new school

“The States are as the men are; they grow out of human characters.”

To make a better state, we need to make a better man.

Sadly, the education system makes men.

My mother is a teacher. My grandpas were teachers. They are great. It's not them.

The education system is terrible. Everyone knows. In Germany and in other countries. I grew up in Germany, therefore I speak about Germany here.

Some simple ideas make me want to start a school in Germany.

Start by deleting things:

• no age-based cohorts
• no classes at all
• no one-size-fits-all curriculum
• no teachers, at least not in the usual sense
• no grades; except for state-mandated things (like A-levels)

Then add back some things.

At its core, the school curates learning resources. Primitives. Such as lecture recordings from the best math teachers globally. Or a hut where you can use a saw. Or roadmaps for certain subjects that inspire.

Every single student focuses on their own path, taking advantage of the school’s primitives. Students collaborate on projects. Projects are critical.

The school uses the resources it has to maximize the amount and quality of its primitives and the available projects.

The bigger a network of schools gets, the better the schools can do both.

Teachers in their traditional form are replaced by two things.

First, a personal AI that knows the primitives and the student. And human facilitators who check in on students, are available for questions, facilitate projects, have empathy, help connect students with each other and listen to their fears and ideas.