# The Future of Education _2025-11-17_ _I wrote this essay as part of an assignment for UMass Amherst's “Experiential Reflections on Learning and Education” college course (UWW 360). It references two TEDx talks: [What if Schools Taught Us How to Learn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtQzuwnyW6E) by Jonathan Levi and [The Future of Education is Self-Directed Learning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkmiquiJ_nA) by Dr. Timothy Stafford, Ph.D._ In thinking about the future of education, I’m reminded of my [[Marked by France|childhood experience of school]]. First a star student, then an anxious mess, and finally a drop out. Since then, I’ve had to learn many things on my own, and I regularly wish those things had been taught in school—like meditation or computer programming—so that I could have benefited from them earlier. But would a simple change, like new topics, really make a difference for disengaged students like my past self? In his talk, Jonathan Levi advocates for the use of modern reading and memory techniques in school, like memory palaces. He makes it sound simple, claiming that techniques like “visualizing your memories” can be learned “by anybody in a matter of weeks or months.” Levi should have used his speed-reading skills to do more research, because some people—like me—can’t visualize at all. It’s called _aphantasia,_ and a small percentage of the population has it. Like Levi, my old teachers didn’t know about this condition and assumed that everyone had the same abilities. The consequences were dire. I believe this misconception—teachers assuming I could visualize—was at the root of my inability to acclimate to middle and high school. For example, you give geography a try when the main task is rote memorization and you literally cannot remember maps… It’s clear that changes in content wouldn’t have been enough. I needed a completely different way of learning. And I also needed to understand aphantasia: what visualizing meant for others; the things they could do that I couldn’t, like putting together words spelled out verbally, or reading descriptive prose without getting bored; and what my own strengths were in turn. I've now realized that my preferred learning style is kinesthetic and self-directed. Kinesthetic means I like to involve my body—to move and touch things. I have a random assortment of items on my desk that I like to manipulate while I’m thinking: paper clips, a rock, pens, an acorn from my yard. I like to work with notebooks and index cards. I take frequent breaks to stretch and move around. Self-directed means I need to follow my interests and intuition when deciding what to learn and how. As Dr. Stafford says in his talk, “you will never be more motivated to learn, or retain more of what you learned, than what you determined to learn yourself.” I wish I had understood this about myself earlier, like [[My Aphantasia Story|my aphantasia]]. My childhood—and then my whole life—could have been transformed by a more inclusive and exploratory schooling system. Teacher and author Marilee Sprenger lets students walk around the back of her class. She writes, “Most of us have never been trained to teach to learners who need to move, touch, and try. They really go against the educational system as many of us know it. Students are supposed to sit quietly and listen. Right?” I know I couldn’t stand sitting quietly for hours on end. But there are a host of experiences that kinesthetic learners will eagerly engage with: dance, debate, drama, role-play, charades… I tried to imagine the perfect future high school classroom. But I can’t. It’s impossible. There is no one perfect classroom, just like there is no one type of student. Each student, and each class, is different. This is what I want to tell teachers: Become aware of the variety of learning styles and neurologies that you are encountering. Then realize that this knowledge is insufficient: you must still meet each student anew. Don’t pontificate—learn from one another. Be a kind teacher—part mentor, part friend. Give students a lot of room and a lot of freedom. Ask them what they want to learn. And for crying out loud, let them out of those _fucking_ seats.