Quest for Authenticity: Learning from the Fringes

Dr. Sarah Fine speaks about transforming education through humanized, learner-centered experiences. Her concept of the “grammar of the periphery” highlights how the most authentic learning often takes place in electives, clubs, and extracurriculars, the spaces that exist outside the rigid structure of core curriculum and standardized testing.

In her discussion, Fine offers a nuanced critique of real-world and project-based learning. While she firmly supports connecting schools to the world beyond the classroom, she warns of the risks of uncritically aligning education with current capitalist structures. She emphasizes the need for educators to hold space for democratic ideals, criticality, and system-level reflection, ensuring schools don’t merely replicate inequities but become incubators for liberatory and humanizing practices.

She argues that without intention and collective design, even well-meaning innovations can reinforce the very hierarchies they aim to dismantle.

“If we’re too focused on aligning kids with the world of work as it currently operates, we may uncritically align them with systems that leave people behind.”

“Even in schools designed to be liberatory, capitalist logic can creep back in unless we are intentional and critical.”

“Education systems are often incoherent. Ask any person in a school what its purpose is, and you’ll get a different answer.”

“We need to allow young people to imagine a world that doesn’t exist yet—and help them think beyond the logic that dominates our world.”

• How can educators engage in real-world learning without reproducing existing inequities or capitalist logic?
• What does it mean to center democratic ideals within career technical education (CTE) and project-based learning?
• How can schools better support critical reflection and systemic analysis, especially for students on the margins?
• What role should student wellness, agency, and civic empowerment play in defining a school’s purpose?