Listeners, this episode marks the beginning of what I am calling Josh’s Chapter Six. I am choosing this road less traveled because I’m less interested in talking about what school could be, and more interested in what happens when young people are actually given the chance to experience it, and explain it to us hidebound adults mired in 19th century teaching and learning. Good grief, at some point, we have to stop endlessly chewing on the idea of change and freaking change, which means getting out of the freaking way and letting the kids build their own navigation charts. I apologize for starting this episode in such a crabby state. In my defense, the more I listen to the kids the less I am willing to defend educators and education leaders who sit, fixed to a system that is over 100 years old and hopelessly outdated. Back in March, I had the chance to visit the EDGE microschool embedded inside Liberty Public Schools, just outside Kansas City. EDGE stands for Empowering Discovery of the Global Experience. What I saw was a learning environment built around global challenges, real-world projects, and a level of student agency that felt fundamentally different from the traditional classrooms sitting just down the hall. Same building, very different experience. It was during this visit that I met my two guests today. Scarlet Langhorst is a senior at Liberty High School and a leader within the EDGE microschool. Through her growing composure and patience in professional settings, and her ability to listen to understand rather than respond, Scarlet has developed a collaborative, eclectic and calm presence that makes her both effective and trusted within real-world teams working on real-world projects. Morgan Yeates is a junior at Liberty High School and also lives and breathes her time in EDGE. She is a student leader whose work spans Global Ties KC, the EW Kauffman Foundation, and multiple youth-led initiatives focused on access, culture, and creating meaningful third spaces for young people. Through her sharp debate skills and instinct for reading group dynamics, Morgan has developed the ability to communicate persuasively, adapt quickly, and step into whatever role a team needs in the moment. She pairs that with a self-aware, almost ironic understanding of her own voice, knowing how to use it effectively while staying attuned to when to lead and when to create space for others. Get ready for a doozy of a conversation, listeners because Scarlet and Morgan aren’t talking about the future of school as an idea. They’re living inside a version of it right now, while still navigating a traditional system just down the hall. And over the course of this conversation, we’re going to put them in some real positions, asking them to think like diplomats, designers, even decision-makers, wrestling with global conflict, questioning how schools actually work, and at one point, facing a choice that might sound hypothetical, but won’t feel that way in the moment. As always, you can reach me at [email protected]. My episodes are edited by the very talented Evan Kurohara, of SOZEN Sound. My thanks to Mel Ching at Pililei Consulting, LLP, my JRP creative partner and co-producer.