Hello 👋

My name is Murph. In the realm of education, my alias shall be MsMurph.

I graduated college in 2014 and have since spent the majority of my time as a software and operations engineer in the EdTech adult workforce space (see: Work). Think coding bootcamps and corporate upskilling. Now, I'm obsessed with objectively untangling the 🍝 that is K-12 education in the United States.

Born in the era of dial-up and fake cellphones, my childhood was amidst the digital wild west. Dad demoed the world wide web on a colossal Gateway computer with the family eagerly gathered around. Mom dove in front of the screen after my sister asked to search “kitties” and graphic adult content froze the display. 🤠

My parents raised us to be resourceful, hard working, problem-solvers who could confidently adapt with technology. I shifted from a Walkman to a CD player to HitClips (😂) to a MP3 player to a smartphone before I was twenty. Now, I'm the one guiding dad through the world of AI. Our generation has seen tech race forward faster and faster and things are just getting started.

Yet somehow our education system appears to be bizarrely frozen in time. Is it actually? If so, why? How do we build something new?

Traditional schools are operating like Windows 95 trying to run modern software. They are not able to personalize or adapt due to bureaucratic red tape and legacy complex systems. The curve of technological advancements is exponentially departing the pace of what a traditional school can persist. The lack of resources and absence of feedback loops creates an environment that is not conducive to student success. Teachers, the unsung heroes of any school, are finding fewer reasons to stay in a system that's becoming increasingly inoperable.

In this hyper-connected world, our sense of community is also ironically breaking apart. As information disperses freely across the internet to further ends of the globe, we find ourselves both more mobile and isolated. Social media and remote learning provide a neon glow of connection but cannot successfully replace authentic forms of camaraderie.

Preparing for an increasingly unknown future is challenging. However, if we churn out students lacking in adaptability, resilience, confidence, and curiosity, we fail as a civilization. We’re teaching kids legacy code and expecting them to be innovators. It’s like hoping to stream video on a dial-up connection—impractical and painfully outdated.

How? I'm not sure yet. Research, writing, mentorship, and immersion will help. Despite having virtually no experience with children and no formal education training beyond my own seventeen years in the school system, I am not deterred. A creative and rational perspective will enable actual innovation. I signed up to substitute teach ... so that should be quite the learning experience.

My journal will document my unfiltered journey discovering our present circumstances and be a sandbox for effective solution ideation. I’m writing to learn what I don’t yet understand. All help is welcome.