1. What's the purpose of school?

for an institution as central as education, we have stunningly little agreement about what it’s for. Because we all attended school, we have strong views about its purpose; rarely, though, do we step back and realize how discordant those views are. Why does that matter beyond what I shared above? Well, one reason we hear the refrain schools are failing is that we’re unclear about what schools should be doing. To achieve success, we must first define it. In education, we not only lack shared vision but also often have irreconcilable goals.

This squishiness of purpose gives educators an unenviable and unviable mandate, and it leaves parents, policymakers, and many others leaving frustrated. In this episode, we'll explore multiple purposes of education and analyze the impacts of not having a unified sense of what school is for.