by Sean Newman Maroni
Founder & President, Betabox
Every once in a while, a period emerges when paradigms shift, and suddenly the “experts” we look to for guidance and education are experts in a world that no longer exists.
This happened when the printing press democratized knowledge, when the Industrial Revolution reshaped labor and cities, when general relativity met the quantum world, and when the internet connected the planet.
And, funnily enough, it seems to be happening again.
But what's less funny is the inability of our traditional education model to adapt to these new realities, which will result in students who don't fit the traditional mold, or live within the right zip codes, to be further left behind by this coming technology revolution. Something must be done about this, and quickly.
Our young people need access to a durable mechanism for upward mobility that supports them from their very first moment of discovering an interest in STEM, through the exploration of technology skills, and into participation in real work experiences that lead to employment or entrepreneurship. Without this, we risk a generation growing up unprepared to compete on a global stage in a new, technology-leveraged economy.
This is what we’re building at Betabox.
The evidence is undeniable that we, as a society, are transitioning into a new era of what “work” is. This shift is akin to prior historical shifts as significant as that of the Industrial Revolution. The American education system has some catching up to do in order for our young people to remain both globally competitive and prepared for a rapidly approaching, technology-driven future. The rise of AI and robotics is only compounding the existing need to modernize our educational infrastructure.
These technological advancements have the potential to unlock a new era of work, one that could unleash what I think of as a "Second Renaissance". In this new way of working, creative polymath types akin to Leonardo da Vinci, will leverage emerging technological systems to create amazing things. Careers will become nonlinear and adaptive, demanding creativity, interdisciplinary thinking, and the ability to continuously adapt to change.
In this new paradigm of work, practical technology skills will of course still matter. But what may matter even more is the capacity for intuitive systems design (knowing which technologies to use), paired with a unique insight into a problem (often rooted in direct experience). Success will feel less like mastering how to play a single instrument, and more like learning to conduct an entire orchestra of technology-based ‘musicians’.
The only problem? School as it stands is not preparing students for this world. As has been discussed at length elsewhere, modern education was born during the industrialization era. It is optimized for compliance, linear careers, and predictable tasks. Students still move through school in a linear fashion grouped by age, taught within siloed subjects areas, and assessed through standardized testing. Creativity, adaptability, and interdisciplinary problem-solving tend to fit poorly into this model. Neurodiverse and differently abled students often don't fit in at all. Student in rural or historically underfunded areas rarely get to travel 10 miles out of town to visit a company or experience a field trip. Often, graduates of higher education leave school burdened with debt and degrees mismatched to an economy that has radically changed beneath them.
What results from this is a widening of existing economic divides and social stratification. The statos quo is one where students in disconnected communities risk being left behind.
If we could snap our fingers and rebuild education (not just a single school, but an entire nation’s system) what would it look like in a world shaped by this new ‘Second Renaissance Economy’? We believe it starts with four core design pillars.
Move beyond the traditional model of content delivery and start focusing on developing real-world capabilities (problem-solving, computational thinking, systems thinking, and creativity). That means replacing siloed academic subjects with interdisciplinary projects and challenges that reflect how problems are actually solved in the real world. Education should be personalized and responsive, driven by student interest rather than rigid standards that can’t keep pace with the world outside the classroom. We need to empower students to take the lead in their own learning journeys, guided by relevance and interest. AI tools should be seen as learning partners that can augmenting exploration, accelerating design, and support rapid iteration. And most importantly, it should be hands-on in order to make learning tangible, engaging, and human.
It’s time to dismantle the credentialing edifice we’ve built around degrees and outdated proxies for competence. Instead of filtering opportunities through GPAs and diplomas, we should be evaluating students based on what they can actually do such as what they can build, explain, or improve. That means shifting to a model where portfolios, public work products, and technical demonstrations serve as direct evidence of career readiness. We need to move beyond time-based grading and adopt competency-based systems that reflect real skill development, not just how long a student sat in a classroom
We need to move beyond the outdated idea of a linear workforce pipeline and embrace an upwardly moving work-life spiral that allows learners to integrate learning and work throughout every stage of life. Careers in the age of AI and automation won’t follow a predictable path; they’ll evolve continuously, shaped by shifting interests, economic realities, and emerging technologies. Education should reflect that reality by supporting personalized career exploration experiences and giving students the tools to reflect and reinvent themselves over time.
Finally, the prior pillars must come to fruition in a system that has access to durable and distributed funding. To address the deep-rooted inequities in our education system, we must move beyond legacy funding models based on property taxes (which inherently reinforce inequality). An instructive example comes from the aerospace industry. For decades, NASA relied on cost-plus contracting (micromanaging projects and reimbursing costs with a margin). This approach stifled innovation and drove up the cost per launch. But when NASA shifted to defining high-level requirements and letting private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin deliver solutions, launch costs dropped dramatically. The focus moved from controlling processes to incentivizing the right outcomes.
Education reform needs a similar transformation. We must stop treating education as a closed system and start designing it more like a market-driven innovation engine that brings together public institutions, philanthropics, and private industry to invest in (not donate to) the rebuilding of our educational infrastructure. Public-private partnerships that break through county lines should be structured to align incentives and unlock scalable solutions that serve students, schools, and communities. This type of change can introduce new funding that is aligned with industry needs, while also reallocating existing funding to more student-focused outcomes.
These four principles aren’t something that any one organization can execute in a vacuum. Their fruition requires collaboration across multiple groups and sectors. Betabox’s role in this ecosystem is to build the best possible hands-on technology education resources aligned with these core pillars about what’s needed to elevate the education system for this new era. While we don't write policy or build schools, we give those who do the best possible teaching tools aligned with these pillars.
The resources we offer are:
Onsite Field Trips – Turnkey STEM experiences delivered right to a school parking lot, giving an entire school the opportunity to explore the cutting edge of technology, no matter where they’re located.
Hands-On Projects – Personalized technology learning experiences where students solve real-world design challenges while building actual technology systems like self-driving cars and robotics.
Work-Based Learning Experiences – A growing network of industry and community work-based learning opportunities for students that is indexed in alignment with student interest and deliverable to students through their career coordinators.
We enable equal access to these evidence-based resources both through government partnerships and through our OpenImpact™ funding platform which enables industry to directly support schools seeking to implement Betabox. This powerful combination of future-focused design principles, supportive funding partners, and evidence-based educational resources makes Betabox a complete, scalable mechanism of upward mobility through technology education for students anywhere.
As I write this, my one-month-old son sleeps quietly next to me in his crib. When he reaches high school, the world will look nothing like it did for me. He’ll need to navigate his path in this new era of exponential technological change just like every other young person in school today.
We think the skill that will matter most in that future is the ability to leverage advanced technology at scale like never before to build creative, authentic solutions to problems in communities and in the world. We’re not doing this on our own. We believe we're building the resources that educators and changemakers can leverage to pull this future forward into the present. Through these relationships we aim to carry out our mission:
To open the path into technology for all students, so the future works for everyone.
The doors into tech remain shut for too many, but Betabox is here to open them. We believe that one meaningful experience, like building a rocket or assembling a robot, can change a student’s entire future. Our vision at Betabox is that we act now to reshape the systems that prepare humans for the future so the future itself stays human. For that to happen, the technology systems that will undergird our new economy must be built by humans from every walk of life, every perspective, and every corner of the country.
If this resonates, consider joining us as an impact partner, a team member, or by applying to bring Betabox to your school or community.
Sean Newman Maroni
President & Founder, Betabox, Inc.
