The central thesis of the book has four parts. The first is that science, know-how, and wisdom are the source of almost all that is good: higher living standards; longer, healthier lives; thriving communities; dazzling cities; blue skies; profound philosophies; the flourishing of the arts; and all the rest of it. The fate of all of these depends upon gains in knowledge. The second is that the rate of progress in science, know-how, and wisdom has flatlined for far too long. We have not been making scientific, technological, or philosophical progress at anything close to the rate we’ve needed to since about 1971. (Computers and smartphones notwithstanding.) The third claim is that the complete and utter failure of our education system, from K-12 up through Harvard, is a case in point of this stagnation. We are not very good at educating people, and we have not improved student learning all that much in more than a generation, despite spending three to four times as much per student at any grade. Our lack of progress in knowing how to improve student outcomes has greatly contributed to the decline of creativity in just about every field. The last, chief point is that the fate of our civilization depends upon replacing or reforming our unreliable and corrupted institutions, which include both the local public school and the entire Ivy League. My colleagues and I are trying to trailblaze one path in the field of education. We might be misguided in our methods, but our diagnosis is correct. I aim to convince you of it along the way. I will lay out the evidence as I discovered it, turning over the cards one by one along the trail. I was changed by what I found. I hope you will be too.

Michael Gibson, Paper belt on fire: how renegade investors sparked a revolt against the university, New York, 2022, p. 16