Breaking the Factory Model: Living the Learning at Graland

The Industrial Revolution had a profound influence on public education, giving rise to what is often called the “factory model” or “industrial model” of schooling. In this system, students were treated as commodities who were expected to learn in standardized ways to work in standardized, assembly-line factories. Thus, classrooms were structured for efficiency: rows of desks faced forward, a teacher at the front served as the sole source of knowledge, and a rigid schedule was governed by bells. Students were trained to sit still, follow instructions, and memorize facts—mirroring the discipline and routine of factory life. 

Over 90 years ago, a Graland brochure “protested ‘the factory psychology’” of schools. Graland’s founders wanted a school focused on experiential learning and “the special joy of learning.” These ideas go hand-in-hand with educator John Dewey’s philosophy of education: that education should be experimental, hands-on, and joyous. Children should be active learners, not passive recipients. 

This type of learning is especially important today as we are well into the age of technology. Almost all of humankind’s knowledge is available in our pockets. Most jobs our children will have do not yet exist. Our students were born into an increasingly complex and uncertain world. To thrive in this future, students need more than rote learning; they need opportunities to develop creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. 

 

While Georgia Nelson coined the term “Live the Learning” to describe this type of progressive education, modern educators use the term “deeper learning.”

In their book, “In Search of Deeper Learning,” Harvard researchers Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine wrote, “The Hewlett Foundation defines [deeper learning] as those combined characteristics of schooling that enable learners to develop significant understanding of core academic content, exhibit critical thinking and problem-solving skills, collaborate, communicate, direct their own learning, and possess an academic mindset.” 

In deeper learning, students act like historians or do the work of mathematicians. Teachers work as facilitators and coaches, helping students do work that parallels the work of experts in the field. In Mr. Willis’s class, while students are not actually discovering real Egyptian papyrus in the desert sands adjacent to the Nile, the teacher created an opportunity for students to “discover” Egyptian papyrus, observe it closely, and make hypotheses - just as real historians do, but at a “junior level.” 

In this philosophy, inquiry is central to gaining knowledge, and students learn by doing, often in collaboration with others. Students have agency over their learning and have opportunities to connect their knowledge to the world outside school walls. Learning is alive, interconnected, and collaborative. Students have the opportunity to follow their curiosities and be creative about what they do with gained knowledge and skills. Living the Learning often means an interdisciplinary approach where subjects are not siloed; after all, in the real world, knowledge is naturally interconnected. 

At Graland, learning isn’t confined to textbooks or timelines—it’s alive, relevant, and driven by curiosity. This is what it means to Live the Learning.