Does the Future Need Schools? John Moravec's Education Survey
Education Futures asked a yes/no question in March 2018: will school still be relevant 10, 20 or 50 years from now? Of 164 respondents, 71 percent said yes.
Updated
The question and the numbers
John Moravec and Kelly Killorn-Moravec of Education Futures ran the survey from March 1 to 16, 2018. It consisted of one yes/no question, whether the future needs schools when looking 10, 20 or 50 years ahead, with an optional follow-up asking why or why not. A total of 164 people responded. Of those, 116 (71 percent) said yes, which leaves 48 respondents, or 29 percent, who said no. The question itself was short: a position on whether school will still be relevant across horizons of one to five decades.
The optional follow-up drew far more engagement than expected: 161 of the 164 respondents, about 98 percent, wrote something. The researchers noted that respondents used the space to say what education is for, which produced rich data. The share of yes answers therefore tells less than the reasons behind them.
How the answers were analyzed
Moravec and Killorn-Moravec each coded every written response, a method called dual coding that is meant to keep the interpretation accurate. Killorn-Moravec also built a detailed mind map of the responses, which the team published as a PDF and as a web page. A webinar presentation walked through the findings, and the summary reached readers through the Education Futures newsletter in May 2018.
The survey was open and voluntary, so its percentages describe the people who chose to answer. They describe only that group of respondents.
What is true today
Education Futures is still active. Its website describes it as the research and advisory practice of Dr. John Moravec, working with schools, universities, governments and other organizations on learning, technology and educational change through research, strategic planning, workshops and curriculum design. The footer lists Education Futures LLC in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The site sorts its articles under topics such as Accelerating Change, Artificial Intelligence, Knowmads and Manifesto 25, and offers a Spanish-language section. Recent work on the site includes Build a Positive Rebellion, listed on April 7, 2026 as twenty-five essays on power, trust and the freedom to learn, with working notebooks. The slide deck on SlideShare, credited to Moravec and Killorn-Moravec, still shows the March 1 to 16, 2018 field dates, 164 respondents and the 71 percent figure.
Questions about the survey
What share of respondents said the future needs schools?
71 percent, which is 116 of 164 respondents, answered yes. The remaining 29 percent answered no.
When was the survey held and who ran it?
It ran from March 1 to 16, 2018 and was run by John Moravec and Kelly Killorn-Moravec of Education Futures.
How many people explained their answer?
161 of 164 respondents, about 98 percent, used the optional follow-up to say why or why not.