Thinking in Public
Society front loads playing and back loads pressure. Why not have an even process and allow kids to be self educating at their own speed through play?
In 1763, Prussia made school compulsory for every child. It was the same decade the Industrial Revolution got going in Britain. In 1843, Horace Mann, who ran the Massachusetts Board of Education, travelled to Prussia to study how they did it and brought the ideas home. In 1852, Massachusetts became the first US state to make school compulsory.
That model is still the one we use. A bell starts the day. Kids sit in rows, grouped by age, all on the same page at the same speed. It taught millions of people to read, write, count and show up on time. That is what the factory age needed.
AI writes, counts and answers questions for anyone, at any hour. The skills that matter now are the ones play builds: curiosity, asking good questions, trying things, and learning on your own.
AI also makes the even process possible. Every kid can have a tutor that goes at their speed, as slow or as fast as they need. Less time in rows, more time to play. School today is still built for the factory. I think it should be built for this.
My daughter doesn't know how to read. But she can read. Her brain allows her to. She hasn't been taught to and we're ok with that because this is ok for her age. And we could have a different way.
I want her to read to me.