In the concluding segment of the Education Takeaways podcast, host Virginie Glaenzer leads a round‑table where each participant shares final reflections on the future of education. Virginie distills her personal takeaways into three essential capacities for her daughters – emotional intelligence, curiosity, and adaptability – and expresses a desire for them to design creative, compassionate lives rather than follow a conventional, productivity‑focused path. Luz shifts the focus to the need for education that serves the present, citing the Democratic School of Hadera as an example of how schools mirror societal structures and must cultivate responsible, autonomous citizens. Nora expands the conversation beyond formal schooling, arguing that true education is an intergenerational way of life that requires adults to relinquish entrenched authority, challenge developmental stage theories rooted in eugenics, and foster relational, moment‑to‑moment learning. Joe and Shauna highlight the systemic unhappiness of teachers, noting that educators are tasked with shaping future leaders within a system that often contradicts their purpose. Throughout, participants stress lifelong, relational learning over textbook‑driven curricula, urging a cultural shift toward empathy, critical thinking, and continuous curiosity. The episode ends with a promise of a blog post and additional media to extend the dialogue.
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I want to be mindful of the time. We could speak about this topic for hours. I can feel the passion and there has been some amazing insight. So I do want to thank everyone for this insightful conversation. But as we come to the end of the hour, I'd like to finish the way that we began with a tour de table and give you guys a time to go back to one of the questions or share something else. The intention for this podcast is to help each of us become the self-authoring leader of our own lives through meaningful actions. So let's pass the mic and share any reflection that may have emerged from our conversation or any last thought that you feel was left unsaid that you'd like to leave us with. And I'll start by sharing my own takeaway to give you a moment to collect your thoughts. I took some notes and some thought came, and I really appreciated a number of things, and I can't wait to do the blog post. But I've personally been thinking a lot about education. You know, as I mentioned, with 3 daughters, 2 in college and 1 in high school, I'm thinking a lot about what is essential for them to learn in life. And I've arrived at 3 skills or knowledge, or I don't even know what those are. The first one is emotional intelligence, so they can deal with their own emotions. The second is curiosity, so they can see that differences is a good thing. And the third is the ability to adapt, so they don't get stuck in uncertainty and the constant change that we're facing. And I realized that I've lived 50 years by following the established path. And actually, once I had achieved all the dreams that I had after college, not only did I feel dissatisfied and kind of burned out, but I also realized that those dreams were not truly mine. So I can only hope I hope that my daughters design their own lives and instead of becoming, as you said, Nora, a productive individual, which I've become, they can become a creative and compassionate person. That would be my hope. So let's continue the tour de table, and I'd like to invite maybe Luz to begin and share your last thoughts or anything that you feel was left unsaid.
I think two things. One is that we try, we think in education to prepare the kids for the future, but what about to prepare them for the present? Like an education that is useful now, it could be ideal. And another thing that kind of, I met Jacob, he created the Democratic School of Hadera in Israel, and he said something that it took me took me a long time to actually understand. And he said that the schools are a mirror of society. So we cannot expect to live in a democratic country and have responsible citizens that take care of their environment and of the people that is surrounding them if we grow up in a system where there is a hierarchy and we are not allowed to take control of our own decisions until we are 18, and we follow orders all the time. And for me, that, that, that's the key. Like, if, if we could create an educational system, or if we can improve education, we have to also consider how we would like the world to be. And if we want people that are responsible, that are good citizens, and take care of the environment, that has to be also cultivated in the school. It cannot— we cannot let— if it's what you said, if we want to be empathetic, if we want them to develop those emotional skills, critical thinking, and autonomy, that is like ideally what an adult person will, will need to have a fulfilling life and a satisfied life, then that has to be reproduced also since we are little.
Absolutely.
I think that there's something about this that is really important to land outside of the education system, because I think what we're actually talking about is not a school system, it's a way of life. And it's going to be, I think, the most difficult for the adults. I mean, let's just be honest about this. And we're put in a position now where we have to essentially teach the next generation something we frankly don't know. And so that is going to be hard because the programming of being a parent and being an adult is to be the one that's holding authority and responsibility and those advices and teachings that are going to put children on the right track. And this is deep stuff. I mean, that thing, you know, when you become a parent and you hear yourself say these things you swore you'd never say, that thing is deep. And so, you know, again, we can move the furniture around all we want, but the depth of the shift is actually at the level of of a total way of being in the world differently. And it's not going to be easy, right? So it's beautiful and it's freeing, but it's disorienting because you're— who are you? You know, your identity has shifted when you have to actually shift Right, it's not about making a chore wheel for who's going to do the dishes in the kitchen anymore. It's about another kind of communication of a noticing relational process through the whole day where it doesn't matter who's on the chore wheel. What matters is that your kids can perceive who actually needs to do the dishes, not based on the chore wheel, but by the relational process. And this, I mean, that's just a tiny little example, like the tiny little example of drawing the smell of the basil, like the out of these existing patterns is going to make you dizzy. And I questioned developmental stage theory recently on Facebook. Some of you may have seen it was quite the kerfuffle, but But what I was surprised at was that actually there were a lot of people who were still really locked into that idea as being something real. Even when you point out that it comes from eugenics and it comes from industry and it comes from, you know, this need to plot your cognitive development as a naturalized Darwinian social process, people did not want to let go. 'But I'm stage 5, but I'm green, but I'm,' you know, this like need to measure yourself and measure others and that constant judging. And that thing, our children are learning to do that, not because we're teaching them, but because it's implicit in everything that we're doing. So the real education is between the generations, and it starts now, and it's in every single thing you do. Every single thing. So it's not really about the classroom. The real revolution is actually in our day-to-day, moment-to-moment intergenerational relationships. Let's not trap the next generation in our traps.
Well said. Thank you, Nora. Joe, your last thoughts or reaction?
One thing we haven't really touched on is teachers aren't happy either. They're not happy with the system, so that's another component to think about.
Yeah, I would argue, and, and they probably have the most, the most important job right now, right, of teaching the future leaders. And, uh, they're doing their best in a, in a system with— that is just not meant for what it's supposed to do.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned that, Joe, because it's It's not like it's us against the school system. We are the school system in everything that we do. I think support teachers.
It goes back to the way of life thing that you mentioned.
Shauna, any last thoughts, reflection, or?
Yeah, my mind is just spinning. You know, this is— it's been wonderful to learn from you all. And that this is what— this is what we should be doing. This is what we should be teaching our kids to do.
Talk to people.
I don't want to learn about systems thinking by reading a book. I want to learn about it by talking to Nora and Joe and, you know, to people that are learning it and doing it. I don't want to learn about being a doctor by reading a book. I want to talk to a doctor. And I want to, you know, just look— and like you said, Luz, also, this is— this doesn't— learning isn't regulated to the classroom. It is a lifelong thing. And, um, and that's what we should be teaching our kids, like, learning doesn't stop.
On that note, I want to thank you all for taking the time today to share your perspective, your experiences, uh, your passion for this, uh, side of our life. And we will write a blog post, we'll have video snippets and more. So everybody, people who likes to read or listen, will have the podcast as well, the audio part, for hopefully to let anyone who has been listening or watching this video to connect with any of your work, individual work, and continue the conversation. Thank you so much.
