The Shrinking Classroom, the Expanding Future
#CreativeFreedomAct #CultureShiftAct #CreativeSocietyAct

I have discussed and presented a bill for congress for creative basic income for the creative community and then presented proposals for local creative centers for cities. Now I want to present several articles on building the creative society in the coming generations by teaching our children through changing the public school system into a way that presents education through the arts as the medium of delivery to make going to school fun, engaging and full of wonder and wholeness for children not to train workers but to train creative contributors to society. This is the first of these articles.
I am working to set the foundation of my vision collectively called The Creative Freedom Act Newsletter which I am trying to present in frequent enough posts so that you, my readers, see the whole picture.
As I have said previously, this is my public contribution of the current state of affairs and the public square conversation ahead of the midterm elections. So I am hoping you will be patient with my presenting so many posts in such a compacted way. This should be well fleshed out by the end of August. Please share these posts of you feel inspired by them.
Once most of these posts have been presented I will return to my typical routine. I actually have many other creative projects that I am working on that I am preparing for the Fall.
Title: The Shrinking Classroom, the Expanding Future: Rethinking Public Education for an Age of AI and Creativity
Over the next 20 years, America’s public school system will be navigating a slow but undeniable transformation. Not from the top down, nor from any singular reform—but from the shifting tides of reality itself. Enrollment is already declining, and the pattern is projected to continue. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school populations will shrink by nearly 3 million students between now and 2031. Many states are already seeing that decline. The trend will not reverse anytime soon.
Meanwhile, the number of high school graduates is expected to peak around 2025 and then begin a long descent, falling by over 10% by the early 2040s. Fewer students will be sitting in classrooms, not because of policy failures or budget cuts, but because there are simply fewer children being born.
At first glance, this may look like a crisis of loss: empty seats, budget shortfalls, shuttered schools. But step back—and a different picture emerges.
In parallel to these demographic shifts, another force is reshaping the landscape: the accelerating rise of artificial intelligence. As AI continues to automate routine, repetitive, and rule-based jobs, we are heading toward a world where the “traditional worker” may no longer be the central figure in the economy. Whether in manufacturing, transportation, administration, retail, or even coding, the machine is catching up—and in many cases, outpacing us.
Which begs a vital question: What, then, are we preparing our children for?
The curriculum of yesterday, built to feed the industrial workforce of the 20th century, is running on fumes. Designed to train students to be punctual, obedient, and minimally skilled across standardized disciplines, it was never equipped to unleash human imagination or entrepreneurial spirit. And it certainly wasn’t built for a future where the most valuable traits are the very things AI cannot do: imagine, dream, empathize, intuit, and create.
This moment—marked by demographic contraction and technological acceleration—is not a time to shrink back, but to rethink forward.
What if we treated the decline in enrollment as an opportunity to reimagine public education at a more human scale?
What if we shifted the entire structure of education away from rote memorization and toward deep creativity?
What if public schools became creativity incubators—gardens of imagination, rather than factories of compliance?
Imagine schools transformed into multidisciplinary arts conservatories. Every subject—math, science, history, language—taught through the lenses of music, visual art, storytelling, dance, and design. Students collaborating on long-form projects, inventing businesses, composing songs, designing games, staging plays, editing podcasts, building sculpture gardens, coding interactive worlds. Learning becomes a living, expressive, and integrated experience. Not just for passing tests, but for shaping futures.
The entrepreneurial spirit—long touted but rarely cultivated—would find fertile ground. Because in a world where machines handle the predictable, human beings will be tasked with the unpredictable: solving complex problems, responding to change, envisioning what does not yet exist. That is the work of creators.
And those creators must be seeded early.
With fewer students in each district, we may have the space, finally, to try bold experiments. To move beyond the standardized industrial model. To honor the unique genius of each child. To build schools not just for survival in a changing world, but for flourishing in it.
Of course, this will take political will, cultural vision, and creative courage. But the alternative—clinging to a fading system while the world moves on—is not really a choice.
As AI expands its domain, so too must we expand our own. Not by competing with machines, but by becoming more deeply and beautifully human.
The classroom of the future is not an echo of the past. It is a studio, a workshop, a theater, a garden. It is a place where young minds learn to grow what no algorithm can predict: their own voice, their own vision, their own vital contribution to the world to come.
If this sparked something in you, share it with someone shaping the next generation. Your responses and reflections fuel this ongoing exploration.
Start with the children. Start with the arts.
Myself, I am a studio artist and a citizen. My job and my duty is to start the conversation and seed the imagination. It is up to others in the right places to nurture it into a reality. We all have a part to play. What’s your part? Do it.
Hashtags to use: #CreativeFreedomAct #CultureShiftAct #CreativeSocietyAct
web address: https://www.touchonian.com/s/creative-freedom-act
Not surprisingly, I love this post. You state it well.