HACKING SCHOOL

Corbin details her plan for a thorough modernization of American education.

In 2000, the author established the PAST Foundation (Partnering Anthropology with Science and Technology), an organization designed to challenge the “outdated factory-based model of education” that relies on rote memorization, offers one-size-fits-all pedagogies, and fails to prepare students for the employment realities of today, especially in technology. As became painfully clear during the Covid-19 pandemic, per Corbin, the current educational system needs a “radical recalibration” that fosters individual agency, transforms classrooms into vibrant “ecosystems of inquiry,” and prepares students to solve real-world problems. In helpfully accessible language free of turgid academic jargon, the author describes her vision for education’s future, one in which a broader swath of students is prepared to enter the technology industry. In fact, Corbin contends it is precisely this industry, and the innovations it has produced, that has rendered the traditional models of education obsolete. “A tremendous disconnect exists between learning in school and applications in the real world. The ubiquity of technology makes rote memorization unnecessary—data is at our fingertips, yet learning in school largely focuses on studying facts and not thinking critically, leaving students unprepared to solve today’s problems.” The author presents an expansive range of ideas, including the transformation of teachers into “facilitators” who give students more opportunities to think and participate, as well as the incorporation of real R&D projects to stimulate student inquiry. This is an exceedingly practical volume that prioritizes actionable plans over ideological abstractions—Corbin discusses, in painstaking detail, new ways to think about student assessment, new approaches to fostering an inclusive classroom environment, and the potential advantages of artificial intelligence for teachers. This provocative book astutely combines a general philosophical orientation with a myriad of minutely detailed strategies.

An impressively thoughtful and thoroughly practical guide for educational reform.