The story begins with media producer Howard Blumenthal interviewing children and teenagers in and near Kampala, Uganda, and in Hong Kong. He asked about their lives, learning, and their plans for the future in the form of video interviews. You can watch some of them on this website. As Howard interviewed more kids, in more places, he began to understand how much they wanted to learn, and how they were disappointed by school. Curious why, Howard connected with Robert Pianta, Dean of The University of Virginia's School of Education & Human Development. They decided to work together, in part to define the issues, but mostly, to devise a better plan for children and teenagers growing up in the first half of the 21st century. The book offers a clear-eyed view of growing up in modern times, then explains learning in contemporary terms -- with an emphasis on cognitive science, memory and relationships. Then, the authors examine the current version of school ("Old School"), offer a more modern framework ("New School") and highlight the importance of all that is learned without school ("Not School"). There are new roles for adults, too. Unlike most authors, we are reaching out to the community to figure out what we've done right, and what we could do better. We hope you will spend time with the new book, and offer your ideas to make it better in our comments section.