Zach Lahn and Jordan Peterson: School-Kids as Factory Products

The video is about Zach Lahn, the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas. The video is a follow-up to a discussion with Jeff Sandifer, an innovator in the educational field. Lahn talks about the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can understand it more thoroughly. He discusses his own experiences with education and how they led him to co-found Wonder. Lahn also talks about the challenges he has faced in implementing the school's Socratic-based approach and the importance of empowering students to take control of their own learning.

This video by Jordan B Peterson was published on Jun 26, 2023.
Video length: 01:42:03.

The video is about a conversation between Jordan Peterson and Zach Lahn, the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas.

The video is a follow-up to a previous discussion with Jeff Sandifer, an innovator in the field of education. The conversation focuses on the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can better understand the mechanics of the process. The speakers discuss the challenges of the traditional direct instruction model of education and the need for more innovative and hands-on approaches.

They also discuss the importance of empowering students to take control of their own learning and development.

• Zach Lahn is the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas.
• He met Jeff Sandifer, an innovator in the educational field, through his work with the Acton MBA program.
• Lahn and his wife co-founded Wonder, which is an independent and decentralized network of schools.
• Lahn's school is called Wonder and he is deeply involved in educational transformation.
• Lahn's interest in revolutionizing education was sparked by his own experiences as a young kid who didn't fit in the box.
• Zach Lahn's school, Wonder, is a Socratic-based school system that empowers students to take control of their own learning.
• The school is based on the idea that students have unique gifts and abilities that should be celebrated and nurtured.
• The school's curriculum is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.
• The school emphasizes hands-on learning and project-based learning to help students develop practical skills.

School-Kids as Factory Products | Zach Lahn | EP 370 - YouTube

Zach Lahn's Background and Education

• Zach Lahn is the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas.
• He met Jeff Sandifer, an innovator in the educational field, through his work with the Acton MBA program.
• Lahn and his wife co-founded Wonder, which is an independent and decentralized network of schools.
• Lahn's school is called Wonder and he is deeply involved in educational transformation.
• Lahn's interest in revolutionizing education was sparked by his own experiences as a young kid who didn't fit in the box.

Zach Lahn's Education Process

• Zach Lahn's school, Wonder, is a Socratic-based school system that empowers students to take control of their own learning.
• The school is based on the idea that students have unique gifts and abilities that should be celebrated and nurtured.
• The school's curriculum is designed to help students develop critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities.
• The school emphasizes hands-on learning and project-based learning to help students develop practical skills.
• The school is led by adults, but the students are empowered to take control of their own learning and make decisions about their education.

Zach Lahn's Challenges

• Zach Lahn has faced challenges in implementing the Socratic-based approach at Wonder.
• The school's emphasis on empowering students to take control of their own learning can be difficult for some parents and teachers to understand.
• The school's curriculum can be challenging for some students who are used to a more traditional approach to education.
• The school's decentralized network can make it difficult to coordinate and manage resources and curriculum across different locations.
• The school's focus on hands-on learning and project-based learning can be challenging for some students who are used to a more traditional approach to education.

School-Kids as Factory Products | Zach Lahn | EP 370 - YouTube

Zach Lahn's Future Plans

• Zach Lahn plans to continue expanding Wonder and introducing it to more schools and communities.
• He plans to continue working with Jeff Sandifer and other innovators in the educational field to develop new and innovative approaches to education.
• He plans to continue empowering students to take control of their own learning and make decisions about their education.
• He plans to continue emphasizing hands-on learning and project-based learning to help students develop practical skills.
• He plans to continue celebrating and nurturing the unique gifts and abilities of each student at Wonder.

The Traditional Model of Education

• The traditional model of education is based on a teacher in front of the room, rows of desks, and regimented periods.
• Children are expected to absorb knowledge passively, taking notes and not being engaged in hands-on learning or taking ownership over their own life.
• The most appropriate form of knowledge that children will gain is factual and descriptive, predicated on memorization and coming from a central authority.
• Children should be socialized to sit immobile and listen passively, rather than actively questioning and moving around.
• Education should be more about the acquisition of skill rather than the acquisition of regurgitatable knowledge.

The Acting Academy

• The Acting Academy stands out because it emphasizes the process of learning and the content that is engaged with.
• When talking about different schools, it is important to look at the system and the content, rather than just the academic content.
• An anecdote about parents' dreams for their children when they are 18 or when they leave the house is that they want them to be able to go out into the world with courage and be able to work well with others.
• Parents want their child to have agency over their life, which means having the power and resources to fulfill their potential.
• The judicial model is predicated on compliance, permission to speak, move, and work with others, but it does not marry well with the idea of agency.

The Conundrum of Conservative Beliefs

• The conundrum for people with conservative beliefs is that they say they want agency and freedom for their children, but send them to a school that does not advocate for these values.
• Jordan Peterson did some background research into the origin of the public school system, which helped him understand the challenges of implementing a Socratic-based approach.
• One of the programs he developed is an exercise that helps people develop a vision for the future.
• The self-authoring programs aim to empower students to take control of their own learning and fulfill their potential.
• The traditional model of education is not conducive to the development of agency and freedom in children.

Section 1: Introduction

• The video is about Zach Lahn, the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas.
• The video is a follow-up to a discussion with Jeff Sandifer, an innovator in the educational field.
• Lahn talks about the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can understand it more thoroughly.
• He discusses his own experiences with education and how they led him to co-found Wonder.
• The video is 370 minutes long and is from YouTube channel of Jordan Peterson.

Section 2: The Socratic-Based Approach

• Wonder is a Socratic-based school system that empowers students to take control of their own learning.
• The school's approach is based on the idea that students should imagine their lives five years down the road and write about the hell they could produce around themselves if they let their bad habits take the upper hand.
• The students go through seven major domains of their life and write out a vision and a strategy for that.
• The school's approach is intimate and focuses on family friendship, career, resistance to temptations like alcohol and drug abuse, use of time outside of work, care of themselves physically and mentally, and civic responsibility.

Section 3: Research Studies

• Three research studies were conducted using the program and showed that if students did the exercise for 90 minutes in their orientation session before they went to trade school, they were 50% less likely to drop out.
• Their grade point averages of students already enrolled went up 35 right.
• The crazy thing was that despite having gone through 14 years of education and being top of the class all things considered, because the University of Toronto was a fairly selective School, no one had ever asked them to do an exercise like that.
• The more Lahn thought about it, the more he was dumbfounded by it.

Section 4: The Prussian Model

• The American North American European public education system was based on the Prussian model.
• The Prussians wanted to produce a cadre of mindless obedient soldiers, which was the purpose of the model.
• The model was adopted by prototypical fascists in the U.S in the late 1800s.
• The desks are in rows, there are factory bells, and it's top-down leadership, which are characteristics of the model.

The Role of the Adult in the Classroom

• The teacher is handing out information at a rate that is absolutely staggering.
• The kids are awake and listening, although they are responding a lot.
• The teachers are empowering students to take control of their own learning.
• The classroom is structured and students have an opportunity to talk to each other.
• The model is very different from traditional models and empowers students to take control of their own learning.

The Classroom Experience

• The classroom is broken up into different ages, not a monoculture.
• The students are in varying studios that line up with different ages.
• The classroom experience is structured and students have an opportunity to talk to each other.
• The students are empowered to take control of their own learning.
• The classroom experience is different from traditional models and empowers students to take control of their own learning.

The Socratic Facilitator

• The adult in the classroom is called a Socratic facilitator.
• The Socratic facilitator operates in an inquiry-based fashion.
• The Socratic facilitator launches every day with a Socratic discussion.
• The Socratic facilitator provides two choices that are opposed to each other.
• The Socratic facilitator allows the young people to engage in a discussion and debate.

The Launch of the Day

• The launch of the day is intentional and not just a bell ringing to start a day.
• The launch of the day is done by putting the students in the shoes of a hero facing a tough decision or dilemma.
• The launch of the day is done by discussing and debating two sides to the argument.
• All the kids from six and a half to eleven participate in the launch of the day.
• The launch of the day is different from traditional models and empowers students to take control of their own learning.

The Socratic-Based Approach

• Zach Lahn, co-founder of Wonder, talks about the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can understand it more thoroughly.
• He discusses his own experiences with education and how they led him to co-found Wonder.
• Lahn talks about the challenges he has faced in implementing the school's Socratic-based approach.
• He emphasizes the importance of empowering students to take control of their own learning.

The First 15 Minutes of the School Day

• In the first 15 minutes of the school day, students engage in Socratic discussions.
• These discussions are intended to help students understand that there are many things to be said on multiple sides of an argument.
• The goal is to form a group of four students and to conduct something approximating a debate with the other team.
• This activity is engaging for students and helps them learn how to speak publicly and learn that different sides of an argument exist.

The Magic Circle of Game Making

• The school's world is heavily embedded in stories and narratives.
• The hero's journey is a central theme in the school's curriculum.
• The school is tagging and cataloging the way it operates.
• The school is helping young people on a journey to find their calling and change the world.

Character Education and Moral Education

• Parents are the primary people who should be helping to impart moral education on children.
• The school has a role in moral education, but it is not the only one.
• Martin Buber talked about teaching character lessons in a classroom.
• Embedding people in stories from the start in the school day helps them understand that there is a right and wrong way to operate.

Embedding Stories in the School Day

• Embedding stories in the school day helps students understand that there is a right and wrong way to operate.
• The school day often includes discussions about how to treat other people and act with respect.
• The school day also includes debates about different views and why they are important.
• Students from six and a half to 11 years old engage in these discussions and learn to treat each other with respect.

Socratic Discussion at Wonder

• Socratic discussion at Wonder starts with a polarizing topic.
• The discussion leader operates in Socratic discussion by focusing on a rule of conduct.
• The discussion leader holds each other accountable throughout the discussion.
• The discussion leader promotes mutual accountability and peer-to-peer learning.
• The discussion leader builds a tribe where people are not seen as enemies or competitors.

Socratic Discussion and Childhood Education

• Socratic discussion is a product of a different type of environment.
• Socratic discussion is based on mutual accountability and peer-to-peer learning.
• Socratic discussion helps children learn how to interact in discussions.
• Socratic discussion is a way to build a tribe where people are not seen as enemies or competitors.

Saving Lives with Preborn Clinics

• Preborn clinics stand strong offering love, support, and compassion to hurting women.
• Preborn clinics help women make the right choice by letting them see their baby with a free ultrasound and hear the heartbeat.
• Preborn clinics provide mothers who choose life with maternity and baby clothes, diapers, car seats, counseling, and much more.
• Preborn clinics provide up to two years of assistance to mothers who choose life.

Saving Lives with Preborn Clinics

• Preborn clinics stand strong offering love, support, and compassion to hurting women.
• Preborn clinics help women make the right choice by letting them see their baby with a free ultrasound and hear the heartbeat.
• Preborn clinics provide mothers who choose life with maternity and baby clothes, diapers, car seats, counseling, and much more.
• Preborn clinics provide up to two years of assistance to mothers who choose life.

The Importance of Empowering Students

• Empowering students to take control of their own learning is important.
• It allows them to see themselves as leaders in the future.
• It comes with cognitive development as they move away from social work.
• Younger children love to play and be in social groups.
• As they get older, they see their peers moving from one studio to another and take on work as their work.

The Structure of Education

• The structure of how we operate in education is important.
• It affects how young people see their work and their abilities.
• It is important to understand the gifts and abilities of young people.
• It is important to give young people the freedom to work with their peers.
• It is important to give young people the freedom to choose the work they would like to do.

The Distractibility of Young Children

• Young children are often distractible.
• It is important to understand that the prefrontal cortex is still developing.
• Distractibility is not a temperamental issue, but a situational one.
• It is important to give young children the freedom to be distracted as long as they are not distracting others.
• It is important to understand that young children can concentrate on something for a very long period of time if they are interested in it.

The First 15 Minutes of Class

• The first 15 minutes of class involve a discussion and Socratic dialogue.
• There is an age-graded group of kids that spans quite an age.
• Older kids help lead the younger kids and take responsibility for it.
• The little kids have something to look forward to as they grow up.
• The next thing you'd walk into is core skills on Mondays.

Mentor Program

• The mentor program is a program where parents and others interested in childhood education can understand the educational process better.
• The mentor program involves a one-on-one meeting with a mentor to discuss goals and plans for the week.
• The meeting is usually 10 to 15 minutes long and takes place once every week.
• Goal setting is an interesting thing because at age seven, the proper time horizon for a goal is likely this afternoon.
• The younger the kid, the shorter the future time horizon.

Core Skills Work

• Core skills work involves using adaptive platforms like Khan Academy or Beast Academy to help students improve their skills.
• Some learners like using Khan Academy, while others prefer Beast Academy.
• Adaptive platforms help students see where they are struggling and serve them more problems in those areas.
• Khan Academy has had a large impact on math in the world, with 50 million active users.
• Each problem on Khan Academy has a video related to how to solve it.

Students' Performance

• Overall, students are doing quite well on the mathematical front.
• Younger ages do not operate anything that would equate to a kindergarten college preparatory environment.
• The goals for the elementary studio are simple: love learning and learn to get along with other people.
• The reason for this is that if you took the whole corpus of elementary school work, it's not that much work relatively speaking.
• The systems help with this and still be fully on track with doing important work like how do I get into a flow or how do I find something I love.

Section 1: Standardized Testing

• Zach Lahn discusses the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can understand it more thoroughly.
• Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas, uses one standardized test a year, usually starting around age nine.
• The data collected from the test is used to measure the students' performance in the mathematical realm.
• The school does not provide administrative support for the test and does not tell anyone it is happening.
• The school's Socratic-based approach is focused on empowering students to take control of their own learning.

Section 2: Selection Process

• Wonder does not select students based on income or IQ, but rather on the parents' understanding of the school's approach and their willingness to go on a journey that has triumphs and hardships.
• The school tries to select students for the younger ages based on the parents' understanding of the school's approach.
• The school has people who are social workers, journeyman carpenters, and many families in the school who fall in the working class.
• The cost of education at Wonder is around $10,000 per year, which is roughly $1,000 per month.
• The school's all-in costs when fully enrolled are projected to be around $450,000 per year per learner.

Section 3: Performance Measures

• It is difficult to establish a metric to measure the students' performance compared to comparable students in a public school system.
• There might be a difference in thinking, especially in elementary school, for learners from Wonder compared to elite college preparatory schools.
• Children need to be allowed time to be children and they are not machines to absorb information.
• Measurement is a problem because standardized testing is generally the only reliable and valid objective measure, but there are things that are important that are not measured.
• The school uses end-of-week surveys and 360-degree feedback for other learners in the studio to measure pro-social behavior and maturity.

Section 4: Comparison with Other Schools

• The school compares itself to another school or to individual learners who were rated before.
• The school uses peer ratings and posts the results publicly to provide warm, cool, and warm feedback for other learners in the studio.
• The comments people had are used to understand how each person is doing and how they can improve.
• The school's Socratic-based approach is focused on empowering students to take control of their own learning.
• The school's all-in costs when fully enrolled are projected to be around $450,000 per year per learner.

The School-Kids as Factory Products

• The video is about Zach Lahn, the co-founder of Wonder, a Socratic-based school system for K-12 students in Wichita, Kansas.
• Lahn talks about the educational process and how parents and others interested in childhood education can understand it more thoroughly.
• He discusses his own experiences with education and how they led him to co-found Wonder.
• Lahn talks about the challenges he has faced in implementing the school's Socratic-based approach.
• He emphasizes the importance of empowering students to take control of their own learning.

Evaluating Students

• The video discusses the process of evaluating students in the Wonder school system.
• Students are evaluated based on their performance in the weekly quests, which are simulations or problem-solving activities.
• At the end of each quest, there is a public exhibition where students present their work to an audience of parents, grandparents, and other family members.
• Feedback is given to students during the exhibition, and they are encouraged to give feedback to their peers.
• The video emphasizes the importance of constructive feedback in the learning process.

Tribal Reinforcement

• The video discusses the concept of tribal reinforcement in the Wonder school system.
• Students are encouraged to give feedback to their peers and to operate within a specific ethos or set of values.
• The video emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive and positive learning environment.
• Lahn discusses an anecdote about how the school cannot recruit students unless they believe in what the school is offering.
• The video emphasizes the importance of having a clear and compelling vision for the school.

Socratic Dialogue

• The video discusses the use of Socratic dialogue in the Wonder school system.
• Students are encouraged to ask questions and to think critically about the material they are learning.
• The video emphasizes the importance of developing critical thinking skills in students.
• Lahn discusses an anecdote about how the school uses Socratic dialogue to teach students how to give and receive feedback.
• The video emphasizes the importance of active learning in the classroom.

Conclusion

• The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of empowering students to take control of their own learning.
• Lahn discusses the challenges he has faced in implementing the Wonder school system, but emphasizes that the benefits are worth it.
• The video encourages parents and others interested in childhood education to consider the Socratic-based approach used in the Wonder school system.
• The video emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive and positive learning environment for students.
• The video concludes by encouraging viewers to visit the Wonder school website for more information.

Watch the video on YouTube:
School-Kids as Factory Products | Zach Lahn | EP 370 - YouTube