Five major revolutions have transformed human communication. We're living through one of them.
Martin Gurri made the case in his 2014 book, The Revolt of the Public. In the years since it was published, its thesis seems to have been confirmed by events it helps explain: the singular political phenomenon of Donald Trump, public health communication failures during the Covid-19 pandemic, turmoil engulfing many school districts.
Gurri refers to the force behind these disruptions as “the fifth wave”—the emergence of ubiquitous digital communication.
Every member of the public is now a publisher. More information was generated in 2011 than every previous year combined, and the curve keeps sloping upward. The resulting information tsunami has eroded the authority of institutions that previously wielded outsized power to shape the public's understanding of the world, including governments, mainstream media, and academia.
Each previous wave transformed human society and its institutions.
The first wave, the advent of the writing, aided the rise of civilization and the formation of a literate elite — priests and bureaucrats who controlled their societies with exclusive knowledge.
The second, the emergence of an alphabet, enabled the first republics and the intellectual traditions of the classical world.
The third, the invention of the printing press, democratized access to the written word and accelerated its production and dissemination. In Europe, this brought new challenges to the once-unquestioned authority of the Catholic Church and fueled near-constant, continent-spanning warfare in the 17th century. But it ultimately paved the way for the Enlightenment, the scientific revolution, and democratic government.
The fourth was the rise of mass media during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It aided the development of institutions we now take for granted — the modern nation-state, the industrial corporation, the public school system. These institutions helped shape and steward shared national cultures. The fourth wave also provided powerful new megaphones to despots, fueling the rise of fascism and communism.
Now, in the fifth wave, old hierarchies of authority are flattening. An increasingly restless public can challenge elites and their pronouncements at unprecedented volume and speed. But that restless public remains incapable of governing (as anyone who's witnessed a heated school board meeting recently can attest).
But the forces straining America’s public education system may also hold seeds of something new and better. A future shaped by the fifth wave, in which knowledge spreads freely through networks, could unlock new opportunities for learning — if existing institutions are able to adapt and new ones arise where necessary.
We see potential signs of it already.
A parent-led group in Oakland created powerful learning opportunities for families while local public schools were closed by the pandemic.
Schools like MyTechHigh or GEO Academies connect students with individualized learning opportunities offered by other institutions.
RESCHOOL Colorado supports families to assemble learning opportunities in and outside school.
A school system in Illinois built “connective tissue” to help link students’ formal and informal learning.
Institutions are connecting students with learning opportunities outside their walls. Families and communities are constructing solutions that were once the exclusive province of the one best system of schools operated by districts. The solutions that emerge are often designed around individual students, not one-size-fits-all.
I might be wrong to argue these developments represent baby steps toward a new, open and connecting learning system capable of helping young people thrive in an increasingly turbulent world. The history of technological change is full of visions of the future that look foolish in hindsight.
But I’m inclined to heed the maxim of the science fiction writer William Gibson. The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed.
Think Fast
Generative artificial intelligence may accelerate the fifth wave. The Atlantic’s Derek Thomson argues we should be wary of bold pronouncements about its future applications. Tyler Cowen frames the growth of AI in world-historical terms, and argues “we should take the plunge.” Venture capitalist Katelyn Donnely flags a predictable consequence of automation with education implications: Deskilling, or the know-how humans lose when robots take on more of our work.
On DC's first charter microschool: “‘The whole mission of DC Wildflower PCS is that teachers can open up their school sites autonomously, so being able to run schools the way we believe they should be run,’ [foundering teacher leader Ebony] Marshman said. ‘Which is pretty revolutionary when you think about it, trusting teachers to do the work that we do.’”
In other words, it gives teachers the opportunity to work in private practice and still remain part of the public school system.Jonathan Chait writes a takedown of the original theory of action behind school vouchers. Bottom line: Large-scale, publicly funded private-school scholarship programs typically don't improve academic achievement for students who participate.
The question is whether a new generation of parent-directed education funding in a more flexible form — education savings accounts — will remain tied to the ‘90s theory of action that Chait critiques (give parents money to pay for private schools). It has the potential to unlock an entirely new theory of action (provide financial infrastructure that allows students to access far more diverse learning opportunities). But right now, even some of the most vocal ESA proponents appear stuck in the ‘90s.Florida's massive ESA expansion is now law. Three under-the-radar provisions could help move beyond the '90s.
It authorizes part-time enrollment in public schools, allowing parents to send their children to multiple schools or blur the lines between schooling and homeschooling.
It requires Florida’s education commissioner to create a statewide portal where parents can browse educational options for their children — and where schools and other providers can advertise their offerings.
Parents will be allowed to use ESA funds to compensate "choice navigators" who advise them on their children's academic progress and learning needs. This may not be the ideal funding model for education navigators. But it enshrines a crucial form of support in state law, and provides one approach to funding it at scale.
An EdChoice survey offers insights into Black parents’ education views and who they’re more likely to trust on matters of schooling.
Final Thought
"I think it demonstrable that an old, entrenched social order is passing away even as I write these words — one rooted in the hierarchies and conventions of industrial life. Since no substitute has emerged on the horizon, we should, as tourists flying into the unknown, fasten our seatbelts and expect turbulence ahead."
- Martin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public