The urgency of technology in independent schools stems from the need to usher in the outside world.
Earlier this year my college alma mater hosted a reunion for teachers that included various workshops and presentations, including one that was sponsored by the founder of Learn it Live it, a Washington DC charity that partners with inner beltway schools to connect students with the many educational resources throughout the capital region. One of the expressed objectives of the program was to introduce students from disadvantaged backgrounds to successful professionals who were also raised and educated in underprivileged neighborhoods and schools. They argue that the dearth of professional role models contributes to feelings of disempowerment. The majority of students who attend the school where I teach know people who are successfully engaged in careers. The path from school to college to professional opportunity is well worn at most independent schools. In order to assure this schools invest heavily in academic preparation, study habits and college admissions counseling. This makes great sense and in many instances provides students with an education that is engaging, supportive and challenging on many levels.

If a goal of Live it Learn it is to connect young people with experiences beyond their version of the everyday, an objective of independent schools should be the same; independent schools should aspire to provide opportunities for students that broadens their understanding of the multiple ways in which their education can be used to make a positive difference in the world. Technology seems to be an obvious way to accomplish this objective.

I think that tech *can* be transformative in private schools when they create global (or even local) collaborations… or when they transform curriculum from tipping a scale where skills are more important than content. (Note that that’s a balance, not an either or. I think tech can show us that the balance should favor skills over content, but both are needed.)

But many, many private schools are much more collaborative, much more progressive in teaching skill (if not always progressive in democratic values, but that’s another argument.)

Many private schools are really, really successful already. The crisis we see in high schools isn’t as acute there for some very easy reasons. I’ve long said that if we were serious about education, we’d do three things:
1) Small schools.
2) Small teacher loads.
3) Recruit and retain the best teachers (usually by paying them more and making their lives better with 1 & 2)

Private schools do a great job of 1 & 2. (I’ve heard 3 is sketchy on pay, but otherwise, it’s a good life.) If we provided every public school with funding and structure to have the class size, school size and teacher load of the average of private schools, then we’d really start to see something.