(Originally published on Forbes and reposted on Getting Smart.)

Most schools value compliance and routines—worksheet assignments, small blocks of content, and a predictable daily schedule.

Most young people are going to lead lives full of uncertainty and complexity in a freelance economy buffeted by exponential technology and colliding systems.

To contribute now and in the future, young people deserve extended challenges—long projects that take on tough problems. To build agency and collaboration, students and teachers can co-construct projects that cross disciplines and result in public products that make real contributions.