As August days drop off the calendar, and as the days begin to grow a little shorter with each passing day, the signs are unmistakable. It is “back-to-school” time.
Back-to-school commercials have returned. Store aisles are filled with notebooks, backpacks, pencils, and crayons. Parents are beginning to think about schedules again, and teachers are preparing classrooms for another group of students.
As a former teacher, this time of year still feels special to me.
In many ways, the beginning of a school year feels a little like New Year’s Day. There may not be resolutions or champagne, but there is something powerful about a fresh start; a clean slate, and another opportunity to begin again.
I find myself thinking about many of my former colleagues who are still teaching and preparing to return to their classrooms. They continue doing the difficult and important work of helping shape the next generation, and I have tremendous respect for them. I also think about the “kids” I used to teach and coach who have taken up the torch and have become teachers themselves and carry on the process of education. I admire their desire to make a difference in the lives of young people.
Brenda and I also recently had the chance to spend a final summer weekend with family here at Lake Petenwell. Four generations were together, and one of the great joys for me was simply sitting back and watching the grandchildren play.
Maybe that combination — back-to-school season and time with the grandkids — is why I’ve been thinking so much about education lately.
I was an average teacher at best, but I was fortunate enough to work alongside some extraordinary ones. Last school year I also spent some time substitute teaching. It was the first time in nearly two decades that I had been back in a classroom from the teaching side of the desk.
It was fascinating to see how much education has changed, and perhaps even more fascinating to see how much it has not changed.
The back-to-school commercials look remarkably similar to the ones we watched 20 or 30 years ago. Kids still buy notebooks. Teachers still decorate classrooms. Students still wonder who their teacher will be and whether their friends will be in their class.
Yet the world those students are preparing to enter is dramatically different.
Technology has transformed nearly every profession. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we access information and how work gets done. Communication is instantaneous. Information that once required a trip to the library is now available in seconds.
And yet, in many ways, we still educate children using a structure created for another era.
Our modern school system has roots in the early industrial age and still largely follows an agrarian calendar. Students move through grades based primarily on age. They sit in classrooms for predetermined amounts of time. Summer vacation remains part of the rhythm of American life.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the system is wrong, but I do think it is worth asking whether it is still the best system for the world our children will inherit.
Education is one of those subjects on which nearly everyone has an opinion. People are quick to point out what is wrong with schools, but we probably don’t spend enough time talking about what is right with them.
Every day, tremendous teachers walk into classrooms and do remarkable work. Students accomplish extraordinary things. Schools provide opportunities, relationships, structure, encouragement, and sometimes even refuge for children who desperately need it.
Still, no system works perfectly for everyone.
Some students thrive in traditional classrooms. Others struggle to find where they fit. Some learn quickly by reading and listening. Others need to build something, fix something, create something, or experience something before it makes sense.
And that leads me to the question I keep coming back to:
What do we really want children to learn in school?
Certainly a baseline understanding of the core subjects matters as much today as it ever has.
But beyond those things, what should every young person carry with them when they walk out of school for the final time?
How to think critically?
How to communicate?
How to solve problems?
How to work with people who are different from them?
How to fail and try again?
How to recognize good information from bad information?
How to become curious rather than simply compliant?
How to discover what they are good at — and perhaps even what gives their life meaning?
Not every child will become a doctor, lawyer, scientist, engineer, or professor.
Nor should they. Our communities need electricians, nurses, mechanics, teachers, farmers, entrepreneurs, carpenters, artists, business owners, coaches, caregivers, and a thousand other things.
The challenge is figuring out how to build an education system that gives every child a strong foundation while still allowing individual talents to flourish.
How do we help the student who doesn’t quite fit the traditional model without lowering expectations for the student who thrives within it?
How do we give struggling students another path while continuing to challenge exceptional students?
I don’t pretend to know the answers.
In fact, the older I get, the more comfortable I become admitting that some of the most important questions don’t have simple answers, but I think they are questions worth asking.
Because when I look at my grandchildren, education suddenly becomes much more than public policy. It becomes personal.
What kind of world will they inherit? What skills will they need to thrive? What kind of people do we hope they become?
And how can the rest of us — parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, neighbors, and communities — help them get there?
Even though my days as a full-time teacher are long behind me, I suspect I will always think of myself as an educator in some small way.
So, to my former colleagues and former students preparing to begin another school year: I wish you well. Thank you for continuing to do important work that often receives far more criticism than appreciation.
Keep fighting the good fight.
To the students heading back to school: study hard. Ask questions. Take some chances. Enjoy your friends. Appreciate the teachers who challenge you. And don’t be afraid to fail occasionally.
It will go much faster than you think.
And to those of us watching our children and grandchildren grow up, perhaps back-to-school season is a good reminder for us as well.
We should keep asking what kind of future we want for them — and what role we can play in helping create it.
Because ultimately, education isn’t simply about preparing children to make a living. At its best, it prepares them to make a life. It may even help accomplish what Henry David Thoreau wrote, “…that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
That’s the perspective this week.
Until next Friday,
Mr. T
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