HN Explorer

Anyone want to build a new public education system with me?

60 points by actfrench ↗ HN
I've been a teacher for 20 years to over 2000 kids in 3 countries from infants to teens, from kids in underfunded failing schools to the rich and famous. I'm sick and tired of the way our education system is failing our kids at all levels and I want to completely rehaul it. I think everything about it is backwards and it needs to be thrown out and started from scratch.

Since March, I've been building a movement around what I'm calling Modular Learning- an approach that's really personalized, really flexible, really involves families in the learning process and very much nurtures children's natural curiosity and love of learning - in a nutshell, a more holistic and child-centered approach that allows for total flexibility and personalization.

I've been hosting workshops for thousands of parents and kids impacted by school closures on issues ranging from communication with children to curriculum planning, food, financial security and talking to kids about racism.

I'm now working closely with a group of 20 families (mostly in tech) with kids ages 3-12 in personalizing their children's education through a combination of 1-1 instruction, social-emotional learning, electives and parenting workshops, closely measuring how kids perform in a parent-driven approach. We've also written hundreds of blogs on the best curriculum and apps for parents to support their children's learning. based on their learning styles.

I need to find a co-founder who can share this big vision with me and has really bold and smart ideas on using technology to scale something like this, and of course is at a stage where they'd be excited about taking on a project of this magnitude.

Anyone interested?

If so, email me at manisha@modulo.app

33 comments

[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 110 ms ] thread
runjake
I can't significantly help you, but godspeed.
nikolay
This is greatly cost-prohibitive! You cannot make a dent into the system with $200+/mo service!
callinOutLiars
You sound like the old man...

An old man was walking along a beach after a storm. While walking he sees a little boy though starfish into the ocean.

Old man: “Ay, boy! What are you doing?” Boy: “I’m throwing the starfish into the sea so they can go home” Old man (after looking at the thousands of starfish that washed up thanks to the storm): “Why? You can’t save them all!” Boy (picks one up and throws it into the sea without breaking eye contact with the old man): “I just saved that one”

The old man was taken aback by the child’s moxie that he even started to through a few back himself as he continued his walk.

After his walk, the old man and his wife go for breakfast with some friends. There, the old man tells them about the little boy and the starfish. Everyone at the table, and even a few tables away (the old man is loud you see), loved the story. In fact they loved it so much that it start to spread through town.

By noon that day hundreds of people had join the boy on the beach throwing starfish into the sea.

By sunset there were no starfish on the beach.

sharkmerry
does it cost money to throw starfish into the sea?

I think OP was saying if you want to make a dent, it has to be available to those that need it, not just those that can afford it

callinOutLiars
Why are you asking me?

Why not ask OP why they made up a figure that isn’t in the actual post “$200+/mo service”? That is no where in the post OP is commenting on.

woofie11
Typical cost of schools is $10,000 per year. If you're doing $200/month, it's pretty good!

If you prove results, it's a question of figuring out how to work politics. But first you gotta prove results.

AnimalMuppet
Right, but that implies that you can get the state (or at least the school district) to switch. If you can't, though, you have to make it something a parent can afford. And they don't get the $10000/year back if they don't send their child to public school.
woofie11
No, I think the first step to getting the state to switch is to demonstrate a proven model. Starting with something some parents or sponsors can afford is a reasonable starting point. If this works for affluent parents, it's not hard to get Gates or Schmidt or similar to drop $$$ for a pilot with less affluent students.

Changing education systems is a long process, but simply saying anything without a payback for all students within a 12-24 month timeframe, although aligned with the values of tech, is not a helpful model in education.

Policy decisions in education take 5-20 years to make, but they do get made. The slowness is a function of how long it takes to see impact (and not wanting to hurt students). If we could put all politics aside, the model would be:

* Develop a model (1-4 years)

* Pilot it (2-4 years)

* Research it (2-4 years)

* Scale it (many years)

Simply saying we won't do #1 or #2 since it isn't #4 isn't productive.

actfrench
I agree. That's why I'm looking for a technical partner to help scale this and make it universally accessible!
actfrench
What we've created so far is just the a small piece of what I'm hoping to build with the right partner and not at all the final result. If it were, I wouldn't be looking for partners to help think creatively about a better educational system. A public school currently costs between 10k-22k per pupil in many states. We're trying to build a more flexible system that is considerably less expensive, more community-driven and equitable.
actfrench
Even though we're at an early stage (and run by one teacher) we've been offering this for free to many families and also run a service that gives free math tutoring to all families. It's not fair to expect an early stage founder who is a teacher to teach all the children in the world for free at the beginning stage of their company. If I am to build upon what I"m started, partner with districts and non-profits to make it accessible and free to all, I need partners to help build it. This is in no way a finished project. It's a mission and an idea. The goal is to make it great and universally accessible. We're far from there yet, but I think it's worth trying.
AnimalMuppet
If you want to make it freely available, YC sometimes funds non-profits.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
quickthrower2
I want you to succeed and make a dent. I like that you have 20 years experience before doing this, and that it’s mission driven. My memory of school was that the teaching was not inspiring and the system doesn’t mentor kids at all. This was years ago And in the UK but I imagine the same in the US. Everyone chucked in ability “buckets” that are impossible to escape, and I did well where I had intrinsic motivation but no help to do better at subjects where I had fell behind like French.
Yrm
I support this idea!
swiley
If you're in the US there are plenty of people in the homeschooling community that would probably be more than willing to hear from/work with you. What you describe reminds me a lot of homeschool co-ops.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
qpiox
I have been teaching at a public university for 20 years and I'm sick and tired how nobody likes to discuss quality, only salaries.

Are there better universities?

Can anything be done in a new way? Peer to peer?

cvaidya1986
foundersnetwork.com might have a cofounder for you
type0
Focus on socialization, kids need their peers to develop, they also need time to play. Over-reliance on instructions and technology might result in worse outcomes, the so called old school methods of in real life education in small groups might be better than one on one with the teacher (depending on the subject of course). I might sound cynical but I really hope your re-envision succeeds.
sethammons
If you are still building in a year, reach out to me. Former inner city high school math teacher, current principal engineer in a high scale, high available system. I nearly started what I called MathPods a decade ago: wiki style, interactive math skill tree. The idea being to flip the classroom: best in class online instruction whereby a teacher in class focuses on student’s questions and facilitates understanding. The idea is that the students work at their own pace and the teacher can jump in as needed. Then Kahn Academy got popular and I sidelined the idea.
AnimalMuppet
I know people who do horribly in a flipped environment. But I presume that people came up with flipped classrooms because some people do better there.

You really need a system which can be regular or flipped, on a per-student basis.

Shared404
If you're still working on this in a couple years, I'd be happy to help out.

I'm still a few years out from being able to commit to anything though.

codingdave
I'd love to help. I've been writing software for the K-12 market for 8 years now. But if you are asking people to pay for the service, it isn't a public education system, it is a private education system. And while that is interesting in its own right, it doesn't fix the problems for the majority of students.

To do this as a public system, you have to get into the public funding. Which means you have to meet curriculum and testing requirements to qualify for that funding. You also need to accept that the public school system provides more than education. It provides meals to low income students. It provides time when the kids are not at home to allow parents to work. It provides clubs, sports, and social activities.

For a new system to succeed is disrupting public education, it needs to resolve all the resources the system offers, not just a new curriculum and teaching methods.

That being said, yes, I'm interested - but only if people are taking on the big picture.

AllEdTech
Your vision sounds great! It sounds a little bit like what Prisma (https://JoinPrisma.com) is doing. You may want to reach out to them and see if they would partner with you? Best of luck with your venture!
davidn20
Saving this. I want to help, but I don't have the bandwidth right now. I live in an area that's poverty-stricken. And, education is one of the best way to help.