I’m an optimist by nature, so I choose to believe that a growing number of people are coming around to the simple fact that the old model of schooling is irretrievably broken. Debates about reform vs. status quo are tired and largely irrelevant. The changes we need to make to our education system are so profound that we can’t even talk about them using old language.

So I am always heartened when I come across someone who has awakened to this same reality. It’s especially heartening when that person emerges from within traditional systems, and has come to realize they aren’t serving kids well.

I was perusing education sites and Twitter feeds recently when I came across an article on Medium by a Washington D.C.-based educator named Simon Rodberg. According to his bio, Rodberg has worked in district-run schools, and was the founding principal of DC International School, a charter. He now teaches school leadership at American University.

The article that caught my eye was titled “School as We Knew it is Over. What Comes Next?” As you might guess, the headline caught my attention. And the farther into the article I read, the more impressed I grew. Some highlights:

Rodberg posits that schools have come to “answer four needs for a changing society”: A custodial function — somewhere safe to put kids while parents work; a job-readiness function — providing students with the skills they need to become productive workers earning a living wage; a developmental function — as society has undergone profound changes, people want their children to learn how to become “well-rounded, modern people”; and a democratic function — helping kids acquire habits and knowledge that prepare them for  “self-government.”

The problem, Rodberg asserts, is that these four functions “create more conflict than synergy.”

“The more we want schools to teach, the less they are able to teach it well. Why do so many students struggle to read at grade level? In part, it’s because of all the other things teachers have to do.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought us a bracing moment of clarity as we have paused schooling, for all intents and purposes. And what we have come to realize, Rodberg says, is that “when social distancing eventually ends, we can better meet the actual needs of students by unbundling the functions of school to educate our children in different, more varied ways.”

I could go on and on, but it’s worth your time to read the entire article.

I looked a bit more into Rodberg’s writings, and came across his medium page. There are a lot of worthy pieces there, which I commend to my readers. Another piece that struck me as particularly relevant to my work and philosophy is one he wrote just after the pandemic shuttered schools. It’s titled “Don’t Send Kids back to the Factory Line.” It, too, is worth reading in full. Here’s just a little taste to whet your appetites:

“Education scholars know it as “the factory model”: children are the raw material; they proceed through the assembly line of schooling like so many widgets to be shaped, stamped, certified, and sent out into the world. Except, of course, that children are individuals, not widgets, and the factory model doesn’t work. Some kids leave school having mastered the curriculum, and some kids leave having mastered very little; many drop out; and huge numbers feel bored, stressed, or both. The factory has never worked well; after coronavirus, it will be nearly impossible.

Schools need to prepare, now, for a different long-term future. They should be planning how to assess students when school re-opens, and how to differentiate instruction based both on their homeschooling experiences and their current needs.”

Enjoy your reading!