When did you last hear of a teacher inviting students to speak up when they’re bored, or when a lesson isn’t engaging them? Our standard educational model does not encourage learners to honor their own desire to learn. In fact, it trains them to suppress this desire when it goes unfulfilled, in order to avoid disrupting the flow of the lesson.

Young people gain less and less in exchange for attending school – specifically in terms of intellectual competency and employment prospects – yet education today is more time-consuming and future-determining than ever. In the US, upward mobility is declining and the quality of public education is poor. Students and their families compensate by working harder, paying more (for tutors and name-brand schools), and participating in more extracurriculars.