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š“ The factory model of education is dying
The surprising reason 40% of students are leaving traditional schools. PLUS: the video game that's teaching kids to overcome frustration...
Charlie Deist
May 19, 2025
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IN THIS EDITION:
š Why treating students like assembly line products costs us everything
š 40% of students have left traditional schools
š The $3.99 tablet game that teaches an invaluable lesson
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š” THOUGHT
MODEL T EDUCATION FAILS MODEL Y HUMANS
Todd Rose escaped a 0.9 GPA to become a Harvard professor with a revelation: our education system treats unique humans like interchangeable Model Ts.
"We've standardized everything," Rose explains, "what kind of jobs are valued, what we should aspire to, and how we do it."
It's efficientājust like Ford's assembly line. It's also completely backward.
"People's individuality is not selfishness," Rose insists. "That distinctiveness is everything."
Imagine designing education around humans rather than factoriesācelebrating differences instead of smoothing them away. Crazy idea: what if schools adapted to children instead of forcing children to adapt to schools?
š TREND
THE END OF EDUCATION MONOPOLIES
People throw around the word ādisruptionā a lot these days.
But Michael B. Horn isnāt exaggerating when he says weāre experiencing the first true disruption of K-12 education in decades. 40% of American students no longer attend their assigned neighborhood schools.
One of the main catalysts has been families gaining direct control of education funding through choice programsāwhich is rewiring the power dynamics. When families control education dollars, they weigh value vs. cost for the first time. Innovation emerges from the bottom up as providers compete to serve families. And customized learning becomes financially viable at scale.
šØ TOOL
THE GAME THAT TEACHES FRUSTRATION IMMUNITY
What do you do when your 5-year-old gets "very frustrated and impatient" with a puzzle game? Most parents might put the iPad away, but @gt_dad had a different response:
Added Monument Valley to 5yoās iPad. She got the idea quickly, and advanced through most of the puzzles independently, but occasionally got *very* frustrated and impatient.
Makes me want to give her more video games. Good for getting over feeling stuck and incapable.
ā gt.dad (@gtdad)
3:03 AM ā¢ May 12, 2025
Why? Because the ability to push through being stuck might be one of the most valuable skills for future high-performing adults to learn.
In the award-winning puzzle game ($3.99 on iOS/Android), players manipulate impossible architecture to navigate mind-bending worlds.
What lessons have your kids learned from playing games?
š§ TRIVIA OF THE DAY
THE PUZZLE THAT STUMPED Ph.D.s
You're on a game show with three doors. Behind one is a car; behind the others are goats. You pick Door #1.
The host (who knows what's behind each door) opens Door #3, revealing a goat.
(Without Googling) should you: |
The answer (and why thousands of mathematicians got it wrong) in tomorrow's newsletter!
Thatās all for today!
ā Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)
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