A City With No School
“Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful setting.” -Ivan Illich
We Really Stepped In a Pile Of Crap Here
According to Google Trends, the topic of homeschooling on YouTube is back at an all time high in 2024 since the COVID-19 pandemic virtually forced all families to figure it out.
Graph from google trends based on the topic of Homeschooling on Youtube
Image capture on 3/7/2024 from Google Trends
Tune in to any major podcast and you’ll eventually hear the topic come up. If you’re a parent like me, the topic seems to really pique our interest. My children are in preschool and I can’t stop fantasizing about alternate realities where the massive cost of daycare just isn’t a thing.
Things get darker as I think about the future.
I can’t shake the haunting thoughts of pre-college education. Not with all the mass shootings and craziness I’ve seen in the news in recent years. Weigh the potential for danger against the academic gains and you might tip the scales.
The Father of American Education, Horace Mann, didn’t intend for school to be this way. He would’ve despised the current level of fear and disillusionment in the public school system. For his time, Horace was massively progressive. He was an abolitionist and sought to level the playing field for all Americans. Through his advocacy, the American public school system, as we know it, was born. [1]
Image of Horace Mann and a little bit of his background
Image fromhttps://hmleague.org/ The Horace Mann League of the USA
If Horace was alive today, I think he’d shake his head and say, “Boy, we really stepped in a pile of crap here.” He’d feel shame for the level of inequity that has spawned in school districts across the nation. He’d go red in the face when he’d see where the nation falls in academic achievement compared to other nations of the world. In 2023, America placed 18th out of 71 countries in the PISA exam. (Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). A triennial survey ran by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The test assesses 15-year-olds’ abilities in reading, mathematics, and science.) [2]
A Thought Experiment
I’ve never wanted to be the parent that advocates for homeschooling, but I can’t deny the thought of a different system is inciting. Today, schools are better at serving society as daycare centers than education centers. There’s no doubt about it, schools need a dramatic overhaul to achieve academic supremacy. I believe with today’s technology we can re-approach schooling at different angle. If we want to influence the future of our children we have to take an active role in either confirming or denying the status quo.
Here, I present a thought experiment that will shake parents out of settling for the status quo. In an imaginary city called Brookston within the imaginary Florida County of Debrooks, we see a potential alternative.
This will be a longer read than most posts. To best illustrate an alternate future for our children, it’s necessary. To keep this thought experiment believable I’m going to operate on a few assumptions. First, AI, augmented reality, and wearable tech have matured a bit further. Second, the underlying economic and governmental structures will be the same as they are today. America will be a Capitalist and a Democratic-Republic society. Third, both parents, presented in the thought experiment, work full time. No parent can be present in the household to accommodate home schooling.
Photo by Billetto Editorial on Unsplash
I present to you, a day in the life of a Brookston Boy.
Summer Vacation
Little Julie Romero looked out the window as her parents drove past the sign made of stucco.
Welcome to Brookston- City of Innovation.
She ignored her parent’s conversation about their near dried up bank accounts. She dared not look at her father’s blushing face as he talked about his inability to send her to summer camp. She smiled when they asked if she was excited to be spending the summer with her cousin Charlie. She didn’t have to hide her excitement, she loved Charlie and had plenty of friends in his neighborhood. That summer would be an exciting one.
Charlie’s parents aren’t much better off than Julie’s. Both father and mother work just as Julie’s do. Unlike Julie’s parents, Charlie’s don’t have summer time to worry about. Debrooks county didn’t have a traditional summer break.
In fact, there’s never a break.
Charlie’s parents don’t ever have to deal with the cycle of figuring out who’s going to watch over him when schools out. They never have to stash cash aside for some summer camp or daycare program. They don’t have to worry about the brain drain that’s expected after kids spend three months not touching a single academic assignment. There’s never a break from school, because there’s not a single school in the city of Brookston.
Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash
Summer in Brookston looks very different. There are no bus drivers lining up to get unemployment or get picked up for the hottest summer camp. There are no school teachers in Debrooks county looking for summer gigs. All school teachers had either left thirty years prior when the board of education announced its revolutionary schooling method or they signed up for the county’s restructuring program and have since re-approached the labor market with new skills taught by the transitions team.
There are no 15 mile an hour school zones. No volunteer crossing guards donning yellow reflective vests shoving palms in drivers faces. No working man or woman in Debrooks county has to get to work late or leave work early to battle traffic and make it to their kid’s school in time.
PS- There are no daycares either.
Breakfast
The first morning of her stay, Julie joined Charlie with rubbing eyes at the kitchen table. A crooked pile of pancakes leaned precariously on one plate. Another plate was replete with scrambled eggs mixed with bacon bits. Charlie’s father, Joseph, was enjoying a steaming cup of coffee. He put down the newsfeed on his phone when the two kids arrived and said, “Good morning little gremlins.”
Charlie’s mother, Rebeka, sat beside Joseph. She had one foot tucked under her butt as she cradled her cup of coffee with both hands. “How’d you guys sleep?” she asked Julie.
Since Julie had arrived, she and Charlie had been playing with the neighborhood kids. They pushed it past sunset and had played video games late into the night. Rebeka hadn’t known just how late they were up but Julie’s yawn was enough to give her an idea. “Ok, you can go back to bed and get a good rest after you eat.”
Julie shook her head and said, “No, Charlie told me about the engineering Edutrac he’s been following. He’s supposed to visit a factory today!”
30 years prior, the Debrooks County Board of Education was keen on Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712–1778) work in “A Treatise on Education.” Rousseau believed in the natural goodness of children. He believed in the importance of allowing children to learn through experience. This was the first push toward student-centered education. From this idea, grew a focused approach on nurturing individual interests and abilities.
Cover photo for Emile AKA “A Treatise Education.” Image from
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/emile-16
With this in mind, the Board of Education, along with the help of several software development companies, derived the Edutrac. Edutrac, short for Education Track, is a virtual curriculum generated from genesis questions. Starting with a child’s curiosity, a curriculum unravels. Then, by passing milestones a child can achieve graduation and receive a certificate. After much success, most major Universities started accepting these certificates for enrollment.
Rebeka and Joseph shot one another a smile. Rebeka leaned in to ask, “Charlie did you request to bring Julie along?”
“Yup. Mr. Tulley, my expert for today, already said yes!”
Rebeka laughed, “Wow, he got back to you quick! Well then, you two better eat up. The chaperones will be around soon.”
Charlie was already ahead of his parent’s suggestion. He shoveled spoonfulls of eggs in his mouth. Julie looked around the table and smiled. She thought Charlie was so lucky to be able to share this time in the morning with his parents.
Weekday mornings at Julie’s house were too hectic to ever sit down for breakfast. Everyone rushed to get ready and head out to make it to Julie’s school and work on time. If Julie didn’t get up bright and early, she’d be lucky to have a bowl of cereal or else settle for school breakfast.
Chaperones
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Rebeka opened the door and said good morning to the cul de sac chaperone, Mrs. McKenzie. Rebeka went to call the kids but they were already on their way down the foyer and zipped past her.
“Oh, Julie! Are you spending the summer with your cousin?” asked Mrs. McKenzie.
Photo by note thanun on Unsplash
Heavily influenced by the philosophy of Ivan Illich’s “Deschooling Society”, Debrooks County decentralized schools and went all in on community-based learning. [3]
Deschooling was more than just a mindset shift for the kids of Debrooks county, it was an all hands on deck initiative that would change the face of the county’s zoning and planning initiatives. Massive school campuses were torn down or repurposed into affordable housing. Housing communities and apartment complexes were gated to ensure security of the neighborhood children. New developments took a hub and spoke approach where cul de sacs served as the spokes and a community center served as the hub. Apartment complexes and affordable housing communities intermingled with affluent communities following a similar hub and spoke method to allow full integration. In Ivan Illich’s words, the community center would “facilitate access to things or processes used for formal learning” taking on a similar role to that of a library mixed with a rental agency, laboratory, and showroom all at once. [3]
Image of the hub and spoke community created on Midjourney AI
Communities with HOAs repurposed. Communities without an HOA formed into democratically elected Neighborhood Councils (NCs). 100% of property taxes fell under the local NC’s control. This money funded schooling material for the members of the community under 18 years of age. NCs built community centers the way they wanted and were in charge of keeping the neighborhood tidy and functional.
Retirees around the nation were encouraged to come to Debrooks county and serve as “Chaperones”. This alleviated the pressure on parents to leave the labor force and home school. Even the federal government got involved. A generous addition to social security payouts was granted to any retiree who chose to take on the role of a chaperone in sunny Debrooks County, Florida.
The role of Chaperone would be simple, but it wouldn’t be easy. One Chaperone was assigned to a cul de sac or “spoke” within the hub and spoke community system. Every morning, 5 days a week, chaperones were to coordinate with parents over the supervision of the children of the cul de sac. Then, the Chaperone was to take the children to the community center where they could mingle with the other children of the community during their educational activities.
Entrance requirements were stringent for anyone who wanted to become a Chaperone. An applicant needed to have a clean record and show a history of reliability akin to a resume that exemplifies adherence to commitments and responsibilities. Once accepted into the program, Chaperones would go through extensive training in CPR and first aid, conflict resolution, and self-defense among other skills that would assist them in their role as adult supervisor over large groups of children. Their role would not go beyond adult supervision. It was not their job to teach. The most they would do to influence the education of a child would be in facilitating them along the 4 approaches to the opportunity web dictated by a child’s Edutrac.
Julie was on her way out the door when Rebeka stopped her and asked, “Do you have a charger for your phone? The Edutrac simulators eat up a lot of your battery on a regular phone.”
Julie nodded and lifted her backpack as she passed. “I’ve got one in here,” she said as she and Charlie approached the other children of the cul de sac.
“I’ll send you a message when Mr. Tulley arrives. Just in case you want to talk to him before they go on the skills exchange,” said Mrs. McKenzie.
Rebeka smiled and nodded. Then, Mrs. McKenzie returned to the children in the cul de sac and said, “Alright, let’s go my lucky 13.” Together, the 13 children of the cul de sac, plus Julie, and their chaperone walked to the large bungalow style building with a coffee brown lacquer siding, wrap around porch, and sleek black metal roof at the center of their community.
Edulense
Many of the other cul de sac children had already arrived and were collected in self designated groups based on corresponding Edutracs and level of proficiency. Each child wore a set of Edulenses and was interacting with the lesson of the day.
Soon after they had arrived, Mrs. McKenzie pulled Charlie aside and said, “Charlie, Mr. Tulley sent me a message saying he’d be here a little after lunch time. So, maybe, take Julie and work on some of your other Edutracs until he gets here, ok?”
Julie groaned and said, “I’m just so excited to go to the factory!”
“Yeah,” agreed Charlie. “But that’s OK. I’ve got a few other pretty cool Edutracs you might like. Connect with me.”
Julie paired her phone with the Edulense set Charlie took out of his backpack. Julie wouldn’t get the full experience of an Edulense set, but she’d at least be able to follow along. Charlie donned the Edulense and turned it on.
Photo by Quang Tri NGUYEN on Unsplash
In the early years since Debrooks County completely deschooled and began collaboration with several competing software companies for Edutrac offerings, most of the programs could only be accessed on a desktop computer. As you could imagine, it seemed, at first, that schools had just been given a different name. The county had demolished schools just to have children piled in community centers filled with computers. Arguably, the only difference a community center had with a school was the lack of teachers.
It seemed the Edutracs weren’t living up to the new spirit of education they wanted to instill. George Tellerson, the school board superintendent, along with the county executive at the time, Renee Santiago, approached Apple to see if it could be possible to create a more affordable version of the then popular vision pros to bring Edutracs to life and remove children from the confines of classroom like environments.
Apple refused. This lead many of Apple’s competitors, chief among them, Microsoft, to develop affordable yet comfortable and light weight augmented reality products that a child could wear all day without much fatigue or fear for the cause of facial deformity from long term usage.
With the availability of comfortable augmented reality hardware and increasingly advanced Edutracs, the Debrooks County spirit of education had come to fruition.
An excited woman’s voice echoed in Charlie’s ears, “Welcome Charlie! It looks like you have brought a friend with you on your learning adventures today!”
Shimmering overlays that resembled translucent sheets of cloth appeared in Charlie’s sight above the objects he was once curious about. Deep in the memory of the software was stored genesis questions such as why is the grass green? Over the grass hovered a soft glimmering Edutrac that had been traversed for several hours. Had Charlie wanted to continue down that Edutrac, he could’ve traced it with his fingers and the Edulense would’ve opened back up to where he’d left off two months ago with an exploration of what a primary producer is within a food chain led by Harvard Professor of Environmental Chemistry, Darrion Woods.
Charlie smiled and said, “She’s my cousin.” His eyes drifted passed the green grass and scanned the community center. Another shimmering Edutrac on the science of architecture with origins in the genesis question, how is this building so beautiful? hovered over the columns of the community center, but that Edutrac wouldn’t do either.
“I’m glad you brought your cousin. Do you want to ask her if she’s interested in something we can explore together or do you want to continue one of your skill paths to gain proficiency?” asked the lady in the Edulense.
“I’ll ask Julie,” said Charlie. “Hey Julie, what do you want to learn?”
“I want to know more about the factory we’re going to!”
The woman in Charlie’s Edulense echoed, “Want to learn more about the Eriani Electric Vehicle Factory? We can continue your engineering Edutrac and learn more about the Eriani Electric Vehicle Factory.”
Julie overhead the Edulense and said, “Oh, yes! Charlie, yes, lets do that.”
“OK, that’s my favorite Edutrac. Lets do it.”
“There are four other curious Edutrackers visiting the Eriani Electric Vehicle Factory as well. It’s always a good idea to include our neighbors just like you’ve invited your cousin Julie. Would you like me to ask them if they’d like to join you?”
“OK!” shouted Charlie.
“Very well. The others have been informed.” There was a brief moment of silence and the woman’s voice returned, “Three of the other four have agreed to join you.”
Seconds later, the other three Edutrackers came running around the corner. Two of the others were Charlie’s age. One of them looked like an adult to Charlie. He looked up and asked the tall girl, “Wow, you’re so big. How old are you?”
The girl smiled and said, “I’m sixteen. I just recently found engineering very interesting.”
“Commencing Engineering Edutrac. Skillset proficiency, year two of fourteen,” said the woman in the Edulense.
A tall lanky man with a pointed chin and hearty mustache appeared on the walk around porch in Charlie’s vision. Julie saw the man appear on the connected sim in her phone.
“Hello,” said the man, “Its good to see you again Charlie.”
“Hey Mr. Tesla,” said Charlie.
“It is a pleasure to meet you Julie.” Then, the man turned to the other three and said, “Welcome back Tommy and Riley.” The man turned to the tall girl in the group and said, “I’m extra proud that you’ve chosen to join our review Teller.” He addressed the whole group, “I’m Nikola Tesla. I’m happy to introduce to you the AC motor.” AC motor appeared between Nikola Tesla and the kids.
Skill Exchange Liaison
After having explored the inner workings of an AC motor and learned a brief history of vehicles, Nikola Tesla gave the kids a summary of what they should expect during their visit to the Eriani Factory.
The group put a pause on their curiosities when the cafeteria opened and gave out meals. Charlie and Julie charged their meals to Charlie’s parent’s house and the little group ate in the park grounds surrounding the Community Center.
Half an hour later, they noticed a white SUV pull into the community center parking lot. A ping on their cell phones informed them that Mr. Tulley had arrived. Charlie and Julie were so excited they didn’t finish their meals. Both sprung to their feet and ran to the parking lot. They threw their plates into the trash can outside the community center entrance and sprint to the SUV. The others followed close behind.
Mr. Tulley got out of the car and introduced himself before calling a chaperone. Together with the chaperone, Mr. Tulley read the five names that were present off a clipboard. A sixth kid appeared out of the community center and Mr. Tulley nodded at his list before opening the door to his seven seater SUV.
Image of a skill exchange in action generated by midjourney AI
The Debrooks County Board of Education delved deeper into Ivan Illich’s concept of the “opportunity web”. Community leaders explored how individual access learning opportunities could help children and adults effectively navigate their Edutracs in society.
*All together, the four tenants of the opportunity web are:
- Educational Webs
- Reference Services to Educational Objects
- Skills Exchanges
- Peer-matching.*
Two of the four tenants of the opportunity web had already been explored with Educational Webs taking the form of Edutracs and Reference Services to Educational Objects being the neighborhood community centers. Individuals like Mr.Tulley helped make skill exchanges a reality.
Ivan Illich suggested the establishment of skill exchanges where people could come together to share and learn practical skills from one another. [3] This approach emphasized the idea that individuals in a community can contribute their expertise to create a network of practical shared knowledge and learning.
Experts, as they would be called by the children participating in the skill Exchanges, were to be nominated by an organization’s management team and peers. Organizations were to select several skill exchange experts and, once selected, those experts gained access to explore the current Edutracs pertaining to their field of expertise.
They would be allowed to take a maximum of 7 children along with them to their work place and show them a day in their life with an in-depth explanation of what a typical expert does.
Similar to skills exchanges, Peer-Matching would be geared toward adults who were either just starting in their professions or were looking to make a change in skillset.
In a peer-matching system, individuals could connect with others who share similar interests or learning goals. This approach would promote the idea that people can learn effectively by engaging with peers who have complementary skills or knowledge.
Home Coming
Charlie and Julie had a blast exploring the different departments of the Eriani Electric Vehicle Factory. They watched Mr.Tulley walk them through a stress test simulation both on the computer and live in the lab. Teller, the oldest of the group, brought up things the other kids had never considered. These ideas then sparked genesis questions that granted them access to Edutracs they had never known about.
Mr. Tulley brought the group back to the community center at the end of the day and signed off on their skill exchange. Each participant, save Julie, passed a new milestone along their Edutracs and were closer to a certification.
When they arrived, Mrs. McKenzie and the rest of her lucky 13 were already waiting for Julie and Charlie at the entrance of the community center. Together they returned home. On their walk back home, all the children of the cul de sac shared their experiences of the day and you guessed it, new genesis questions were asked.
This was a shallow dive into a potential alternative to our current schooling system. Think about the new ways we can take advantage of technology and how we can strive to make our communities a little more efficient.
This article illustrated an alternative to schooling. I also sprinkled in a few ways we can better our community by instilling a sense of community. Everyone in the aforementioned new developments had skin in the game. Community taxes were to pulled together to run the community. Neighbors would have to work together to figure out trash management, road maintenance, and other important aspects of running a community.
Keep a look out for my next article exploring how having skin in the game can make for better communities.
References:
[1] Mann, H. (1989a). On the art of teaching. Applewood Books.
[2] PISA scores by country 2024. 2024. (n.d.).
[3] Illich, I. D. (1979). Deschooling Society. Penguin Books.
There's an exciting new world here on Nostr. If you've read this article you are already on the edge of an ever changing internet. I hope my writing reminds you that life is a scroll riddled with ink. The marks will only ever be simple blots on the parchment unless you pause and perceive them for the characters they are.
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