Michael Horn argues that education transformation takes decades, not years. Funders switching strategies every five years can't measure real impact. The U.S. system is too entrenched for quick fixes, so improvement means working inside classrooms while building disruptive alternatives on the margins.
Everyone wants a quick fix to the problems in education. But here's the hard truth. Real transformation. It takes time. Funders, meanwhile, are switching strategies every five years, long before they can see if change is working. Even the predictions we made in disrupting class, they haven't reshaped schools the way we want, because disruption, like moving from sailing ships to steamships, it often takes decades, even generations. And the US Education system? It's huge, messy, deeply entrenched, not a lot of areas of non consumption. Now, that doesn't mean we stop pushing. We should keep improving today's classrooms, even while seeding disruptive innovations outside the mainstream. Because, let's be honest, if systemic change in education comes, it's not going to be overnight. It's a long play. Do we have the patience to see it through?
