This is not an article about what is right or wrong, just about what is fact. So, try to read it with some honest candor about your situation.
Before Amazon took over distance retailing, a visit to any rural community in America would reveal a lot of the same products. Most people had the same toasters, coffee makers, and clothing, often purchased at the local department or hardware store. A family might take an occasional trip to the big city in which they would bring back some more diverse purchases, but that was an exception rather than a rule.
Amazon came along and changed all that. They democratized quick and ubiquitous access to a global array of goods and services, allowing people in smaller communities to have the same access to the goods that people do in urban areas.
The same is going to happen to education, folks.
The pandemic accelerated many things, but at the top of the list was online learning in education. Over 50 million students are learning remotely in the United States alone this year. The dramatic innovations in online learning and teaching are going to be profound after this year is all done. There is no going back to the past. This is where a large portion of education will live in the future.
I am not declaring that high quality, brick and mortar, place-based education will not live in the future. Sure it will. But, it will not look the same and it will be heavily complimented by more diverse learners and delivery platforms than ever before, from every corner of the globe. There will be room for extraordinarily good place-based learning enterprise, but they will need to be distinct, relevant, local, and boutique.
Why this article? I am deeply concerned that we currently have too many over-generalized, non-distinct, smallish private schools and colleges, with limited resources. They are all trying to find a way to preserve a past that is declining. There simply won’t be room for all of them. And, those with the greatest resources and biggest brands will likely command attention and marketshare initially. Others will either need to meet the future with innovation, be a small boutique on the roadside, or do something extraordinary relevant in their local community. But, they can’t be all things to all people. That will be their demise, for sure.
Again, it is not a judgement, but just brutal honesty.