There are two ways to innovate in school: Top-Down or Bottom-Up.
Bottom-Up is Albert Einstein working as a patent clerk while innovating in physics.
Bottom-Up is an entrepreneur innovating around a vexing problem.
*Bottom-Up is distributed.
*Bottom-Up is decentralized.
*Bottom-Up is Netflix.
Top-Down is what large companies, governments, and school districts do. They issue policies and mandates for others to follow.
*Top-Down is standardized.
*Top-Down is compliance-driven.
*Top-Down is Blockbuster Video.
There is a desperate need to innovate in school, and every parent must decide which approach they will follow.
1. Choose Bottom-Up, and you throw out the "old-school playbook." You ignore grades and radically focus on learning and student engagement.
2. Choose Top-Down, and you do what everyone else does: Yell at your kids to do their homework, chastise grades below a "B", require your kids to conform to school rules, and set aside funds for therapy.
The choice is yours.
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