The Cabrera Lab Podcast #84: Why Our Schools are Failing (And How to Fix Them with Systems Thinking)
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Sep 10, 2025 Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera tackle the failures of our education system, highlighting the pitfall of prioritizing content over thinking. They advocate for O-based education that promotes organizational skills and mental models. Discussing the long-term impacts of early schooling on civic engagement, they argue for systems thinking as the solution. Delving into how teaching thinking skills can enhance test performance, they illustrate the benefits across life domains—health, finances, and relationships—while emphasizing the need to safeguard students from manipulation.
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Schools Shape Society
- Education shapes agents whose behaviors scale up to create society's outcomes.
- Small changes in how we educate individuals can massively shift societal dynamics over time.
Seoul Shows High Teacher Status
- In Seoul teachers are revered and education dominates public spaces.
- Derek and Laura contrasted this respect with the low status of US teachers.
Organization Creates Knowledge
- Knowledge equals information organized; organization creates meaning.
- Teaching organization (O) matters more now because raw information is freely available.