Is Education Still The Great Communal Experience?

As my son was getting ready to start Kindergarten, I was a nervous wreck.

Like so many 5-year olds he was a bundle of energy and emotion. Flying high and running low depending on what was happening in any given moment.

He had recently been diagnosed with ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder, and was doing some PT and OT already through our local service agency.

Yet, that wasn’t what was really getting me all worked up.

You see, I had been working in education for already more than a decade. I’d started out as a middle school and high school teacher but had recently been working as an instructional coach at the Elementary level as well.

Like many of you reading this article, I also saw the K-12 education system up close and personal as a student. Not only my own experience with teachers and the process, but also friends, classmates, and my families own struggles to make sense of their own experience.

Back to my son.

I was worried based on my own experience as a student (and now educator) of two major issues.

First, I was worried how he was going to be labeled as a student. What story would follow him as he went to 1st grade, 2nd grade, Middle School, and beyond.

If you work in education then you know what I’m talking about. When kids like my son can’t sit still for a class period, or stay quiet in the hallway every time, or aren’t able to follow all the compliance-based rules and regulations the system has put in place…

Well, then they often get labeled. And I was worried what his story and reputation was going to be.

Secondly, and more importantly, I was scared of how he was going to label himself.

I’d seen countless kids like my son, start to tell themselves stories based on their experiences with school.

Struggling to read and keep up with peers in 2nd grade? Maybe I’m not good at this reading thing.

Having a difficult time with fractions and divisions in 4th/5th grade? Hmm, maybe I stink at Math.

Grades not making the mark by 8th grade? I guess school/learning isn’t for me…

These are just a few of the stories that start to permeate in students heads when they struggle to play the game of school.

There are so many others that exist, but these two specifically had me worried sick for my own kid.

The sleepless nights and ongoing conversations with friends and family leading up to his first day of school made me realize something for the first time: Education is the great communal experience.

The majority of us have gone through a schooling experience in some way, shape, or form that is similar enough to talk about, make fun of, share stories, and understand the context when we see it portrayed in literature, movies, shows and pop culture.

Yet, despite it being the great communal (shared) experience - it was not a great individual experience for most.

A Shared (but maybe not so great) Perspective

As someone who has worked at all levels of K-12 as a teacher, coach, and administrator my thoughts have not changed in the decade that has passed since my son started school.

They have evolved, but I’m still worrying about the same things with our schooling experience.

I’ve written 1000+ articles, 8 books, and worked with educators from all around the country and world on these issues.

It seems that every group I work with shares some of the same struggles, fears, and experiences I have as an educator, father, and student.

We tend to all agree on one thing. The system, or the “game or school” as I like to call it, has never worked for everyone.

In fact, it may not work for most people who have gone through the K-12 schooling system.

Why is this so important right now?

Because, unlike any other time that I’ve seen in my years in education (and my time on this planet) the system is under extreme pressure to change and work better for ALL kids, and the adults that work in the system.

Homeschooling is on the rise.

Charter schools are on the rise.

Virtual schools and credit recovery programs are on the rise.

Enrollment is down across public schools nationwide.

Absenteeism is at an all-time high.

There is a teacher shortage.

And EdTech is seizing this moment to try and possibly build a new model, a primer, that works to educate kids from any background and any circumstance with artificial intelligence serving as the engine to a better experience.

You know most of the players by now.

Khan Academy.

OpenAI “study” mode.

Synthesis.

Alpha School and 2hr Learning.

And, maybe like so many others you are shrugging it off.

“Education is nothing without humans”.

“Learning is a human and social endeavor”.

“Technology and AI can’t replace a human who cares.”

“Give me something that will help me do a better job, not replace my job.”

I’ve said all these lines myself. But, today as I look into the here and now (not the future), I see how a swell of poor experiences that kids (and now adults) have gone through in our K-12 systems are building the case for a new model.

Old Things In New Ways

If you’ve read this far, then like me, you are intrigued with what is happening in this very moment in education.

You’ve probably seen the writing on the wall.

Maybe like me you are a bit hopeful and also a bit skeptical of what is transpiring.

For you to really understand what is happening, you have to share the perspective of many Education technologists who cling to a belief that there is a better way to “do school”.

Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age,  is a science-fiction book about many things, but the story itself is not what is important.

A character in The Diamond Age, John Hackworth, is a nano engineer who created an interactive book titled, “A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer”. This interactive book teaches many valuable lessons in ways that we might envision artificial intelligence guiding students today as a tutor through interactive representations and simulations. The main protagonist, Nell, uses this book to learn all about the world around her, and become a princess who basically saves John Hackworth and the world.

Here’s why it matters: What we are seeing with EdTech right now is the desire to build this “Primer” to supplant, replace, or redefine our current learning systems.

As Andy Matuschak shared in his wonderful piece on this topic, “Exorcising us of the Primer”:

Now I feel haunted by the Primer. I know it’s not what I want to build, but some part of my mind won’t let go of that vision until it has something else it can grab onto.

In fact, I think my whole field is haunted by the Primer. That’s not Stephenson’s fault: it’s ours. Our shared canonical vision remains a plot device from a science fiction novel because we haven’t managed to articulate something better ourselves.

I share many of Andy’s feelings on The Primer, but I also see much of what we are doing with artificial intelligence as focusing on “old things in new ways”.

We celebrate “innovative” schools that help kids master multiple-choice assessments, rather than acknowledge these tests rarely lead to any type of retention or transfer.

We get excited about AI tools that save us time grading, making worksheets, and a whole host of educational practices we know don’t lead to engagement.

We rally around AI tutors who can “answer” any question at any time, without thinking about what types of questions we are having kids wrestle with…

It’s as if we think AI can finally help everyone play the game of school, that was designed to fail for most of us.

Maybe it can, but is that what we really want for our kids? For our future?

What if we stopped doing old things in new ways, and focused on new things in new ways.

New Things In Better Ways

When Netflix launched streaming it did something new (streaming movies and tv shows over the internet) and better (it was cheaper, more convenient, and faster than Blockbuster).

New things in better ways get a lot of traction. We all switched to steaming so quick that Blockbuster didn’t have time to process what happened. When they did finally decide to offer streaming, the market had shifted. There were no longer relevant.

In a matter of months they went out of business.

That’s why 2hr learning and Alpha School seems so threatening to many in the current system. I’ve watched as the backlash online has come from all corners of the internet and now in the national media.

We think back to the Blockbuster/Netflix scenario and wonder, will that happen with education?

Because we all switched as soon as better model became readily available.

Yet, we often see the opposite happen when a new model or technology come into play.

Many times we will dig in, and not want to leave an old way behind for a new model.

The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (1930s) was designed to be faster and reduce finger movement compared to QWERTY. Despite evidence of efficiency gains, typists, manufacturers, and businesses stuck with QWERTY because of network effects (training, typewriters, early computers). Familiarity and ecosystem lock-in often beat technical superiority.

Around 1900, 38% of U.S. cars were electric—quiet, easy to start, and cleaner than gasoline cars. Gasoline cars took over because of longer range, mass production (Ford’s Model T), and the oil industry’s influence. Society “dug in” with combustion engines for over a century, delaying EV adoption until Tesla and others reignited the shift.

Railroads in the 19th century could move goods and people far faster and more safely than stagecoaches. Stagecoach companies lobbied, locals feared cultural disruption, and some communities actively resisted railroad construction. In some cases, stagecoach riders argued trains were “unnatural” or unsafe compared to horses.

The Kindle and other e-readers made books portable, cheaper, and instantly accessible. Many readers, publishers, and educators resisted switching from print because of emotional attachment, screen fatigue, and tradition—even though the digital product solved many convenience problems.

The list can go on and on, but you get the point. New and better doesn’t always mean quick adoption and embracing from society.

Putting the Communal Back Into A Communal Experience

In the end, the question isn’t whether education will remain a great communal experience. It already is, and always has been.

The real challenge is whether we have the courage to make it a great individual experience as well.

As new models, tools, and technologies emerge, we stand at a crossroads: cling to old things in new ways, or step forward into new things done better.

If we can reimagine schooling not as a game to be played, but as a journey that honors every learner’s story, then perhaps education can finally fulfill its promise as something that truly works for each of us.

As my son (and my other kids) go through their schooling experience, I can’t help but notice that often it is the great teachers who are helping education work for them. They navigate the bureaucracy, cracks in the system, and find solutions that are rarely in the curriculum or textbook.

At its best, artificial intelligence may end up being a Primer for all learners, as described in The Diamond Age. But, right now, I’d live with AI being a Primer for educators who are working to do their best by students every day, but are throttled by a system designed for compliance.

Because one thing has been true in the more than two decades I’ve been on the educator side of things: It’s a communal experience for all of us, and we’ve seen our fair share of “Netflixes” come along with no staying power. Maybe this time is different.