Hannah Frankman: unlearning the lessons of the past
Aug 22, 2023
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Hannah Frankman, founder of Rebel Educator, discusses the past, present, and future of education. Topics include homeschooling, the impact of the pandemic on education, rethinking traditional education models, and the importance of alternative options in the education system.
Alternative education models are expanding, offering customization based on a child's aptitudes and interests.
In higher education, alternative programs like boot camps and specialized courses cater to career readiness and offer alternatives to traditional college.
Access to online resources and social media platforms allows individuals to pursue learning outside of traditional institutions and build networks with experts in various fields.
Deep dives
K-12 Education: A Diverse Range of Options
There are a variety of K-12 education models emerging that offer different approaches to education. Homeschooling, homeschooling pods, co-op structures, microschools, and online schools are some examples. Each model provides a unique way to customize education based on a child's aptitudes and interests.
Alternative College Programs
In the realm of higher education, alternative programs are being developed to cater to career readiness. Boot camps and specialized programs, such as Lambda School, cater to specific fields like programming or marketing. These programs offer targeted skills training and career preparation for individuals who want an alternative to traditional college.
Access to Information and Learning Opportunities
With the abundance of information available online, individuals have the opportunity to access learning resources and pursue their interests outside of traditional institutions. Online resources from reputable institutions like MIT and Yale offer free access to courses and lectures. People can also leverage social media platforms like Twitter and online communities to build networks and learn from experts in various fields.
Challenges and Concerns
While alternative education models are expanding, there are concerns about declining academic standards in the United States compared to other countries. Prioritizing equity in education can sometimes lead to a compromise in the quality of education, inhibiting the growth and potential of students who are ready for advanced learning. It is crucial to find a balance between addressing individual needs and ensuring academic rigor to compete on a global scale.
Importance of Education for Future Generations
The podcast episode emphasizes the significance of a quality education for future generations. The speakers discuss how the education system is responsible for producing well-prepared individuals who will drive the economy, care for the elderly, and maintain critical infrastructure. They highlight the impact of good education on various aspects of society, such as productivity levels, literacy rates, and skill development. The episode argues that even those without children have a stake in the education system, as they will rely on the products and services of educated individuals throughout their lives. The episode encourages listeners to recognize the long-term effects of education and the importance of ensuring a strong educational foundation for the upcoming generations.
The Shift Towards Alternative Education
The podcast episode explores the changing landscape of education, particularly in the context of alternative schooling options. It discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards homeschooling and alternative schools as parents became dissatisfied with traditional classroom learning. The speakers predict a surge in online schools and micro-schools, and the potential for the school choice movement to gain momentum. The episode acknowledges the need for greater accessibility and information for parents to navigate the evolving education system. The speakers express optimism about the future possibilities and the potential for innovative approaches to education to emerge and provide more choices for parents and students.
This is where you will find all the podcasts from Razib Khan's Substack and original video content.
On this week’s episode of Unsupervised Learning Razib talks to Hannah Frankman about the past, present and future of education. Frankman is a Hazlitt Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, the founder of Rebel Educator, and the host of an eponymous podcast (Spotify, Apple and YouTube). Education as a discipline has been a human concern since Plato outlined an idealized system of universal pedagogy in The Republic, later to be rejected by his pupil Aristotle's lost treatise On Education in favor of a more targeted and elitist system.
In the American context, the field has been riven by tensions between the bottom-up forces that encouraged a well-informed citizenry, resulting in New England being the world’s first universally literate society, and top-down political forces that led to the growth of secular and universal public education in the 19th century. Beginning in March 2020 the world of education came into our living rooms as the COVID-19 pandemic sent students out of the classroom into the alternative universe of “zoom school,” bringing parents face to-face with the day-to-day of the current educational framework.
For many Americans, the chaos and trials of the pandemic years have them reconsidering schools and entertaining alternatives to the current system, which seemed so unprepared for the exigencies of the present. Frankman believes her non-traditional background equips her to understand the challenges of our current era, first being homeschooled, and then going straight into the workforce with Praxis, a college alternative that fosters skills that enable entrepreneurship in young people. She explains exactly what homeschooling in the American context means, from those motivated by religious concerns who mimic much of the curriculum of traditional institutions and simply modify or supplement it with Christian materials, all the way to “unschooling,” whereby students are much more self-guided and undirected. Frankman also recounts her own personal experiences with nontraditional education, the pitfalls and benefits, and why she left the traditional path when she was just six years old. They then discuss the reality that the last few years have seen crashing test scores across the countries and a widespread realization that aspects of the traditional system that might have been well geared toward producing factory workers in the 20th century may be ill-suited to the “information economy” of the 21st century. Frankman makes the case for a diversity and pluralism of responses, and she and Razib talk about various paths that other nations have taken, including the more structured systems of East Asia. Finally, they discuss the future of Rebel Educator, and her vision for a future of American education focused on choice, experimentation and flexibility better suited to our current learning options and the needs of a modern economy.
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