Considering Family to Prepare Students for their Future

Remember when “21st Century Skills” was the buzzword plastered across every professional development session? Teachers were told we had to prepare kids for jobs that didn’t even exist yet, for industries so futuristic they might as well have been ripped from a sci-fi novel. The message was clear: teach differently or risk leaving students unprepared for the brave new world ahead.

And we bought in. Many of us were mesmerized by those “Did You Know” videos—glossy, fast-cut reels showing how technology would reshape life as we knew it. We imagined our students stepping into careers filled with wonder, solving humanity’s greatest challenges with cutting-edge innovations.

But here we are, a decade later, watching universities launch degree programs in—wait for it—the cannabis industry. Northern Michigan University now offers cannabis studies. Cannabis! Is this what all that futuristic hype was for? Is this the grand payoff of years spent reinventing classrooms, revamping standards, and retraining teachers?

Let’s be honest. This isn’t just about marijuana. This is about whether education has lost sight of its true North Star: the family. Have we become so enamored with “innovation” that we’ve stopped asking the most basic question: Will this strengthen families—or weaken them?

Because families, not industries, are the bedrock of society. Strong families create strong communities. And when families crumble? Communities crumble. Nations crumble. That’s not ideology—it’s reality.

Just look around. Addiction isn’t just a crisis; it’s practically a cultural identity. We toss around words like smartphone addiction, porn addiction, food addiction, opioid addiction. Some days it feels like Americans are addicted to being addicted. Even our politics runs on addiction—to outrage, to emotion, to attacking anyone who dares to disagree.

Where does self-control—the antidote to addiction—come from? Families. Where do children first learn resilience, restraint, responsibility? Families. Yet our education system, in its blind pursuit of “the next big thing,” often undermines the very institution that teaches those foundational skills.

So yes, whether or not you support cannabis legalization is beside the point. The real question is: when universities embrace controversial industries, do they consider the ripple effects on the family? Do K-12 schools stop to ask how their policies, practices, and trendy new programs affect the home lives of the students they claim to serve? Or are families just an afterthought in the race to be relevant?

Education should be more than a conveyor belt to industry. It should be a partnership with families to raise healthy, grounded citizens who can think clearly, choose wisely, and lead responsibly. Otherwise, we’re just fueling cycles of indulgence and addiction while patting ourselves on the back for being “innovative.”

So, let’s ask the question few seem brave enough to ask: what will the next decade’s “Did You Know” videos glorify? More industries that exploit our weaknesses? Or educational choices that finally honor and strengthen the institution most critical to our collective future—the family?

Haiku on Learning

Living is learning

Character through challenges

Improving Culture

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Learning is ruined

Politics and agendas

Stay Purpose Driven

The Real Cost of High-Stakes Testing

In an age of accountability and high stakes testing, public education has accomplished a lot. We have managed to utilize assessment data trends to identify resources and programs to support students' educational needs. We have also learned how to breakdown objectives or learning standards to their most intricate parts to align our resources. Most of all we have developed ways to hold educators accountable for student achievement...One question remains: at what cost are we making all of these efforts? In other words, what have we sacrificed for this “data-driven” approach to education?

From the literature on students' motivation for learning, we have come to understand that students learn more when they experience activities that they enjoy and find meaningful and interesting. However, as educators face growing pressure to prepare students to perform well in math and reading in high-stakes testing, public schools slip into predictable traps. Namely, educators implement instructional strategies that boil down content to isolated bits of information at the same time that they dramatically reduce the amount of time and resources used to engage students in creative, interdisciplinary activities and real-world projects that inspire learning.

We also know that students are motivated to work harder when they are able to personalize the purpose of learning. Yet, our high-stakes testing culture communicates to students that we value scoring well on tests as the overarching goal for engaging in learning. Sometimes in curriculum and teacher professional development, teachers and principals blur the lines between student learning and student achievement when they promote blatant "teaching to the test" practices couched in ideas like "backwards planning" or "teaching with the end in mind."Finally, research shows that academic achievement is influenced, in part, by self-concept and self-efficacy. Unfortunately, the heavy emphasis on high-stakes testing encourages teachers and administrators to view students as test-score increasers or suppressors rather than contributors to the learning environment or in terms of their incredible human potential. In turn, students, especially those from impoverished or at-risk environments, perceive this and come to define themselves as winners or losers on the basis of their test performance, to their academic and emotional detriment.With our current trends, it is clear that high stakes testing and accountability are not likely to go away anytime soon.  Nevertheless, leaders in school systems can take measures to minimize their harmful effects and to foster a school culture that emphasizes student learning and preparation for life's challenges.  Here are a few ideas to begin this process:

1. If school leaders want to ensure that students get enough test practice, they should schedule periodic practice times that are spread throughout the year rather than just two or three weeks before high-stakes tests are administered. Schools should, at least, refrain from engaging in test-prep boot camps where they shut down regular classroom instruction for intense focus specifically on the test at hand. Such activities only reinforce the impression that the test is the primary goal of schooling.

2. Administrators and teachers should work together to foster a productive mindset about testing. As a start, rebrand "tests" as "performance opportunities" and use language in the classroom that focuses on mastering knowledge, improving individual ability.

3. School leaders should focus on the value of schooling as a method to prepare how to live. As teachers use instructional resources and pedagogy that bring fun and authentic engagement back to the classroom, students can be encouraged to participate in activities that relate to what they're going to be doing outside of and beyond school.

4. Administrators and teachers should strive to create a culture that encourages cooperation and service instead of competition. We now know that students are more likely to be successful in school when they have a sense of belonging. Making these kinds of connections leads to a more significant effort, greater persistence, and positive attitudes. Feelings of rejection have the opposite effects.

If we put the same energy and intensity that we have invested in high-stakes testing into understanding how to enhance the quality of students' learning experiences, we might actually experience more success in getting more students to reach their full potential...and, hopefully, make room for learning in education again.