It is no longer enough to be good at academics; students must develop what America Succeeds calls “Durable Skills.” This isn’t about being proficient with a lathe or drill press, but rather the core skill set behind what we all know as problem solving. When we started The Social six years ago, we knew this before AI disrupted the academic-focused approach in public education. We decided early on to prioritize non-traditional academics, no traditional grading, and multi-age classrooms. The core foundation was the focus on teaching problem solving, a skill that is an afterthought in traditional education settings but is recognized and praised in all the great inventors, founders, and entrepreneurs of our lifetime. While we solve the challenges of home education by providing a low-demand, values-aligned ala carte social education experience, our equally important emphasis on teaching problem solving is core to who we are.

Here is a great example of that in action. Our middle school Make Lab program is launching a new Human-Centered Design project called Active Experience Design. In this 20-session project, students function as experience architects for a new recreation facility of their choice. Here are the categories they will choose from:

• Track & Course (RC, Bikes, Horses)
• Tactical Arena (Laser Tag, Nerf)
• Vertical Sports (Climbing)
• Pet Experience (Dog Park, Training)
• Endurance & Court (Running, Volleyball)
• Leisure Hub (Bowling, Mini-Golf)
• Themed Playground (Ninja, Play Area)

Students will select a category of active entertainment and develop a physical prototype supported by digital elements that will solve key challenges such as:

• Fun and Flow- what is the experience like, how can we use flow state game theory principles to create an engaging experience
• Access for All-Ensuring accessibility to the experience for people with disabilities
• Digital Integration-Using a suite of tools (Canva, Bitsbox, Soundtrap, Tinkercad) to build a professional-looking brand and a digital guide for the business.
• Behind the Scenes-Planning how the business actually runs after it is built.

Here are the competency outcomes that we will be looking for through out the project:

• Oral Communication: Delivering a clear pitch that explains design choices to an audience.
• Collaboration: Working together to share workloads across different tech platforms.
• Resilience: Fixing prototype failures based on peer/instructor feedback.
• Critical Thinking: Balancing “fun” with safety rules and accessibility needs.
• Multimedia Synthesis: Connecting 3D models, audio, and apps into one brand.
• Systems Thinking: Planning how the business works behind the scenes on a daily basis at a basic level.

A solid academic foundation is very important for a successful career, but equally and of great importance is the need to prepare our students for the future of work. These skills are going to be critical in a future that will demand architects of processes instead of workers with siloed “head smarts” who have little to no ability to tackle the unknown challenges we will face in the AI-driven world of tomorrow. Problem solving and durable skills are the key to a holistic education that includes academic capability founded on the ability to solve any challenge that students face.

This type of project includes other core principles that we support, like free market principles (check out Believe Journal) and our “Made to Make” philosophy, which emphasizes our God-given ability to create, make, and become producers, not just consumers.