These young leaders make me optimistic that brighter days are ahead for America’s students and teachers. gatesnot.es/3zf8lFM

Today’s students have the power to create a better future for all people, and teachers are helping them build their framework for understanding the world. Thank you to Bryan Stevenson for joining the @OERProject Conference for Social Studies this week. gatesnot.es/3rZ70zF

Student loan debt in US is $1.7 trillion, affecting 42 million Americans. On a basic human level, I worry that for many people this stifles the freedom to take big risks in the pursuit of a dream, in the pursuit of excellence and happiness.

When you think about the university of the future, what comes to mind? Or asked differently, if you could wave a wand and change anything about universities for the next 10 years, what would you change?

If Stanford helps students become better citizens in society, On Deck aims to help people become better citizens of the internet. What skills would one need in order to be a citizen of the internet? If you were designing the syllabus, what courses would you imagine being taught?

If Stanford prepares you for citizenship for society, On Deck prepares you to be a citizen of the internet. Any digitally native learning institution should be built in public. Help us build it! As soon as we get 100 signups for any of our categories, we'll release a curriculum

Stanford, Harvard etc peter out at <7K students In a virtual world, why couldn't they accept more? Partly b/c, like nightclubs, status is measured not by how many ppl get in, but by how many don't On Deck's goal is to accept 100K across fellowships—keep quality & expand access

At universities, we need to not only redefine credentialism, we need to redefine prestige. Who designs policies? Who’s research is most trusted? “Experts.” AKA Professors. Who, no matter how consistently wrong, still retain prestige...because they have prestige. It's circular.

ISAs will get millions of people out of debt they can't even discharge in bankruptcy. ISAs will bring more accountability, price-transparency, and incentive alignment into our education system. Kudos to Lambda for paving the way. twitter.com/Austen/status/…

In school we learn to play the status game, the grades game, the compliance game... These games may help us “win” the game of school, but won’t get us far in real life. To succeed in life, whatever that means to us, we need to master a different game... The *METAGAME* 👇🏼🧵

The "school" I envision doesn't use games to teach kids. The school I envision *is* a game. From beginning to end.

Studies shows that when we go to sleep, our brain focuses on the most salient problem it was recently trying to solve. So if we want kids to retain what they “study" better, they should play video games first, then study before going to 💤 Reverse the order: First 🎮 then 📚

2.3 billion people play 🎮 games regularly. Those who understand the power and potential of games will be the ones who shape our future. 5 takeaways from a conversation between @shaneaparrish and @avantgame 👇🏼 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/101…

Schools frame "success" as a straight line. This sets kids up for disappointment and unrealistic expectations. Success in real life looks more like a squiggly line, with multiple ups and downs: Invent, launch, reinvent, relaunch. Start over. Repeat again and again. ➿ > ➖

Finding work that you enjoy is a shortcut to achieving your desired outcomes.

How can we help kids become more independent-minded and why does it matter? 3 ideas from @paulg that apply to kids 👇🏼

The only sustainable answer to the challenge we face in education today: Diversity of approaches.

Neat idea by @AdamMGrant: Don’t set rules, set values. Rules set limits that teach us to adopt a fixed view of the world. Values encourage us to internalize principles for ourselves. Instead of demanding attention, try talking to kids about why it’s important to listen.

The future of assessment is not scores. It’ll be proving that you have the skills and creativity to solve problems in new ways.

For moral behaviors, try nouns > verbs. Instead of “that was so generous” try “YOU are so generous” "When our actions become a reflection of our character, we lean more heavily toward the moral and generous choices. Over time it can become part of us." — @AdamMGrant

Don’t praise the action. Praise the *character* behind the action. Research shows we get a 22-29% increase in how likely kids are to help if we say "thanks for being a helper" instead of "thanks for helping." Kids want to *earn* that identity. 👇🏼

We’re building the antidote for modern schooling. Here’s what makes Synthesis unique👇🏼

Kids contribute to team discussions in ways that feel authentic to them—be it leading, following, or disagreeing. They try and they fail, and their decisions are never perfect. But they surely get the chance to contribute to consequential decisions *in their own way.*

We are proud of what makes us different. In my next thread, I'll walk you through the recipe components behind the Synthesis Experience... ...or how we “teach.” Join the club 👇🏼🤸🏼‍♀️ synthesis.is

“If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom” —@AdamMGrant Schools should teach kids to be curious, not afraid, about what they don’t know.

Because learning can and *should* feel like playing a fun game 🤸🏽‍♀️ Thanks for having me on your podcast @bzaidi pic.twitter.com/XZIboru60O

Who’s more impressive? The kid who knows the right answer, or the kid who doesn’t but figures it out?

A good teacher introduces new ideas. A great one introduces new ways of thinking.

Schools should focus less on “being right” and more on building the skills to consider different perspectives and argue productively about them.

Teach kids to think like fact-checkers: 1. Interrogate information instead of simply consuming it 🔎 2. Reject rank and popularity as a proxy for reliability 🙅🏽‍♀️ 3. Understand that the sender of information is often not its source 🤔 From Think Again by @AdamMGrant