Rather than marks and grades, when public education is focused on igniting and channeling students’ wonder, innocence, sense of justice, creativity, hope, need for relevance, and unbounded potential the world will soon be kinder, more equitable, and healthier in every sense.
Education should help students find their authentic selves, identify issues that ignite their passion for learning and life, and master the social-emotional skills and competencies they’ll need to create happy, purposeful, and fulfilling lives. It should empower students to create a great life (passion) and a better world (purpose).
This demands a dramatic shift from slavish adherence to prescribed, age-based, college-prep curriculum and standardized tests to a personalized, collaborative, problem- and community-based learning approach in which students address real-world issues, like the UN Sustainable Development Goals.