taught in schools.

The other two pieces I want to touch on, but won’t go too deeply into, are physical education and student government. In a society as unhealthy as ours, physical education is critical. However, while I was the type of student who loved playing sports in gym, I think that it is more important to support students in finding ways to build and maintain health throughout their lives. With sports supported by schools, students who want those experiences don’t need it from physical education. But building and finding joy in cardiovascular exercise, whether that be running or just walking outside, which has again shown tremendous benefits in the classroom as well, or learning yoga and pilates, are more valuable. But we must work to develop not just academic skills, but holistic wellbeing in our education system. 

Finally for this section, in a democratic society, we must build the skills that enable a healthy, functioning democracy. Real civic education is more than just learning about the history of the country and the levels of government. Democracy is a practice that must be exercised, and that should start in school. I believe that democracy should exist in primary schools, but the looser structure proposed in this blog kind of automatically enables that, but with greater structure in secondary schools, student government becomes critical. It is not just a popularity contest, but a lesson in how the government should function and the many roles that are needed to support public-serving systems. I can’t say that popularity doesn’t and won’t come into play here when voting for a class president, but the government is more than just a president. Everyone who wants to contribute in student government can have a role, and it is essential not just as a practice in democracy, but to meaningfully contribute to the school that students attend. 

In the post-secondary realm of the education system, I will start by saying that not everyone needs to go to college, and certainly not right away. People should do something productive, especially in young adulthood, but I have seen many people do productive and awesome things outside of college. I have also seen many people who go to college develop unproductive and destructive habits. Again, different things work for different people, and different people need different things at different times. Trades offer incredible opportunities for apprenticeships and mentorship that allow people to get good jobs without needing to go into debt to go to college in the first place. Other young people coming out of school may choose to go into service, whether that be in the military or in their community, and those can also be wonderful opportunities.

For young adults who choose to go to college, the stigma should be removed from community college. It is an affordable way to explore academic interests beyond the secondary school level while accumulating credits that transfer to many four year colleges. Community college is not the right answer for many people for different reasons, but it is the right answer for many people for many reasons, and the stigma that exists around it as an option is destructive. For those who go to four year colleges, especially those who do not get into the most elite colleges, which due to supply and demand I understand why it’s as expensive as it is whether I like it or not, it should not put students into insurmountable debt. The predatory loans that students, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, are exposed to just to advance their education and try to succeed as best they can is criminal, and is further exacerbated by the fact that we do not teach students financial literacy in a structured way in our society, as discussed earlier, which only makes them more susceptible to flawed decision making that can impact the rest of their lives, more than would otherwise happen at this time in an already impulsive time of life. I do believe that it should cost money, I believe that having skin in the game for voluntary advancement makes sense, but six figures of debt with compounding interest just for the ability to advance one’s self and position themselves for career success is not healthy for a capitalist society. It is good for individual capitalists perhaps, though I would argue the ramifications of this have impacts beyond just the people that go into such debt, but it is certainly not good for the society as a whole that wants as many skilled and trained workers as possible. We need public colleges and universities, as I referenced earlier, to be more inclusive. There should be rigor and not everyone needs to go, but there are people in today’s world who would succeed in such an environment but are prohibited from exploring the option because of the realities of doing so. I cannot control private university costs, but the higher education bubble is bursting and will create market corrections, but public universities should be an accessible option for the public.

Taking this point a bit further into graduate school, a passion of mine is supporting those who go to school for a career of service, and they should definitely not have to take on debt to do this. I am talking about professions that we need more people and that benefit society, like early childhood professionals, social workers, and teachers. Many of these positions require graduate degrees for entry and definitely for advancement, yet for the most part do not pay particularly well, which is not why people go into these fields, but we as a society again must be realistic about what we are asking from folks who go into these professions and recognize the systemic barriers that exist to building up the workforce. Let’s take social work for example, where not only do you need an undergraduate degree but often require a graduate degree. Let’s assume that’s six years and each of these years costs $20,000 all in, which would be very low and assumes a lot of scholarships for the record, but still makes my point. We are asking people without generational wealth to take on $120,000 in debt just for their degrees. Further, to get certified as a clinical social worker, which is what many people think of when they think of as a social worker, we are then asking people to do thousands of hours of supervised work, which is not only often unpaid but some people actually need to pay more money for, all to get a job that on average pays well under $100,000 per year. With the current cost of living and especially if that individual has a child or multiple children, this debt burden to do a role that our society needs more of is unsustainable. Similar examples can be spelled out for early childhood professionals and teachers and many more. It hurts our society at large. The government can subsidize public education to create a more robust workforce in these critical jobs, and I believe that it must. We have seen this for other service members, and given mandatory minimums of staying in these jobs for specified periods of time, I see no reason this would not be possible.

Finally, I will just say that the culture of higher education has become largely separated from the actual purposes of education. So much of college is around partying and sports. Again, I am a huge fan of sports, but to think that there are college football coaches who are getting paid enough money to fund hundreds of full-ride scholarships to walk away from their jobs is a sign of horrifically misaligned incentives for schools. I recognize how much money sports brings in for schools and I admittedly don’t fully understand the business of higher education, but there is a problem there. And the party going culture may be somewhat natural when we are putting young adults together in a confined space, and it may have existed as long as colleges have, see back to what is natural for brain development and impulsivity at the ages of most college students, but but we should be clear in our culture that the primary role of college is to pursue advancement, not partying. I developed unhealthy habits in college that I had to unlearn, and was lucky that I was not exposed to dangerous substances. I’d like to think I would have said no to them, but I think that’s what everyone thinks. Too many college students die from overdoses. Too many college students die from suicide because of the pressure they feel. We need to create healthier and more productive cultures on college campuses.

And then going back to how I started this blog post, education is a lifelong process of learning and development. So beyond just the traditional ages we consider education for, we need to ensure there are real opportunities for continued learning throughout one’s whole life. As our society continues to rapidly evolve, we need people to learn new skills and contribute in new ways. Beyond just for the workforce, continued learning opportunities are critical for health across the lifespan. Exercising neuroplasticity for as long as possible is critical for wellbeing. I have seen the benefits for those who do, as my 96 year old grandfather recently published a book he wrote for our family and continues to exercise and learn. He may not be young, but my goodness am I consistently impressed by my Poppy. He is one of many examples, and I hope that others are able to reach their full potential the way I believe he has. 

That should be the goal, for everyone to reach their full potential. That will look different for different people, as it should. We have a big society with a lot of different needs that continue to evolve, so we don’t need one kind of the same person, we need something from each person. Our education system then should not be about trying to force everyone to fit into a single box, but rather to meet students where their interests lie and work to support holistic wellbeing. Too frequently we reinforce an eject-reject system that has some people rise to the top and pushes everyone else down. We see this most disastrously in the school-to-prison pipeline, but can also see this in the treatment of many in the special education system, and other students who don’t excel in the classroom and aren’t given the opportunity to explore where they are excellent. We force kids in our society to frequently to learn what we think is important to teach them, but in the words of the legendary coach John Wooden, you haven’t taught until they’ve learned. And further reinforcing the importance of supporting holistic wellbeing with the students we work with, John Wooden also famously said, they won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. We need to make sure that every person knows they are cared for. But that can’t be possible right now, because our society simply doesn’t care about every person. It is a sin and must be addressed. I believe that education reform is an important place to get better. 

And as I referenced earlier, doing so does not only benefit individuals in the current and future generations of students, but benefits our society as a whole. Our debt burden is compounded by justice system involvement, poor health outcomes, and reduced tax revenue from people who are not in the workforce (there are many other factors, I know). But the costs of building a more robust system are not cheap, but would pay many times over long into the future as outcomes improve throughout our society. War combined with reduced taxes has been the largest single contributor to our ballooning national debt, and that must be solved for, but I believe the moves to weaken our education system have contributed mightily as well. To solve this crisis moving forward, I believe that strengthening the education system must be accomplished. What is outlined in this blog post are just some initial thoughts that I have been thinking about, and while this is my longest post to date, there is so much more that needs to be written moving forward. But what I hope is clear throughout this, and what must continue to be worked on to achieve, is to support everyone to reach their full potential and realize holistic wellbeing. That is the reason my first masters degree is in educational leadership, because I believe this is necessary on both a human and systems level, and I look forward to continuing to work toward real solutions.