Everywhere in our economy, there are shortages – in skills, workers and opportunities. Employers say they can’t find the workers they need. And yet, tens of millions of workers are stuck in low-wage, low-growth jobs, with limited economic potential and little opportunity to pursue the American dream.

Some say the only answer is more robots, self-serve kiosks and other technology to replace the workers employers say they can’t find.

The teachers felt like curriculum robots—and pushed back. “This seems dehumanizing, this is colonizing, this is the man telling us what to do,” says Weaver, describing their response to the approach. “So we fought tooth and nail as a teacher group to throw that out.” It was replaced in 2015 by a curriculum that emphasized rich literary experiences. “Those who wanted to fight for social justice, they figured that this new progressive way of teaching reading was the way,” he says.