Good Rising Bēhere REers,

Thank you for being here with us on this journey. Today, we will continue to illuminate the opportunities we see to Rethink Education — and move towards building an Operating System for the New Education Economy.

Today’s subject was difficult to share, as my family grapples with our own sense of belonging, not knowing where we will land in 2026. Uncertainty is tremendously difficult to deal with.

Moving forward, I will be publishing the the RE papers directly to our website. Instead of emailing you about each paper, I will send you shorter summaries less frequently with links to the fuller articles.

The RE Papers (N.05)
Wave 1 — The System Itself

Parents are told that school is where children “learn to socialize.”
But we all know children who come home quiet, withdrawn, or changed — even though they spent all day surrounded by people.

Because being around 25 kids your age isn’t socialization.
And it definitely isn’t belonging.

Real socialization grows through:

School offers almost none of these.

Instead, it gives children:

You can’t build belonging in a structure designed for compliance and efficiency.

A child can be in a crowded classroom and feel completely alone.

And this is where the loneliness epidemic truly begins — long before phones, long before adolescence. Children learn to appear social without a consistent experience of warmth or real connection.

Belonging requires continuity, choice, and community — things school can’t offer, but family and shared community life naturally do.

This is why the Bēhere Way places belonging at the center.

When a child feels rooted, known, and safe, everything else in their learning finally has space to bloom.