A Few 21st Century School Transformation Questions

Gary Tirone

 

As we reach the start of a new school year along with the second quarter of the 21st century, it’s a good point to reflect back and look forward to the current state of schooling as AI enters into the equation.  I always like to use a guiding question to navigate my thinking and given the current overarching AI discussion, my 2026-27 question is, ‘When it comes to teaching, learning, educational structures and change, are we reforming or transforming our schools?’

Whether it’s the traditional schools most of us grew up with, or perhaps more current models offering extended blended opportunities using technology, or the array of non traditional choices ranging from public charters to home school to fully virtual schools; transforming rather than reforming should be the primary pathway for school change.  As technology offers increased flexibility options for teaching and student learning, the impact on educational related relationships is challenged. A few transformational related questions then are worth considering as a healthy balance of technology and face to face learning environments continue to evolve:

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Healthcare and the Illusion of Change

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For anyone following the national news that impacts the smallest of communities, it’s a bit harder to embrace the holiday spirit as the calamity of leadership creates ‘breaking news’. Masked ICE agents execute harsh tactics of seizing people; most of whom are not the  “migrant criminals, Illegal monsters, killers, or gang members” Trump claims are “invading our country.”  There are the lethal strikes by our military on alleged “narcoterrorist drug boats” in what a cross section of legal experts(BBC & NBCnews) claim violates international law, lack legal justification, and don’t align with laws governing armed conflict or peacetime conduct.  I could go on citing tariff policy, rollbacks in environmental policies, pardoning convicted drug kingpins, or the increasing affordability crisis for most Americans, or a completely unhinged address to the nation; but I need to focus

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Environmental Policy…Our Race to the Bottom

A recent Associated Press article(Green Energy Sources Hit Tipping Point for Lower Costs, 7/22/25) returned me to my most recent trip to Europe reminding me of two things. The first is the will and persistence it takes for creating and maintaining conditions for meaningful progress leading to a healthier environment. The second is the significant payoff for staying the course over the time it takes for policy initiatives and desired results to take effect.  The magnificent twin towered Cologne Cathedral in Germany is a living example of sound environmental policy and efforts paying dividends on a micro and macro level.  Let me explain…

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Ignorance, Poets and Earth Day

Two years ago I spent time with my daughter’s family in San Francisco during April, a celebratory time for me encompassing several birthdays along with National Poetry Month and Earth Day. It was post Covid and I hadn’t visited the city in four years.  The downtown business areas were quite muted with vacant storefronts and a sense of loss. However, the abundant natural areas of beauty remained as did vibrant residential neighborhoods.  Its eco-friendly consciousness from outstanding public transportation to recycling, composting, and plastics mitigation efforts are ingrained in the city’s mindset.  From an environmental standpoint, our national efforts to address climate change would be far more advanced if we followed San Francisco’s example.

As good as it might sound, San Francisco demographics have changed in the 20 plus years spent dropping into the city for extended visits.  Perhaps it’s best summed up on a bus ride during a recent stay.  A disheveled rider was getting increasingly aggravated at an oblivious woman speaking loudly on her cell phone.  Approaching a stop at the University of San Francisco’s campus,  he stood up to exit and  stopped for a moment until he caught the woman’s attention. In a resigned but firm voice, he said, “San Francisco use to be a bunch of hippies creating poetry; now it’s a bunch of techies creating ignorance.”

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Emily’s Soliloquy; Then and Now

Emily’s Soliloquy from Act 3 in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town:

We don’t have time to look at one another.
I didn’t realize. All that was going on in life,
and we never noticed.
Take me back – up the hill – to my grave.

But first: Wait! One more look.
Good-by, Good-by, world.
Good-by, Grover’s Corners.
Mama and Papa.
Good-bye to clocks ticking.
And Mama’s sunflowers.
And food and coffee.
And new-ironed dresses and hot baths.
And sleeping and waking up.

Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful
for anybody to realize you.

Do any human beings ever realize life
while they live it? – every, every minute?

Stage Manager’s Response:

No. The saints and the poets, maybe they do some.

Emily’s soliloquy has been an overarching  paradigm in my life ever since using it with students early in my teaching career.  It’s served many purposes ranging from various literary themes, to the power of reflection for writing and in life.  I’ve used the example of the soliloquy often with others, thinking it was a secret recipe for seeing and appreciating the smaller aspects of our daily lives. But recently, as I approach the same age my Mother was, well into her widowhood, I understand that like Emily,  I too am deficient with a necessary ingredient to fully appreciate my day to day being…an innate wisdom.

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