What Are Schools For?

That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for a long time. Recently I’ve started asking others what they thought. So I’m putting the question out for your consideration: What are schools for?

We might be tempted to respond by citing our own experiences in places called schools, but what I’m looking for are thoughts that explore, not what we have known schools to be, but what we think their purpose should be. This might be more challenging than it appears. Let’s face it, we have all been indoctrinated with a model of school from our earliest years. It may be difficult to wrench ourselves out of what we know to what we wish had been our experience. We also know what schools look like; their shape, their external and internal organization, and the people who show up to run all aspects of their operations, from teachers, administrators, custodians and cafeteria workers.

But my question for you needs to free itself, if only temporarily, from that settled memory and ask you to start with a blank slate. What do you think schools should be? Allow yourself to be philosophical for a minute or two. What core values do you hold that may lead you to ideas about schools that are far from the model we’re all familiar with?

Here are some teaser questions:

What have you observed about learning from watching your own children?

How would the architecture of schools change to better accommodate natural learning?

When would the day begin and end for different age groups?

What would your own favorite arrangement be for learning?

Would schools be buildings you go to every day?

How would you assure that all children learned in the school you imagine.

Who or what would be teachers?

Okay, come up with your own questions as you create the most exciting setting for learning you can think of.