Changing education isn’t quite as simple as starting a company, because we already hold beliefs about education. Before Airbnb, did you know that you needed to rent out your spare bedroom? Before Pandora did you know that you needed to stream personalized radio? Before Dropbox did you know that you needed to sync your files? The answer, in all cases, is no. However, if I asked you, “Did you know you need to get an education?” you’d be insulted. You’d also have very clear ideas about how to get an education.
Those preexisting ideas mean that changing education required more than building a technology company—it requires shifting our paradigm. I’m writing a book as the first step in shifting that paradigm and changing education. Surely technology will build solutions that help solve our educational problems, but efforts will be fruitless until we stop worshipping the SAT.
A vision of education in the year 2000 … as imagined in the year 1910.
Villemard, 1910, À l’ École, Visions de l’an 2000
