Educational transformation often begins with a grand plan, a new policy, or a major reform initiative. Our work begins differently. It begins with a small group of educators and school leaders willing to ask a difficult question: What if schools no longer need to be organized around teaching the same answers to the same questions to all children?

This is the spirit of the Courageous Minority.

Over the past several weeks, we have brought together educators from around the world who are ready to do more than talk about change. We have selected about 20 schools from different countries to participate in this global effort. They come from different systems, cultures, traditions, and constraints, but they share one belief: education must change because the world has already changed.

We had two meetings for people in different time zones and here is a summary of the formal beginning of our work.

Why Courageous Minority?

The phrase “courageous minority” is intentional. Transformation rarely begins with everyone. Schools are complex institutions held together by expectations from governments, parents, universities, curriculum authorities, assessment systems, and long-standing habits. Whole-system change is difficult, slow, and often symbolic.

But small groups can move.

A courageous minority does not wait for the entire system to give permission. Nor does it recklessly destroy what currently exists. Instead, it creates protected spaces inside existing schools where new forms of learning can be tried, studied, improved, and shared. These spaces may be small groups of students, special projects, learner agency days, capstone experiences, innovation programs, classrooms, advisory groups, or “schools within schools.”

Our Three Commitments

Our work is guided by three principles.

The first is personalizable education. This is different from the common version of “personalized learning,” which often means allowing students to move at their own pace through the same prescribed curriculum. Personalizable education means helping each student discover, develop, and refine their interests, strengths, passions, and sense of purpose. Every child should have the opportunity to become uniquely great at something. Education should stop pretending that all children must become excellent in the same way.

The second is finding, refining, and solving problems. Traditional schooling has largely been organized around known answers to known problems. Students are rewarded for remembering answers to questions already solved by others. But the future belongs to those who can notice what is missing, identify what matters, ask better questions, and create value through solutions. We are asking students not only to solve problems but also to find problems worth solving. These problems may begin with personal dissatisfaction, frustration, curiosity, or unmet needs. From there, they can grow into work that matters to classmates, families, communities, and beyond.

The third is human interdependence. Schools have long taught children to compete against one another for grades, rankings, admissions, and credentials. But human value is not created in isolation. We become ourselves through others. We discover our strengths by contributing to others. We need others because they have strengths we do not have. In this sense, education should help students understand a powerful idea: my value is created by creating value for others.

Or, more simply: Me through We.

What Schools Are Beginning to Do

The participating schools are not all doing the same thing. That is the point. Each school is beginning from its own context, constraints, and opportunities.

Some schools are exploring small experimental groups of students who will pursue personalized, interdependent learning projects. Some are redesigning learner agency days so students can use time more meaningfully rather than simply complete loosely defined activities. Some are working on capstone programs, community projects, student podcasts, AI-supported inquiry, innovation groups, or classroom-based efforts in which even young children identify problems in their own classroom and school community.

Some schools are asking how artificial intelligence can support students in going deeper into their interests. Some are asking how AI can help students bridge required curriculum and meaningful personal projects. Others are exploring how students can build real products, tell real stories, serve real audiences, and document their growth in richer ways than grades alone can capture.

The common thread is not a single model. The common thread is the willingness to start.

Start Small, But Start Seriously

One of the strongest messages from our conversations has been this: do not try to change everything at once. A courageous minority is not a reckless minority.

Schools must work within real constraints. There are curriculum requirements, examinations, parental expectations, accountability systems, university admissions, teacher workloads, and political realities. Ignoring these constraints does not make one courageous; it may simply make the work unsustainable.

So we are encouraging schools to start small, but seriously. Find a space. Find a group of students. Find a few teachers. Find one project. Find one problem. Find one place where young people can experience a different kind of education—one that gives them more autonomy, more responsibility, more opportunity to contribute, and more reason to care.

We are also not asking schools to abolish grades overnight. That would be both impractical and, in many cases, harmful to the educators trying to make change. Instead, we are exploring parallel systems of evidence: learner profiles, authentic records of growth, self-assessment, reflection, documentation of process, contribution to others, and demonstrations of problem finding and problem solving. Traditional grades may remain, but they should no longer be the only story told about a learner.

The Role of AI

Artificial intelligence is part of this work, but it is not the center of this work. The center is the child.

AI should not be used merely to make old schooling more efficient. It should not simply generate worksheets, automate grading, or help students perform traditional tasks faster. If AI is used only to strengthen the old grammar of schooling, then it becomes another tool for perfecting the past.

We are interested in a different possibility. AI can help students ask better questions, explore interests, access resources, receive feedback, connect ideas, build products, and reflect on their growth. AI can help teachers support more diverse learning journeys. AI can help make personalizable education more possible, not by replacing teachers, but by expanding the range of what students and teachers can do together.

The question is not “How can AI help students do schoolwork?” The better question is: “How can AI help students do work worth doing?”

The Work Has Begun

What has moved me most in these early meetings is not the technology. It is the human commitment.

People are joining across time zones. Some are showing up late at night. Some are joining while traveling. Some are tired, jet-lagged, and still present. They are not doing this because it is easy. They are doing it because they believe children deserve something better than an education designed for another time.

They are also honest about the difficulty. Students may not immediately know what they care about because years of schooling may have trained curiosity out of them. Teachers may worry about losing control. Parents may worry about grades, college admissions, and whether unconventional learning will “count.” School leaders may worry about regulations, public perception, and risk. These concerns are real.

But so is the need for change.

The Courageous Minority is not a program to be copied. It is a movement to be joined, adapted, challenged, and improved. We do not have all the answers. In fact, our work begins with the belief that education should stop pretending that all important answers are already known.

We are learning by doing. We are building while walking. We are creating small spaces where students can become more fully themselves by contributing to others. About 20 schools have begun this journey with us. More will learn from it. Some may adapt the ideas. Some may challenge them. Some may start their own courageous minority.

That is exactly what should happen.

The future of education will not be created by the comfortable majority repeating what has always been done. It will be created by courageous minorities who are willing to act before the system is ready, humble enough to learn from practice, and determined enough to keep children’s humanity at the center.

The work has begun.