Reimagining American Education: Possible Futures

Abstract

If the future of preK-12 education is going to be better than the past, then we need to rethink our fundamental assumptions about what we want from our schools and what we expect those schools to look like. Educators should embrace three core commitments in particular: 1) to treat students as learners whose agency is respected, whose diversity is embraced, whose selves are deeply known, whose joy is cultivated, and whose holistic growth is the paramount concern of the adults who care for them; 2) to promote learning that is purposeful, authentic, and connected to the broader human domains of which those learners are part; and 3) to create learning communities that enable deep relationships, cultivate democratic values and dispositions, and model the kind of society and environment we want to create.