Schools urgently need a redesign. Here's how | Aylon Samouha

Summary

TED Talks Daily – “Schools urgently need a redesign. Here’s how” | Aylon Samouha

Date: December 9, 2025
Speaker: Aylon Samouha
Podcast Host: TED

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Overview

This episode features education innovator Aylon Samouha, who passionately argues that the traditional model of school no longer serves students in a rapidly changing world. Samouha advocates for a radical redesign of schools, centering on “community-based design” that responds to local needs and values, and offers real-world learning experiences. Through vivid stories from Brooklyn, Washington D.C., and rural North Dakota, he illustrates how schools can transform into environments where children feel seen, engaged, and empowered to shape their futures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Need for School Redesign

• Obsolete Model:
  Samouha begins by asserting that schools are not "broken," but are doing what they were designed to do—a design that is now out of date:

  “School isn't broken. It's doing exactly what it was designed to do over a century ago. It was built for the factory age to standardize, sort, and prepare young people for predictable jobs.” (07:06)

• Mismatched Purpose:
  The current world demands different skills—adaptability, discernment, collaboration, and self-awareness—not assembly line obedience.

  “Today, our graduates aren't heading to assembly lines. They're stepping into a world being reshaped by AI, where thriving depends on knowing who you are, discerning fact from fiction, knowing how to keep learning, creating, collaborating, and indeed coexisting with others.” (07:38)

Real-World Examples of Innovative Schools

• Brooklyn STEAM Center (04:13)

  • Students work in immersive settings—marketing for businesses, wiring real houses, hacking for cybersecurity, etc.
  • The school’s environment resembles an engineering studio instead of traditional classrooms.
  • Students earn diplomas and industry credentials, build networks, and learn by solving real problems.
  • Quote:

    “Not about regurgitating content, but about solving real problems. Not what do I need to know for the test, but what can I build that matters?” (05:21)

• Van Ness Elementary (Washington, D.C.) (08:53)

  • School reimagined around the idea that “kids learn best when they feel seen.”
  • Social-emotional learning integrated (morning circles instead of roll call, mindfulness breaks, measuring belonging alongside academics).
  • Resulted in no suspensions and exceeded district averages in academics.
  • Quote:

    “No tension, no punishment, just learning for both of them.” (09:59)

  • Impact: One in four D.C. elementary schools now adopts this approach; it’s spreading nationwide.

• Rural North Dakota (11:01)

  • Student Matthew goes from being disengaged to passionate, discovering blacksmithing and launching a small business.
  • Personalized, real-world learning unlocks curiosity and potential.
  • Vision: Technology like AI can accelerate such experiences for more students.

The Case for Community-Based Design

• Definition:
  Community-based design combines local insight (“the wisdom of lived experience”) and rigorous research, applying design thinking and community participation to education.
• Middle Path:
  Avoids the pitfalls of top-down (disconnected) and bottom-up (overburdened) reform.

  “There's a third way. Community based design. Community based design takes the best of both approaches. It brings together the wisdom of lived experience with the wisdom of research.” (08:21)

Data that Motivates Change

• Transcend, Samouha’s organization, surveyed 70,000 students:
  • Less than half love school; two-thirds say it’s boring.
  • By high school, only a quarter express enthusiasm; less than 4% feel empowered to explore and lead their learning. (06:19)
• Quote on why “fine” is not good enough:

  “But fine isn't fine. It's the sound of potential quietly fading.” (06:56)

Principles for the Future

• School must be designed and redesigned as a continuous, community-driven process—not as a one-time overhaul.
• Engagement, belonging, and real-world purpose—not just test scores—should be the “north star.”

  “We need community based design as a muscle, not a program or an initiative. Something built in, not bolted on. A continuous way of evolving how we do school together.” (12:54)

• Call to action: The question for schools and society must not be “Are the children fine?” but:

  “Let it be. They're engaged, they're thriving. And they're transforming the world.” (13:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the meaningful purpose of education:

  “What happens in classrooms today is what will happen in society tomorrow.” (08:08)

• The stark gap in student engagement:

  “Nearly three quarters of third graders say they love school. But by high school, barely a quarter say they do.” (06:38)

• On the future of redesign:

  “School cannot be something we redesign once a century.” (12:43)

• Final call to action:

  “Let's make sure the answer isn't fine. Let it be. They're engaged, they're thriving. And they're transforming the world. Thank you.” (13:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:13] Introduction to the Brooklyn STEAM Center and immersive learning
• [06:19] National student engagement data
• [07:06] History and purpose of school design
• [08:21] Introduction to community-based design
• [08:53] Van Ness Elementary’s whole-child approach and results
• [11:01] Story of personalized learning in rural North Dakota
• [12:54] The need for continuous redesign and call to action

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Tone and Style

Aylon Samouha speaks with empathy, urgency, and visionary optimism. He balances hard data with powerful human stories, aiming to inspire educators, parents, and communities to reject the status quo and collaboratively build a more relevant, engaging, and humane education system.

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Summary

This talk is a rallying cry for school redesign centered in community, relevance, and student agency. Samouha’s core message: If children are to thrive and transform their world, schools must become places where their interests, identities, and real-world futures are at the heart of every lesson, every day.

Transcript

[A]

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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. Hi, I'm your host, Elise Hu. It's probably safe to say most of us want our children to get a good education. But what does a good education actually look like in a rapidly changing world is the schooling my daughters get preparing them in the ways they need. In today's talk, education innovator Alon Samoa takes us on a journey from Brooklyn to Washington, D.C. to rural North Dakota, giving us a glimpse of a movement that's rethinking every aspect of learning through community based design. Transforming transforming classrooms into places where all young people feel seen, engaged and ready to build the world ahead.

[B]

You've never seen a school like this.

In the middle of the Brooklyn Navy Yard surrounded by cranes, startups, design studios. Young people aren't just sitting in classrooms, they're creating digital marketing campaigns for small businesses wiring real houses. Down the hall, a student named Natalia is hacking websites safely with the guidance of cybersecurity pros.

These students are part of the Brooklyn Steam Center, a public high school that looks and feels more like an engineering studio than a traditional classroom.

They're earning college ready diplomas and industry credentials. They're building professional networks while discovering what they're good at in the real world. And none of it happened by accident.

I lead a school design organization called Transcend, and when we began working with the Brooklyn community, our first step wasn't to bring in a program. It was to listen. Students, families, educators, local employers all told us the same thing. We want learning that actually connects to the world kids are growing into. So with the school's founders, we stitched together decades of practice and research. Career connected learning, project based learning, purpose development. The result? A learning experience that's rigorous, relevant and engaging. Not about regurgitating content, but about solving real problems. Not what do I need to know for the test, but what can I build that matters? And when you see feels obvious. Of course school should be like this. But if it's so obvious, why am I on the stage telling you about it? And what does it cost us when most students never get to learn this way? Transcend recently surveyed 70,000 students across the U.S.

Less than half said they love school. Two thirds said it's boring. Less than 4% said they get a chance to explore and be in charge of their own learning. And the older students get, the worse it gets. Nearly three quarters of third graders say they love school.

But by high school, barely a quarter say they do.

And the data is just telling us what every parent already knows. You ask, how was school today? And you hear one word, fine.

But fine isn't fine. It's the sound of potential quietly fading.

Here's the truth most of us don't say out loud. School isn't broken. It's doing exactly what it was designed to do over a century ago. It was built for the factory age to standardize, sort, and prepare young people for predictable jobs. It worked for the time literacy rose, the middle class grew. But today, our graduates aren't heading to assembly lines. They're stepping into a world being reshaped by AI, where thriving depends on knowing who you are, discerning fact from fiction, knowing how to keep learning, creating, collaborating, and indeed coexisting with others.

That's why I believe our task isn't merely to improve schools. It's to redesign them for a new purpose. A purpose worthy of the 15,000 hours every young person spends in K12 schooling.

A purpose that shapes our very democracy. Because, as my mentor puts it, what happens in classrooms today is what will happen in society tomorrow.

But realizing this vision has never been easy. For decades, we've been trapped between two top down reforms that can ignore local realities or bottom up efforts that often depend on heroic and exhausted educators. But there's a third way. Community based design. Community based design takes the best of both approaches. It brings together the wisdom of lived experience with the wisdom of research.

The assets of communities with the assets of proven tools and practices to make change that's both human and enduring. It's the best of design thinking, R and D and community participation applied to the life of a school. That's how Brooklyn STEAM came to be. It's also how Van Ness elementary in Washington, D.C. redesigned school around a simple Kids learn best when they feel seen. We brought together families, educators, district leaders.

To imagine school that truly centered the whole child, nurturing mind, body and relationships while confronting the real trauma that many students carried into school. So we integrated effective practices from other settings, morning circles replaced roll call mindfulness breaks alongside rigorous lessons, measures on student belonging that matter as much as test scores do. After months of piloting and iterating, these pieces came together into a coherent model where every student feels safe, connected, and ready to learn. When I visited, I saw a seven year old named Jaleesa who had an emotional outburst in the classroom. Her friend Amara gently guided her to a calming space where they practiced breathing together. Within minutes, Jaleesa was back on track. No tension, no punishment, just learning for both of them.

That's why Even as other D.C. schools issued dozens or more suspensions each year, Van Ness issued none and exceeded district averages in reading and math. Today, one in four D.C. elementary schools is adopting this approach. And it's spreading to more than 100 schools across the country.

Yeah.

And community based design works in places that couldn't be more different. It's how Matthew, a high school senior in rural North Dakota, went from dozing through class to forging his own path in every sense of the word. After discovering blacksmithing, his school was ready because it had been redesigned around real world learning. He had the structure and freedom to turn his curiosity into craft, applying math, science, and design to building a small business of his own. Now imagine pairing community based design with today's technology. AI can help us accelerate learning and facilitate immersive experiences that spark every student's passion so that thousands more Matthews can find their purpose. If we design on purpose. From Brooklyn to D.C. to North Dakota, in 500 schools across the country, we've seen what happens when communities design learning around how young people actually learn and live. When you put student experience, engagement, motivation in the center, not as a bonus, but as a driving principle, everything changes. The data backs it up. Students who experience engaging high quality learning have higher grades, stronger attendance, fewer behavior issues. But the magic isn't in the numbers. It's in the spark. You see, when a student realizes, I belong here. I can do this. I'm learning with purpose. I can make something that matters. I know I want that for my own kids. And of course, I'm not alone. Every parent, educator, every community wants schools that keep growing with the world around them. School cannot be something we redesign once a century.

We need community based design as a muscle, not a program or an initiative. Something built in, not bolted on. A continuous way of evolving how we do school together. So when we ask, and how are the children? Let's make sure the answer isn't fine. Let it be. They're engaged, they're thriving. And they're transforming the world. Thank you.

[A]

That was Alon Samoa speaking at TED Next 2025. This ambitious idea is part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change. Learn more at Audacious.

If you're curious about Ted's curation, find out [e-mail] curationguidelines and that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This talk was fact checked by the TED Research team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little and Tansika Sangmarni Vong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Faizy Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balarazo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.

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[C]

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[A]

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