Alpha School: A New Approach To Education - MacKenzie Price

I once heard this great quote, "You know schools are doing something dreadfully wrong when students are actually happy when they get sick." That hits the nail on the head of so much of what's wrong with modern schooling.

The optimist in me sees great promise in changing educational paradigms, the cynic in me hears a “corporatized” system bent on profiting off of children.🤔

We have already adopted a home school model where I asked ChatGPT to do a “bench mark” test to grade my 4 and 6 year old. Based on the results I then asked it to create me a 2 tailor made education plan that based its lessons on things they like (princesses, unicorns, rainbows etc) and I just do the lessons daily, if they get stuck and I can’t help I ask for an answer how best to explain it for their age…. It’s brilliant and is working a treat. Their reading, writing and maths is excelling. I also let them watch YouTube for educational videos and then review their watch history, send the links to chat GPT and ask them pop quizzes on the videos they watched. Add in a couple of external classes such as gymnastics, drama and dance plus local home Ed groups they have friends of all ages. Plus do I really trust the government to keep my kids safe…. Not really.

Lack of Accountability in the classroom and lack of accountability at home with the parents

I liked how after being asked a tough question she says: "You know what an interesting life skill they learn is how to redirect" XD

One of the best ways my kid learned arithmetic in elementary school was a game that taught him each step in order to beat each level and progress through to the end of each year’s class. He wanted to keep getting those little rewards and make progress. He did it for fun at home to build his character.

Hello you savages. Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Here’s the timestamps: 0:00 Why is the School Model Broken? 8:54 Why Has the Education System Resisted Innovation? 11:23 Why We Need to Reinvent Our Education System 18:58 How We Can Reimagine the School Day 25:54 A Day in the Life at Alpha Schools 35:08 Using AI in Education 38:43 The Effectiveness of Using Technology in School 43:29 How Learning is Measured at Alpha Schools 51:20 Criticisms of Alpha Schools 01:02:05 Where Will the Education System Be in 5 Years? 01:06:28 Find Out More About Mackenzie

We home schooled our kids back in the 1980/90. The one thing I really loved was when your child was interested in a topic or concept, you could let them run with it for hours or days until they got their fill of that topic. Our kids are all in their30-40 year old bracket and are doing really well. When they got to the “college” years, we helped them get jobs/mentorships and guided them into the work world. They all have different skills now that tend to match their abilities/preferences.

My kids went to a great regular public school in Alberta, Canada. They both had language learning disabilities. Teachers were amazing, but what made it successful experience was that I am a paediatrician by my background who chose to stay home and I have very supportive husband (engineer) who was able to provide us with decent life. I homeschooled one of them in junior high years. They both are academically advanced, socially well developed and overall very pleasant to be around at the teen ages. My point is that if you want kids to be successful in education you need to have family support. No school can completely replace mother and father. All life skills are taught by involving kids in everyday life. It’s not a rocket science.

This is an excellent idea for motivated kids with supportive families. Our kids lived this way and were homeschooled and had lots of sports and they are thriving. I was also a classroom teacher and the hard part is reaching up 40 to 60% of kids that don’t have the family support that makes this kind of learning possible. If you were able to reach kids in preschool and kindergarten and start them on this path it would be possible but it will take a lot of trust. The current school system in the United States certainly needs a change. It is a brutal grind and then by the time you’re in high school many kids have been lost for years and can’t wait until they turn 16 so they can quit.