A mindset of scarcity, driven by climate volatility, entrenched political partisanship and information silos, has created a fractured world. As with broader society, the formal public education system has become increasingly splintered, with ZIP code determining access to resources and system responsiveness. Extreme self-interest, mistrust of public institutions and a lack of clarity of purpose have bred gridlock in educational decision making and have opened the way for the market to commercialize more and more of education.

Education providers, including large educational technology companies, niche educational service providers and independent and parochial schools, offer their services to affluent families and those middle-class families who can afford them. Everyone who can – teachers, students and administrators – is fleeing the fractured public educational system or is stretching to move to areas where affluent districts remain functional and effective. Highly effective teachers have been recruited by these districts, as well as by elite charter systems, employer-based schools and independent and parochial schools. Struggling public schools focus on helping students meet the minimum graduation requirements set by each state. Drastic teacher shortages require them to use automation, self-paced curricula, and auto-scoring and certification. Teaching in these schools is all about classroom management and monitoring student progress. Yet the technology available to schools and students does not always keep pace with the load.

In a society that fears difference, there has been an increase in control and policing. They especially target communities of color, low-income people, the LGBTQ+ community, disabled people and women. Schools in low-income districts and those with high percentages of non-White students have extensive digital surveillance systems and continue to use physical security measures such as metal detectors and video cameras. More positively, some schools still use restorative justice practices that were implemented in the 2020s to explore behavioral disruptions, but these programs never saw widespread use given budget cuts and changes in leadership priorities.

Amidst the crumbling of most public education, many children and youth simply stop going to school. However, they do not stop learning. They turn to the hyper-local, micro-education structures to meet their academic and developmental needs. The underground educational liberation movement is micro but mighty. Students, families, activist educators and rogue mayors lead abolitionist and revolutionary efforts in many cities and towns. Micro-structures, such as tiny schools, learning collectives and student-led forums, provide learning experiences that center liberation and anti-oppression. Their pedagogies are based in critical theory and inquiry about race, power, systems and environmental sustainability. The knowledge and ways of knowing that they seek to impart incorporate Black and Indigenous traditions, along with insights from queer theory about dismantling hierarchies, normalizing difference and pursuing social justice. While education liberation micro-structures are varied and diverse, ancestral wisdom is a shared value. For example, the Inner Soul Project in 2029 launched Virtual Ancestor, an artificially intelligent elder that provides youth access to ancestral perspectives, elder wisdom and support. In these settings, learning represents an act of resistance and an embracing of power.

Coalitions of micro-structures have leveraged technology to create networks that credential knowledge and experience. LiberateNet, an unindexed safe space on the web, is a vibrant online home for emancipatory micro-learning structures and the learners, parents and community members who seek them out. LiberateNet emerged as an alternative in response to excessive corporate control of the mainstream internet and toxic social media that fomented division, mistrust and fact-free information. This alternative web provides its users autonomy and an escape from corporate control, policing, hate speech and White supremacist culture. Loosely curated by volunteers, it has become an important repository of liberatory educational resources and strategies. Parents and students learn about it through word of mouth, friend and family connections and other informal networks. Those without roots and relationships in their communities risk missing out on access to dynamic, emancipatory tiny schools, learning pods and other educational experiences that are guided by liberatory pedagogies.