Imagine a ‘time capsule’ sitting beside a conceptual dirt hole in the ground. Imagine standing there with a shovel in hand. Imagine a group of kids — ages from infant to nearly-graduating-from-high-school — standing on the other side of the hole, each looking at you with curious and hopeful eyes. And imagine a satchel over your shoulder holding precisely 5 books of your choice that you will put into the time capsule, and cover up by shovel and dirt not to be opened until the first day of school in 2026.

The catch is to select which 5 books (recently published or classic texts) that if read together would be an indicator of where education, learning, and school design/planning is headed in the next 20 years, books that you have read or are currently reading that you believe are accurately portraying what we all need to know to ‘get it right’ as we all move forward.

If these kids of all ages were to open this time capsule 20 years from now, would they confidently say, “Thank you, you were on the right path” or would they mutter under their breath, “Why didn’t you pay more close attention when you were the experts and we needed you most”?

And what makes you believe so today with your 5 books by your side?

*****

One last catch:

For the sake of discussion only, avoid Friedman’s The World is Flat, Pink’s A Whole New Mind, and Fielding’s/Nair’s The Language of School Design for this exercise (although all 3 would be certainly fair-game).