Reimagining Education

I spend a lot of time reimagining education. I love education and have been blessed with an amazing one, but as a system, education can be better. By better, I don’t mean test scores and numbers (although those have their place). By better, I mean education can better serve its learners, educators, and communities.

I lay no blame (at least I try not to, but I find the highest level of US education leadership aggravating). From what I see, everyone is doing their best, and especially now during the pandemic, doing your best is a herculean task. Even amid everyone’s best, I still see room for reimagining education. So I do.

I’m certainly not an education outsider. I’ve worked professionally in K-12 (English teachers – woot woot) and in post-secondary in the following areas: residence life, student support, student success, academic support, diversity and inclusion, faculty development, academic integrity, and writing. Plus, I’m a mom of two kids who attend a public magnet school. My kids have also attended traditional public, transfer public, charter public, and private religious schools. Despite spending my entire life in education, I often feel my ideas of reimagining education fall way outside of the norm.

But I also feel like I can’t be alone in my reimagining. I feel others, like me, have all kinds of education ideas. And I believe education reimagining shouldn’t only concern educators and policymakers. Artists, ministers, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, nonprofits – everyone in our communities – should play a role in how we reimagine education. Some of our ideas will resonate, and some will clash. But I’d love to open a conversation about all the ways we are already reimagining education.

I will post weekly about some of my reimagining, and I’d love to hear about yours.