WEBVTT 00:00:01.539 --> 00:00:04.839 Imagine finding a paper, like a paper you wrote 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:07.820 30 years ago, outlining the absolute biggest, 00:00:07.940 --> 00:00:10.599 most fundamental crisis in your entire profession. 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:14.710 Oh wow, yeah. That sounds stressful. Right. And 00:00:14.710 --> 00:00:18.190 then realizing that today, not only has the crisis 00:00:18.190 --> 00:00:21.489 not been fixed, but it has somehow become the 00:00:21.489 --> 00:00:23.070 gold standard. I mean, you'd probably question 00:00:23.070 --> 00:00:24.850 everything about the industry you work in. It 00:00:24.850 --> 00:00:27.750 is a deeply unsettling realization. You kind 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:29.769 of assume that over the course of three decades, 00:00:30.070 --> 00:00:32.009 any field will evolve. Right, you'd think so. 00:00:32.149 --> 00:00:34.810 You expect the glaring flaws of the past to be 00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:38.189 ironed out through research, innovation, or just 00:00:38.189 --> 00:00:40.189 plain common sense. Yeah, but that is the exact 00:00:40.189 --> 00:00:43.090 opposite of what Dr. Gary L. Ackerman experienced. 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.219 So today we are taking a deep dive into a brilliant 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.560 and frankly unnerving critique. He published 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:51.240 on hack science education It really is a fascinating 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:54.460 piece It came out in April of 2026 and the whole 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:56.479 mission of this deep dive today is to explore 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.619 why our modern hyper optimized data -obsessed 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.359 schools might actually be systematically eradicating 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:05.959 true curiosity. Yeah, that's the core of it. 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:08.359 Dr. Ackerman found a graduate paper he wrote 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:12.260 way back in 1997. And in it, he pointed out that 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:14.560 an inquiry -based science curriculum, specifically 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:17.459 one that includes authentic assessment, was largely 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:19.900 unfamiliar to most teachers. Which was a massive 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:22.819 red flag in 1997. I mean, it was an urgent call 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:25.379 for reform, pointing out a critical gap in how 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:28.079 human beings were basically being educated. Fast 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:31.219 forward to April... 2026, like almost 30 years 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:34.280 later, Ackerman looks around and notes that his 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:37.700 1997 observation is still entirely true. It's 00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:41.000 wild. 30 years of new educational philosophies, 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.019 billions of dollars in EdTech funding, endless 00:01:44.019 --> 00:01:46.719 policy shifts, and we are stuck in the exact 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.400 same spot. OK, let's unpack this. How is it even 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:51.400 possible that nearly three decades of evolution 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.459 have left us right where we started? Well, to 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:55.420 understand that stagnation, we have to recognize 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:57.519 that it isn't an accident. Wait, really? Yeah, 00:01:57.540 --> 00:01:59.680 we aren't looking at institutional laziness or 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:02.260 like a mere failure to adopt new methods. What 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:04.719 Dr. Ackerman's piece points to is a deliberate 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.680 systemic abandonment of complex learning. Deliberate. 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.900 Wow. Yes. The system just walked away from it 00:02:10.900 --> 00:02:14.199 because complex learning is wildly incompatible 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:16.900 with the one thing modern education values above 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:21.180 all else, which is clean, manageable data. So 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:23.259 the system didn't just fail to figure out how 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:26.300 to teach better. they actively chose a lesser 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:28.740 form of teaching just because it fits neatly 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:31.539 into a spreadsheet. Essentially, yes. And we 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:33.319 can see exactly how this happened by looking 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:35.620 at the specific concept Ackerman highlights, 00:02:35.699 --> 00:02:38.379 which is the inquiry -based curriculum. Right. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:41.199 He notes that across the board, inquiry has been 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:44.280 functionally abandoned. And the justification 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:46.900 for this, which even Ackerman acknowledges is 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.139 supported by certain research, you know, is that 00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:52.379 inquiry -based learning is, quote unquote, inefficient. 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:55.449 Let me play devil's advocate here for a second, 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:57.629 though, because if we are looking at this from 00:02:57.629 --> 00:03:00.069 the perspective of an administrator or a teacher, 00:03:00.650 --> 00:03:02.469 efficiency isn't just a corporate buzzword. I 00:03:02.469 --> 00:03:04.289 mean, it's a survival tactic. Sure, absolutely. 00:03:04.349 --> 00:03:06.270 If you have a classroom with 35 kids, stretch 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:09.629 45 -minute class periods, and this massive list 00:03:09.629 --> 00:03:11.530 of state -mandated standards you are legally 00:03:11.530 --> 00:03:14.129 required to hit by May inefficiency, sounds like 00:03:14.129 --> 00:03:16.539 a total disaster. It does. It sounds like you'll 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:18.879 lose control of the room. Right. Data -driven, 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:21.539 highly structured instruction scales across millions 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:25.340 of students. Messy, wandering inquiry doesn't. 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:28.180 So aren't schools just doing the only thing they 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:30.560 logistically can do with the resources they have? 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:33.159 It is a super compelling defense, and frankly, 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:35.960 it is exactly the logic that built the current 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:40.250 system. When you have massive scale, you crave 00:03:40.250 --> 00:03:41.849 predictability. Yeah, you want to guarantee. 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:44.449 Exactly. You want a straight, highly efficient 00:03:44.449 --> 00:03:46.689 line from the curriculum to the teacher's mouth, 00:03:47.030 --> 00:03:49.030 straight to the student's standardized test score. 00:03:49.430 --> 00:03:52.090 What's fascinating here is the tension between 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:56.050 that efficiency and true learning. How so? Well, 00:03:56.219 --> 00:03:59.740 The fatal flaw in that logic, and this is Ackerman's 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:01.939 central counterpoint, is that by optimizing entirely 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:04.699 for efficiency, you basically engineer out the 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:06.900 friction required for actual learning. Because 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:09.139 genuine inquiry, like the process of asking your 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:11.860 own questions, testing a hypothesis, failing 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:14.520 completely and having to start over is inherently 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:16.139 full of friction. It's totally unpredictable. 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:18.899 Precisely. You cannot easily schedule an epiphany. 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:21.560 Right. You can efficiently mandate that a student 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:25.019 memorizes a scientific formula by Tuesday at 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:28.040 noon. That generates a highly measurable data 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:31.259 point. But you can't efficiently measure the 00:04:31.259 --> 00:04:33.800 moment a student develops a genuine internal 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:36.540 curiosity about how that formula governs the 00:04:36.540 --> 00:04:38.680 physics of the real world. Right. There's no 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:43.399 bubble to fill in for curiosity. Exactly. By 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.199 prioritizing the easy -to -measure tasks, we 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.579 have effectively stripped the actual education 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:51.579 out of the instruction. Without that messy inquiry, 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:53.980 it becomes nearly impossible to cultivate critical 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:57.000 thinking or complex problem -solving skills because, 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.600 well, those skills require a really high tolerance 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:01.779 for ambiguity. You know, it makes me think about 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:04.220 learning, like exploring a brand new city. Oh, 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:06.480 like that. Yeah, so if the education system's 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.800 only goal is efficiency, they basically just 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.639 build a massive elevated highway right through 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.459 the middle of town. You get on point A, you drive 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:15.019 straight to point B, and you arrive in 10 minutes. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:17.420 Highly efficient, highly measurable. Exactly. 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:19.899 But if you take that highway, what do you actually 00:05:19.899 --> 00:05:22.639 learn about the city? You bypass the culture, 00:05:22.819 --> 00:05:25.240 the architecture, the local interactions. You 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:27.600 see absolutely nothing but concrete barriers. 00:05:27.779 --> 00:05:29.800 You just get the destination, not the journey. 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:31.800 You learn nothing about the landscape at all. 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:33.699 If you actually want to understand the city, 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:36.040 you have to get off the highway. You have to 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:37.980 wander down side streets, you have to take a 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:40.519 wrong turn, you know, get a little lost and figure 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:42.540 out how to navigate your way back. Which is a 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:45.339 terribly inefficient way to travel. Yes, but 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:47.839 education is supposed to be about the exploration 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.100 itself, not just the destination. And when schools 00:05:51.100 --> 00:05:53.800 optimize exclusively for that highway, they are 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:56.000 prioritizing the logistical schedule over the 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.319 cognitive discovery. Dr. Ackerman is essentially 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.639 pointing out that we've paved over the entire 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:03.879 educational landscape with these multi -lane 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:07.620 highways of easily measurable tasks. We traded 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:10.420 depth for speed. I want the listener to really 00:06:10.420 --> 00:06:12.519 think about this. Think about the last time you 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:15.000 actually retained a complex skill in your own 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.040 life. You probably didn't learn it by silently 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.139 reading a rubric and checking off a multiple 00:06:20.139 --> 00:06:22.879 -choice box. Definitely not. You likely stumbled 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:25.160 through it. You failed a few times, got really 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.920 frustrated, and finally pieced it together yourself. 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:32.439 The friction was the catalyst. But if the system 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:35.319 refuses to tolerate that friction because it 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.379 doesn't scale neatly, it really begs the question, 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.160 what exactly are they measuring? And that right 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:43.560 there is the pivotal transition in Ackerman's 00:06:43.560 --> 00:06:46.189 argument. If you remove the complex inquiry, 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:48.889 you completely alter the definition of success. 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:51.990 And this leads us directly to the second major 00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:55.009 casualty of the last 30 years. Which is authentic 00:06:55.009 --> 00:06:58.410 assessment. Yes. And he uses that term very specifically. 00:06:58.979 --> 00:07:01.060 Authentic assessment isn't just a buzzword for 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:03.480 him. No, he defines it quite rigidly. Right, 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:06.480 it has a strict definition in this context. Ackerman 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.019 characterizes authentic assessment as activities 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:11.399 created by students to demonstrate their learning 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:13.680 that would be of interest to those outside of 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:16.079 the classroom. That distinction outside of the 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:18.459 classroom, that changes the entire dynamic, doesn't 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:20.439 it? Like, why a student is doing the work in 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:22.519 the first place? Oh, totally. If we connect this 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:25.100 to the bigger picture, it alters the fundamental 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:27.279 psychology of the learner. Okay, unpack that. 00:07:27.339 --> 00:07:30.279 Let's look at the traditional method. Normally, 00:07:30.579 --> 00:07:32.720 a student writes a research paper or completes 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:35.120 a project strictly to meet a single teacher's 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.540 specific standards. The teacher is the sole audience, 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:41.660 and the grading rubric is the ultimate boundary 00:07:41.660 --> 00:07:44.120 of the work. You just follow the rules. Right. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.899 Authentic assessment completely dismantles that 00:07:46.899 --> 00:07:49.740 dynamic. Instead of writing merely to satisfy 00:07:49.740 --> 00:07:52.420 the teacher, the student produces work that meets 00:07:52.420 --> 00:07:55.740 industry standards. Like, Ackerman uses the example 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:57.860 of a student writing a report designed for a 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:00.740 potential publication in an actual journal. Here's 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:03.899 where it gets really interesting. When your only 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:07.079 audience is the teacher, your primary psychological 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.399 motivation is just compliance. Yes. Box checking. 00:08:10.579 --> 00:08:13.139 You're just sitting there asking yourself, uh... 00:08:13.149 --> 00:08:15.329 Did I use the right font? Did I hit the word 00:08:15.329 --> 00:08:17.689 count? Did I format the bibliography exactly 00:08:17.689 --> 00:08:19.730 the way Mr. Smith likes it? You are engaging 00:08:19.730 --> 00:08:21.910 in a transactional relationship. You are literally 00:08:21.910 --> 00:08:24.470 just trading compliance for a grade. But when 00:08:24.470 --> 00:08:27.230 you create something intended for the real world, 00:08:27.910 --> 00:08:30.509 an audience that actually cares about the utility 00:08:30.509 --> 00:08:33.389 and accuracy of the content, not just the formatting, 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:37.690 the motivation shifts from mere compliance to 00:08:37.690 --> 00:08:40.669 actual contribution. Exactly. You want it to 00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:43.679 be good, not just graded. It's like playing a 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:45.659 video game, where the only person watching you 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:47.759 play is the programmer who built the game. Oh, 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:49.779 that's a great way to put it. Right. You aren't 00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:52.720 playing to explore or to have fun. You are just 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:55.899 trying to hit the exact sequence of buttons the 00:08:55.899 --> 00:08:58.360 programmer designed at the exact right moment. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.659 just to prove you can follow their hidden rules. 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:02.840 Right. You are just reverse engineering the authority 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:04.940 figure's expectations. You aren't creating anything 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:07.259 new. You are just echoing their parameters back 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:10.179 to them. But authentic assessment is like stepping 00:09:10.179 --> 00:09:12.299 out of that game and deciding to actually build 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:14.720 a game that real people want to play. Suddenly, 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.960 you have to care if your creation is engaging, 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:21.240 if the mechanics work, if it provides real value 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:24.740 to a stranger. If our schools rely solely on 00:09:24.740 --> 00:09:27.139 having students echo a teacher's expectations, 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:29.759 it seems like we are just training millions of 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:31.960 kids to be professional people pleasers instead 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:34.279 of independent thinkers. And that is a dangerous 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:36.379 precedent for a society to set. I mean, in a 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:39.059 professional setting or in civic life, there 00:09:39.059 --> 00:09:41.379 isn't always a teacher standing over you with 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:43.720 a rubric telling you exactly what a successful 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:45.860 outcome looks like. Definitely not. You have 00:09:45.860 --> 00:09:48.139 to possess the internal capacity to identify 00:09:48.139 --> 00:09:51.200 a problem, design a solution, and create value 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:53.950 on your own. But according to Dr. Ackerman's 00:09:53.950 --> 00:09:57.149 piece, these authentic real -world assessment 00:09:57.149 --> 00:09:59.769 activities are so rare in today's classrooms 00:09:59.769 --> 00:10:02.090 that they are practically a myth. He actually 00:10:02.090 --> 00:10:03.870 takes that point a step further, and this is 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:05.909 where his critique gets genuinely chilling to 00:10:05.909 --> 00:10:08.870 me. He observes that these authentic activities 00:10:08.870 --> 00:10:12.169 are so scarce now, he genuinely doubts the educational 00:10:12.169 --> 00:10:15.470 system even has the capacity to introduce this 00:10:15.470 --> 00:10:18.190 type of education anymore. Yeah, it is a profound 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:20.009 and damning observation. He's not just saying 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:22.769 they prefer not to do it. No, he isn't saying 00:10:22.769 --> 00:10:25.330 that schools simply choose to focus on standard 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:27.889 tests today, but could easily switch back to 00:10:27.889 --> 00:10:29.990 authentic learning tomorrow if they wanted to. 00:10:30.450 --> 00:10:32.649 He is suggesting that the institutional muscle 00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:35.250 memory for this kind of teaching has completely 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:37.690 atrophied. I really want to dig into the mechanics 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:41.210 of that atrophy. How does a massive institution 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:44.909 literally lose the capacity to teach authentically? 00:10:44.970 --> 00:10:47.750 Well, it happens systematically over generations 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:50.429 of educators. Think about the 30 -year timeline 00:10:50.429 --> 00:10:54.129 from his 1997 paper. Okay. The veteran teachers 00:10:54.129 --> 00:10:56.590 who intuitively understood how to guide messy, 00:10:56.830 --> 00:10:59.830 unstructured inquiry eventually retire. They 00:10:59.830 --> 00:11:01.769 are replaced by newer teachers who have been 00:11:01.769 --> 00:11:03.870 trained both as students themselves and in their 00:11:03.870 --> 00:11:06.289 university teaching programs under the strict 00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:08.809 regime of standardized, data -driven instruction. 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:10.690 So they never even experience it themselves. 00:11:10.830 --> 00:11:13.110 Exactly. And the curriculum materials provided 00:11:13.110 --> 00:11:15.450 by the districts are these highly scripted pacing 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:18.190 guides designed to maximize test scores. The 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:20.169 administrative oversight is entirely focused 00:11:20.169 --> 00:11:22.809 on benchmark data. There's no room to deviate. 00:11:23.009 --> 00:11:26.289 None. So even if a rogue teacher wants to implement 00:11:26.289 --> 00:11:29.450 an authentic long -term project, the surrounding 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:32.250 ecosystem actively crushes it because it doesn't 00:11:32.250 --> 00:11:35.350 yield immediate, comparable data points. The 00:11:35.350 --> 00:11:37.389 capacity is lost because the environment has 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:40.470 been engineered to reject it. Wow. So the system 00:11:40.470 --> 00:11:43.259 has just walled itself off from reality. Which 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:45.960 brings us to the root cause of this entire structural 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:49.460 failure. Why is the system so utterly obsessed 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:52.610 with the data? that it would literally sacrifice 00:11:52.610 --> 00:11:55.529 its own capacity to teach. Dr. Ackerman points 00:11:55.529 --> 00:11:58.169 to a very specific concept here. Yes, he identifies 00:11:58.169 --> 00:12:01.129 the core culprit as Goodhart's Law. Goodhart's 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:03.389 Law. That's the idea that when a measure becomes 00:12:03.389 --> 00:12:06.409 a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Exactly. 00:12:06.570 --> 00:12:08.950 And to really grasp the gravity of Ackerman's 00:12:08.950 --> 00:12:11.190 critique, we have to look at how Goodhart's Law 00:12:11.190 --> 00:12:13.649 physically manifests in a school district. Walk 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:16.090 us through that. Well, decades ago, test scores 00:12:16.090 --> 00:12:18.269 and basic task completion metrics were introduced 00:12:18.269 --> 00:12:21.009 merely as measures. They were simple proxy metrics, 00:12:21.350 --> 00:12:23.529 just a quick temperature check to give administrators 00:12:23.529 --> 00:12:25.669 a rough idea if learning was generally heading 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:28.009 in the right direction. Like a way to spot a 00:12:28.009 --> 00:12:30.029 failing school before it completely collapses. 00:12:30.250 --> 00:12:32.370 Like a warning system. Yeah. But over the last 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:35.029 30 years, largely driven by policy and funding 00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:38.950 models, those measures transformed into the absolute 00:12:38.950 --> 00:12:42.690 targets. The ultimate goal. Yes. Schools, districts, 00:12:42.970 --> 00:12:45.389 and state education boards stopped aiming for 00:12:45.389 --> 00:12:48.190 the abstract goal of creating well -rounded citizens 00:12:48.190 --> 00:12:51.289 and started aiming entirely at moving metric 00:12:51.289 --> 00:12:54.139 itself. And Goodheart's law dictates that the 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:56.620 moment you optimize your entire system strictly 00:12:56.620 --> 00:12:59.360 to hit a metric, people will find ways to hit 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.779 that metric that have absolutely nothing to do 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:03.679 with the original goal. Right, so you teach to 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:05.820 the test, you lower the passing grade threshold, 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:08.559 you push students into easier classes to just 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.840 inflate the graduation rate. You manipulate the 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:13.379 environment to serve the data. The data is no 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:15.610 longer a good proxy for learning. It is just 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:17.730 a reflection of how well the system can game 00:13:17.730 --> 00:13:20.870 its own rules. We end up with massive servers 00:13:20.870 --> 00:13:24.129 full of fantastic data but very little actual 00:13:24.129 --> 00:13:26.269 learning taking place in the minds of the students. 00:13:26.570 --> 00:13:29.850 So what does this all mean? It's like we are 00:13:29.850 --> 00:13:33.289 all passengers in a car and the entire educational 00:13:33.289 --> 00:13:36.009 leadership team is in the front seat obsessively 00:13:36.009 --> 00:13:38.710 staring at the speedometer. Great analogy. Right. 00:13:38.970 --> 00:13:41.570 And at some point they figured out how to rig 00:13:41.570 --> 00:13:44.389 the dial so it constantly reads 60 miles an hour. 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:47.720 The data looks incredible to everyone in charge. 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:51.279 We are making fantastic time. But if you stop 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:53.480 staring at the dashboard and actually look out 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.519 the window, the car isn't moving. Not an inch. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.070 The engine is dead. And we are parked on the 00:13:59.070 --> 00:14:01.129 side of the road. And this is where the mechanism 00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:03.889 of the stagnation becomes so painfully clear. 00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:06.450 Because all the funding, the school rankings, 00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:09.169 the property values in the district, and the 00:14:09.169 --> 00:14:12.029 superintendent's performance reviews are entirely 00:14:12.029 --> 00:14:14.909 tied to what that rig speedometer reads. Nobody 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:16.669 wants to look up from the dashboard. Exactly. 00:14:16.929 --> 00:14:18.690 Nobody has any incentive to look out the window. 00:14:19.110 --> 00:14:21.289 Acknowledging that the car is broken would threaten 00:14:21.289 --> 00:14:24.210 the entire structure? Which perfectly explains 00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:26.809 the most frustrating line in Dr. Ackerman's entire 00:14:26.809 --> 00:14:29.710 post. He notes that educational leaders seem 00:14:29.710 --> 00:14:31.789 completely content with this arrangement. Yeah, 00:14:31.850 --> 00:14:35.330 that's the kicker. We have plenty of data, very 00:14:35.330 --> 00:14:37.370 little learning, and leadership is fine with 00:14:37.370 --> 00:14:40.370 that. It sounds cynical, but when you lay out 00:14:40.370 --> 00:14:42.950 the incentives of Goodhart's law, it makes perfect 00:14:42.950 --> 00:14:45.690 sense. They aren't necessarily evil villains. 00:14:45.809 --> 00:14:48.870 They are just rational actors responding to a 00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:51.149 terribly designed incentive structure. That is 00:14:51.149 --> 00:14:53.830 the inescapable tragedy of his critique. If you 00:14:53.830 --> 00:14:56.090 are a principal or a district leader whose job 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:58.909 security and budget rely entirely on demonstrating 00:14:58.909 --> 00:15:02.309 measurable year -over -year improvement, well, 00:15:02.470 --> 00:15:04.429 Goodhart's law works wonderfully for you. It's 00:15:04.429 --> 00:15:06.830 doing its job. You become perfectly content with 00:15:06.830 --> 00:15:09.750 the illusion of learning. High standardized test 00:15:09.750 --> 00:15:12.590 scores, flawless attendance records, beautifully 00:15:12.590 --> 00:15:15.529 charted task completion rates, because that illusion 00:15:15.529 --> 00:15:18.210 satisfies the demands of the state. But the real 00:15:18.210 --> 00:15:20.809 learning is lost. Yes. Because the leadership 00:15:20.809 --> 00:15:22.850 has become so deeply invested in this illusion, 00:15:23.009 --> 00:15:25.629 they have lost the ability to even recognize 00:15:25.629 --> 00:15:28.230 actual unquantifiable learning when it happens. 00:15:28.610 --> 00:15:31.330 Because actual learning looks like a failure 00:15:31.330 --> 00:15:34.200 on their spreadsheets. Like, if a student spends 00:15:34.200 --> 00:15:36.419 three weeks wrestling with a complex problem, 00:15:36.659 --> 00:15:38.980 failing repeatedly, but ultimately developing 00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.179 a profound new understanding of the scientific 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:44.179 method, the data shows three weeks of failed 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:47.419 tasks. Exactly. The messy inquiry and the authentic 00:15:47.419 --> 00:15:50.419 assessment that Ackerman advocates for do not 00:15:50.419 --> 00:15:53.759 generate the neat, tidy, upward -trending graphs 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:55.879 that leadership requires for their board meetings. 00:15:55.980 --> 00:15:58.500 So they throw it out. Therefore, they are discarded. 00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.799 The system traded the messy, brilliant reality 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:04.860 of human cognition for the clean, predictable 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:07.500 illusion of data management. And we have been 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:09.559 living inside that illusion for so long that 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:11.460 the institution has genuinely forgotten what 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:13.840 the reality looks like. 30 years out from his 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:16.840 1997 paper, and the trap has only clamped down 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:19.159 harder. The metrics have only gotten more granular. 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:21.860 Synthesizing this entire journey, what Dr. Ackerman 00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:24.340 is really documenting, is a 30 -year trajectory 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.179 of systematic loss. In the relentless pursuit 00:16:27.179 --> 00:16:30.539 of easily measurable data, classrooms have been 00:16:30.539 --> 00:16:32.700 stripped of the very friction that makes education 00:16:32.700 --> 00:16:36.279 meaningful. The unpredictable, inefficient process 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:39.139 of genuine inquiry was swapped out for highly 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:41.779 structured, data -friendly instruction. And the 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:44.679 authentic assessments were lost too. Right. The 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:47.179 real -world assessments that transform a student 00:16:47.179 --> 00:16:49.440 from a compliant rule follower into a valuable 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:52.259 contributor were replaced by standardized rubrics 00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:54.519 that serve no audience but the system itself. 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:57.539 We optimized for the spreadsheet. and the cost 00:16:57.539 --> 00:17:00.019 was our critical thinking. And while it is incredibly 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:02.919 easy to sit back and point fingers at the bureaucracy 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.859 of the education system, this deep dive should 00:17:05.859 --> 00:17:08.240 force us to hold up a mirror to our own lives. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.539 That is so true. Think about how you navigate 00:17:10.539 --> 00:17:12.900 your own career or your creative pursuits or 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:15.779 even your personal goals. Are you living your 00:17:15.779 --> 00:17:18.319 life governed by good heart's law? Are you gaming 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:20.940 your own system? Right. Are you optimizing your 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:23.380 daily routines for the quote unquote easy to 00:17:23.380 --> 00:17:26.019 measure metrics, obsessing over follower counts? 00:17:26.059 --> 00:17:28.799 constantly checking off trivial to -do lists, 00:17:28.980 --> 00:17:31.819 or hitting arbitrary productivity targets just 00:17:31.819 --> 00:17:34.259 to feel like you are moving forward? It is a 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:36.980 vital question to ask yourself. There is a massive 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:39.220 difference between looking like you are making 00:17:39.220 --> 00:17:41.859 progress on a dashboard and actually making meaningful 00:17:41.859 --> 00:17:44.619 progress in reality. Precisely. Are you willing 00:17:44.619 --> 00:17:46.940 to look out the window and admit the car is parked, 00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:48.980 or are you just going to keep tapping the rig 00:17:48.980 --> 00:17:52.980 spinometer? True growth requires you to embrace 00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:56.809 the messy, inefficient deeply authentic inquiry 00:17:56.809 --> 00:17:59.250 that simply cannot be tracked on a spreadsheet. 00:17:59.730 --> 00:18:01.849 The friction is the point. You have to seek it 00:18:01.849 --> 00:18:04.450 out because the institutions around you are actively 00:18:04.450 --> 00:18:07.250 trying to smooth it away. And as we wrap up this 00:18:07.250 --> 00:18:09.849 deep dive into Dr. Ackerman's fascinating critique, 00:18:10.049 --> 00:18:12.809 I want to leave you with one final lingering 00:18:12.809 --> 00:18:15.660 thought to mull over. We've established the very 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:18.400 real possibility that our formal educational 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.240 institutions have completely lost the capacity 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.119 for authentic learning. We've seen how leadership 00:18:24.119 --> 00:18:27.359 is heavily incentivized to remain content with 00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:30.740 this facade of data. If the system is truly incapable 00:18:30.740 --> 00:18:33.400 of reversing course, what's the future look like? 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:36.079 Will the next generation's greatest innovators 00:18:36.250 --> 00:18:38.849 The real critical thinkers and problem solvers 00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:41.569 who actually push society forward be those who 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:43.849 actively opt out of the traditional education 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:47.529 system entirely. Wow. A highly provocative question. 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:49.430 If the modern school is just a highly efficient 00:18:49.430 --> 00:18:52.210 data factory, is the only way to save your own 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:54.670 curiosity? to refuse to step onto the assembly 00:18:54.670 --> 00:18:56.710 line in the first place. And that is a question 00:18:56.710 --> 00:18:59.529 that a system obsessed with its own metrics is 00:18:59.529 --> 00:19:02.470 wholly unprepared to answer. Something to seriously 00:19:02.470 --> 00:19:04.910 think about the next time you find yourself prioritizing 00:19:04.910 --> 00:19:07.910 clean efficiency over messy exploration. Thanks 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.450 for joining us on this deep dive. Keep wandering, 00:19:10.650 --> 00:19:12.529 keep asking the difficult questions, and we'll 00:19:12.529 --> 00:19:13.150 catch you next time.