Nocking the Arrow

What is the purpose of school? Some will say schools are necessary to prepare students for subsequent life stages. For some, this is additional formal education, for others, it may be launching a career. Others will argue schools are essential for creating educated contributors to democracy. Sadly, many families regard schools as daycare centers. When I asked students, "what is the purpose of school?", The most common responses were " I don't know " and " to prepare students for something." These seemingly uninspired responses are actually rather insightful. We live in an era of exponentially accelerating change. How can educators be expected to know what the future holds? Are traditional school structures and curricula preparing students for their " something "? Media is brimming with reports, many contradicting, about job automation , machine learning, and the changing nature of work. We are also seeing numerous reports of people earn

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Nick Foles, was voted "most valuable player" of SuperBowl LII . He is also two years removed from contemplating leaving the game of football entirely after being traded, benched, and cut. As well as he played last Sunday, Foles's post-game comments reinforced the power behind what many educators are channeling to students as " growth mindset ." The backup QB who became SuperBowl MVP provided us with a meritorious message of humility and learning, along with a rock-solid game plan for life. Foles said, “The big thing is don’t be afraid to fail. In our society today with Instagram and Twitter, it’s all highlight reel. All of the good things, but when you look at it, and failure is a part of life. That’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would you be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen thousands of times and made mistakes.” “I am not perfect, I am not Superman. I may be in the NFL, and we