Axioms for the Post Pandemic World

Youthwise is a collage of sound bytes that will be dropped over the next month. These voices are gathered and curated from interviews I conducted from 1993-96 with the first student cohort of Bank Street College’s Liberty Partnership (aka Liberty Leads) which continues nearly 40 years and 1,700 lives later.

The voices of young people matter. Especially when we make the time for them to be heard. They can possess the trenchancy of lived insight and authentic wisdom. Something our tests and assessments rarely yield.

How does one teach well, and with devotion, to nurture curiosity, agency, and opportunity in our youth, in times like these? (Cover image by Janelle Lynch)

The Future of Learning is not to be found inside of white papers or the four walls of traditional schools. It can be. And perhaps by osmosis, it must. But for now, I will attest it lives, thrives, and is continuously evolving at Learnlifes Urban and Eco Hubs.

There’s lots of work and talk these days about social and emotional learning — about the need for resiliency, grit, and determination. The mental health crisis amongst students and teachers is real.

A beginner’s guide for the language it will take to refashion schools as joyous sites of connection and community. A democratic glossary for reawakening a world made safe by kindness and the wholesale rejection of its madness…