The Dire Need for Connection Community Meaning & Purpose in Our Schools
Meet Michael Strong who is one of the most experienced designers of innovative schools in the US. He has created a school for highly gifted children, a charter school in a low performing region in the US that was ranked in the 36th best public school in the US, and the Montessori high school model for the largest Montessori network in the US. He is currently leading The Socratic Experience, a virtual school grades 3-12. He is the author of The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice and lead author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalism Can Solve All the World’s Problems.
You can learn more about Michael here: www.socraticexperience.com and for a free pdf of Michael Strong’s book, The Habit of Thought, click here: https://socraticexperience.com/book/
David and Michael have a spirited conversation about the need for a radical reimagining of how we educate our young people.
Michael’s deep experience working in various school settings and as a school founder, gives him a unique perspective. And, combined with his books he has written he brings a wealth of research to the conversation.
Michael passionately shares how the adolescent mental health crisis preceded social media and posits that the root issue is the broken school system. This is why he launched his virtual school called the Socratic Experience to give young people a place to be connected, find their community, and bring meaning and purpose to their lives.
He believes that this is the key to a strong school. When young people have community, connection, and find meaning and purpose in their lives, he sees great things happening for our youth.
He shares that there are many different schools that are meeting these key criteria, but are typically smaller like the Micro school movement that you have heard about from other guests. What all of these schools with this key criteria have in common is that they are opposite than the industrial model school where kids are marching from class to class with little connection throughout the school experience.
Michael finishes by sharing to trust yourself as a parent. If your child is not thriving, look for people like David & Michael that can help, or other programs like Prenda, Acton, or various other programs that could be in your neighborhood.
Do not settle. If your child is not being loved abundantly, cared for, and flourishing in their educational environment, then create your own, or look for something else!
We hope you enjoy today’s episode. Stay tuned for an announcement about David’s latest program and some new structures for the podcast!
