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The way we talk about education reform in America reveals a peculiar disconnect from reality. We acknowledge the system is broken, yet continue to propose solutions that operate on timescales of decades. 

This isn’t just impractical.

It’s morally indefensible.

Consider a parent with a five-year-old child entering kindergarten today. 

Or a parent with a 5th grader entering middle school who has seen the abysmal rates of engagement in middle and high school.

When education reformers talk about “systemic change” and “long-term transformation,” they’re effectively telling this parent: 

“Your child will be a casualty of a broken system, but perhaps your grandchildren will benefit.” 

No parent would accept this bargain in any other context. 

We wouldn’t tell parents to wait decades for their children to have access to safe food or properly tested car seats. 

Yet somehow, when it comes to education, we’ve normalized the idea that generational sacrifice is acceptable.

The problem goes deeper than just timing. 

American education is trending in the wrong direction by almost every meaningful metric. 

• Test scores are declining. 
• The achievement gap is widening. 
• Teacher burnout is accelerating. 
• Student mental health is deteriorating.
• Even basic literacy and numeracy are falling behind international peers. 

This isn’t a system in need of gentle reform. It is a system in active and accelerated decline.

We don’t need reform but wholesale replacement.

The corporate world offers a sobering parallel. 

When large organizations lose their way due to inadequate product innovation, bureaucracy, misaligned incentives, and talent drain, they rarely recover. Even with clear profit motives and quarterly accountability, the success rate for major corporate transformations and turnaround is dismally low. 

Now consider education: a sprawling, federated system with competing interests, byzantine bureaucracy, highly gameable incentives and virtually no accountability. 

Making things worse is the education-industrial complex (a web of textbook publishers, testing companies, technology providers, etc) which all have vested interests in preserving the status quo. 

Expecting this system to reform itself is like expecting a turkey to vote for Thanksgiving.

Yet we keep having the same conversations about reform, as if one more policy tweak or funding increase or new whiz bang technology will somehow produce different results. 

This is magical thinking. 

The system isn’t broken because it lacks resources or ideas.

It’s broken by design.

The incentives, structure, and scale of American education make meaningful reform virtually impossible.

But here’s the good news: we don’t have to fix the existing system. We’ve seen this before as new models enabled consumers to route around entrenched industries in other sectors. 

• Amazon vs retail: Shopping moved from shelves to clicks.
• Uber vs transport: Rides hailed by app, not by chance.
• Podcasts vs media: Voices bypassed gatekept networks to find audience directly.
• Airbnb vs hotels: Homes became hotels, one stay at a time.
• Spotify vs music industry: Playlists replaced the album.

In education, there are new models that are emerging that are letting families bypass the traditional education system entirely:

• Microschools: Small, adaptive learning communities that replace traditional schooling, like Acton Academy, Wildflower, Prenda or Primer.
• Hybrid Homeschooling: Flexible programs combining home education with structured in-person classes, such as Archer Academics, The Cottage School Network, and Classical Conversations.
• Education Pods & Learning Collectives: Localized, small-group learning environments that provide fully independent education, like KaiPod Learning and Pandemic Pods.
• Project-Based Learning (PBL): Schools focused on real-world, hands-on education that operate outside traditional systems, such as High Tech High and NuVu Studio.

What we are building with The School of Entrepreneuring is also another alternative for students and families.

These alternatives aren’t just workarounds but prototypes for what education could look like when freed from industrial-era constraints. They’re able to iterate quickly, respond to student needs in real-time, and scale successful approaches through technology.

Critics often argue that these alternative models can’t scale to serve entire populations. 

But this misunderstands both the nature of innovation and the current reality of our education system. Technology-enabled models have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to scale rapidly.

Consider how Khan Academy now reaches over 130 million learners globally. The question isn’t whether these alternatives can scale, but rather how quickly we can remove the artificial barriers to their growth.

Some worry that alternative education models might exacerbate inequity by favoring privileged families. This is a serious concern that deserves attention. However, it’s worth asking: How well has the current system served disadvantaged communities? Despite decades of reform efforts  and billions in funding (some which were elaborate distractions), achievement gaps persist or widen. The current system pays lip service to equity while perpetuating the very disparities it claims to address. 

New models, by contrast, have the potential to dramatically lower costs and increase access. Many alternative education providers are already developing scholarship programs and partnerships specifically designed to serve underserved communities.

What about accountability? 

Critics argue that parallel systems lack the oversight of traditional public education. But we should examine what the current accountability measures have actually achieved. Standardized testing and bureaucratic oversight haven’t prevented the decline in educational outcomes. In fact, current incentives often drive gamifying results (holy grade inflation) or outright fraud & corruption. Real accountability comes from empowering families with choices and information. When parents can vote with their feet, educators must deliver results or lose students.

The data tells a clear story. 

• Since 2000, U.S. PISA scores have stagnated or declined 
• At the same time, spending per pupil has increased by over 35% in real terms
• Teacher satisfaction has hit historic lows, with 55% now indicating they’re likely to leave the profession earlier than planned. 

Meanwhile, alternative models show promising results.

Students in well-designed microschools often outperform their district peers, and project-based learning programs report higher engagement and better career outcomes.

This isn’t just about abandoning the old system but about redirecting our energy toward more promising solutions. To those dedicated educators, administrators, and policymakers currently working within the system: your expertise and passion are desperately needed in building these new models. Rather than exhausting yourself pushing against institutional inertia, consider joining or creating initiatives that can move faster and achieve more.

The future of education will be diverse, adaptive, and responsive to individual needs. It will combine the best of technology, human mentorship, and community engagement. But this future won’t arrive through incremental reform of a system designed for a different era. It will come from bold experiments, rapid iteration, and a willingness to embrace new models.

Let’s stop pretending that patience is a virtue when it comes to children’s education. 

Instead, let’s swiftly channel our collective energy into building and scaling alternatives that work today. The next generation doesn’t need our good intentions.

They need real options for quality education now.

The best time to stop believing solely in education reform was twenty years ago.
The second best time is now.

We can stop waiting for change and start creating it by building and scaling bold, innovative models that provide solutions for families and students today and not for their grandchildren.

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If you read this far, some related essays you’ll also like:

1. The Great Disengagement: America’s students have checked out
2. Degrees of deception: How America’s universities became debt factories
3. Bread, circuses and education
4. The School of Entrepreneuring
5. From myth to measurement: Rethinking US News & World Report College Rankings
6. The perverse incentives driving America’s government schools
7. The endless ladder
8. Students are solving the wrong problems
9. Your kids grades are bullshit
10. Ghost nonprofits and the manufacturing of virtue