Re-Imagining Education in St. Louis

Our Schools Were Designed to Give St. Louis What We Wanted…in 1838

“Ideally 99 students out of 100 are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which scientifically defined, is the deliberate subsumption of the individual."

- William Torrey Harris
Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools (1868-1880)
U.S. Commissioner of Education (1889-1906)

Despite years of reform, many schools in St. Louis maintain destructive mindsets from their original design. Rich and influential Americans wanted factory workers, so the country adopted an educational model from Prussia meant to make citizens subservient.

A lot has changed in the last century. Experts predict that within 15 years, automation will replace 83% of jobs earning less than $20/hr. As those jobs disappear, our city’s 8th graders—only 9% of whom can do math at grade level—will find themselves unemployed. To succeed in the economy and society of tomorrow, students need to start learning in schools that look less like the bygone Industrial Era and more like the Information Age of the future.

Our Kids Deserve a School That Prepares Them for the Challenges of Their Lifetime

Kairos Academies is here to empower students to direct their own lives and learning. We are a team of educators trying to rethink public education for the 21st century. By leveraging technology and reimagining traditional instruction, Kairos personalizes the learning experience and nurtures student agency. Our model develops not just academic knowledge, but the organizational, social, and emotional competencies students need for true agency in our changing economy and society.