Introducing "The Advisory" with Andrew Frishman

Back when Noam and Vimar were struggling in school, I was too.

To be sure, it was a very different struggle, vastly different.

But like them, I was feeling increasingly frustrated with traditional education.

I'd studied biology in college because I loved science, and I wanted everyone to love learning about science.

My plan was to become a teacher.

I could picture it.

I'd be up at the front of the room, teaching what I loved, 25 students in rows, hands up, notes taken, tests given.

And then on fun days, maybe a lab, maybe a documentary.

Then the bell would ring.

One class out, another class in, all day long, day after day.

And for a while, I did teach that way.

But I started to question whether it was really working for the students.

In fact, I started pushing at the edges.

I was experimenting.

Like this one time, I designed a neuroscience class where instead of learning only from a textbook, I asked the students to explore a topic that interested them.

There was one student who wanted to learn more about her grandmother's Alzheimer's.

Another wanted to understand concussions and another addiction.

I paired them each with a real-world scientist who answered all their questions.

And the students loved it.

They went deep.

They were more engaged than I had ever seen.

Even their parents noticed a difference.

Still, at the end of the semester, the administration told me that the class was out of compliance and would never happen again.

So yeah, I wanted to teach, but not if the goal was just to help kids do well on tests and advance to the next grade.

In other words, just help the kids get better at doing school.