Which Future of Public Schools? Scenarios for 2025
The struggle to
sustain and strengthen our public schools is really a struggle to envision and
create a powerful future for the children.
To start this new school year with a focus on the children, I'm pleased
to introduce Alexandra Whittington,
a mom, a futurist, a tireless advocate for children, and, I think, an optimist
about how we -- working together -- can make our schools what the children need
them to be:
Educating. All our Children has identified some of the top emerging issues and uncertainties in the future
of public schooling: will corporate interests maintain their stronghold on curriculum and teaching? Should schools embrace the cultural diversity
of students and their families/communities? Can high-stakes testing and real (i.e., “messy”) learning co-exist? I value this exploratory perspective and it
opens a mental space to flesh out some implications for the future—and consider
if we like or dislike the impacts. As a
reader of Linda’s blog, a parent, and a futurist interested in education, I’d
like to add the following future scenarios to the conversation she has
initiated on learning, creativity and teaching.
Scenario 1: Artificial Intelligence
Continued
standardization and increased emphasis on technology in public schooling in
2025 has contributed to an environment where learning and teaching are automated,
quantified, and above all, predictable.
Big data is the intersection of these major forces (standardization and
technology) and guides the decisions of school administration.
The technology
essential for a successful school comes packaged as a benign Silicon Valley
“making the world a better place” product. This fact lends to all types of privatization schemes involving school admins. These partnerships ensure that tangible
results (test scores), which generally increase funding, are achieved. Publicly-funded school systems that are not
so shrewdly run are quietly brushed aside by an invisible hand in the high-tech
education marketplace. Robotics, artificial intelligence, massive data mining
and virtual reality are just some of the technologies involved in the typical
public school experience in 2025.
One of the biggest
changes is that by 2025, a major in Theatre Arts is considered a good preparation
for teachers. But not for the public
speaking skills or creativity….Since public schools use scripted lesson delivery in the classroom, "acting" becomes quite an
advantage to getting hired. The
“coaching” that started out on headset technology has evolved with the use of
VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) and, even though wearable technology is
now very much a social norm, the most effective teachers are those who can
memorize lines. It boosts the bottom
line when teachers skip the hardware. And
it helps differentiate human from robot teachers.
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| Photo credit: http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/should_teachers_be_replaced_by_robots_3 |
For the most part, parents
are kept out of the inner workings of school systems. The privileging of data in schools has resulted
in a predominantly impersonal, technical environment, so even though teaching
is seen and described as highly “personalized,” it is based not on how well a
teacher knows a student, or the quality of the time they spend working
together, or parental influence and insights on their own child’s learning. Instead, schools are service providers to
maximize expected outcomes based on computational formulas meant to interpret a
student’s abilities, strengths, weaknesses and, ultimately, career potential… all
of which are now rendered as data points to be manipulated and mined.
The result is an
academic environment that lacks surprises.
For example, as long as the adequate instruction time and content is
covered in class, student scores can be forecast and bad grades can be
addressed before they happen. So there
are no bad grades, low scores, or failures.
Everyone passes. It’s designed
that way to provide a service (to give parents and students what they want,
i.e., job or college preparation for the student) and make teaching a “skill”
(not a passion or a career, but a compliant service role that, ironically,
requires no specific preparation other than being a quick study).
What the school system
of 2025 is not designed for is accidental learning, spontaneous discoveries and
unscripted connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. Some parents and students balked, but it was
the way society was moving anyway. In
2025 it’s not just that learning is predictable but so is life.
Scenario 2: Mind Manifests Itself
In 2019 a breakthrough
scientific discovery was made. A
convergence of new data determined that creativity is the most critical mental
capacity needed to develop intelligence starting at preschool age. The multiple-choice question was suddenly
like lead paint on toys; many parents took action as if their children faced
life-threatening consequences and quickly became involved in the growing Opt
Out movement.
By 2020 it was seen as a moral failing not to step in as parents and
demand alternatives to the ‘teach to the test’ environment that had dominated
America’s public schools for almost two generations.
A parent- and
student-led movement took place, culminating in the biggest disruption to
public schools since Brown v. Board; the Opt Out Walk Out of 2022 fought for what
educators have always known: that “mind
manifests itself,” (as the Dr. Arnold Gesell and the Gesell institute has put it since the 1950’s) and that our
schools should honor a child-centered philosophy of learning. On the first day of school in fall 2022, a
million kids and parents walked out. The
parents worked together in their neighborhoods to coordinate homeschooling and co-ops
so that the children were still engaged in learning during the weeks-long
protest. Their employers sympathized
with their cause and helped
coordinate the effort. The student absences
added up to billions of dollars in federal school funds lost to the
schools—this is what got their attention.
After weeks of empty threats the response of the school system was
swift. So-called “accountability” was
left for dead and the funding model changed from “standards” based to equal
investments in meeting the real needs of all our children.
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| Photo credit: http://www.examiner.com/article/teachers-protest-the-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation |
The students and their
parents worked with school systems and legislators to negotiate new
expectations of the public schools, making demands for International
Baccalaureate (IB) programs, community-centered schools and Montessori schools. Libraries were fully re-funded and enrichment
programs like art, physical education and music became consistent parts of the
school day again. Parents were
advocating for a variety of programs, guided by experts in childhood
development and a strong recognition of the inherently valuable potential of
each and every child.
By the start of the
school year in 2025, many long-overlooked obligations to our children were being
addressed by the schools. For example,
young children had longer and more frequent recess breaks throughout the
day. Exercise became an important part
of their day and lunch periods were extended—the childhood obesity epidemic was
quickly reversed! In fact, schools
became central to the healthy sustenance of entire communities through school-run
food markets. The simple fact that
children and families didn’t have to go hungry anymore was a tipping point that
increased parent engagement to nearly 100% in most public schools.
The value of
socialization at school was recognized as critical to emotional intelligence
and students were allowed the time they needed to play and chat with friends
and teachers on a more relaxed schedule.
Teachers were able to adhere to looser routines so that emergent
learning opportunities could be utilized.
Parents enjoyed innovative “open door” classrooms that offered
transparency via both face-to-face and virtual/remote access. It took a lot more work on everyone’s part
but the positive results were worth it.
At the same time, classes
were given more opportunities to venture out and conduct hands-on learning in
nature and in the communities. A new
relationship was being established between schools and families, built on
trust. Money and power had driven a
wedge between teachers and students, parents and schools for way too long. That chapter was over.
My scenarios follow a predictable pattern for images of the
future: one “optimistic,” one
“pessimistic.” The actual future will
probably not be so black and white. But
the stories are meant to bring attention to our choices regarding key
uncertainties today: what should be the
role of modern technology in education? To what extent do we allow private
companies to monetize schooling? Can schools be forces for positive social
change in our communities? I wanted also
to spread a hopeful vision where parents act as driving forces for change in
our schools, preventing our children from being used as financial instruments,
analyzed as data points, and developed into little more than a ‘future workforce’. Let’s advocate for a future learning
environment where all our children are given equal opportunities to grow in the
best way possible.
