Future of Education Podcast S2E317: An Anthropologist's Lens on Education Reform
Mar 24, 2026
Dr. Annalies Corbin, anthropologist, archaeologist, and founder of the PASS Foundation, built hands-on industry-connected STEM programs. She argues the K–12 model is obsolete and needs full redesign. She describes student R&D sprints, neutral innovation labs, and how student perspectives and iterative failure drive real-world learning and product insight.
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School System Is Obsolete Not Broken
- The U.S. K–12 system functions exactly as it was designed for the 19th-century factory model of rote learning and linear outputs.
- Annalies Corbin argues the system is obsolete rather than broken, so incremental tweaks won't solve today's needs and a ground-up redesign is required.
Resistance Stems From Interlocking Systems
- Resistance to systemic change often comes from a network of interlocking systems and the belief that the old system 'worked for me.'
- Annalies highlights policy, funding, and institutional inertia as major barriers that make redesign daunting but necessary given current student outcomes.
PASS Innovation Lab Industry R&D Sprints
- The PASS Innovation Lab is a 32,000 sq ft R&D prototyping facility in Columbus where students, teachers, and industry collaborate on real problems.
- Students form industry R&D teams, spend six weeks developing solutions, and pitch to partner companies.