Massachusetts 2035 · 04 / 10

Education

Your child will make a living by age 18

The moonshot

Make Massachusetts the Launchpad for Every Learner

Build an education system that helps every young person discover what excites them, develop real capability, and make a living by 18—with college as a powerful next chapter. K–8 builds foundations through AI-personalized learning and hands-on life skills. High school opens the doors to real work. Colleges become company launchpads, research engines, and social communities, powered by the infrastructure that makes each possible.

The opportunity

A picture of 2035

A child learns at their own pace, builds things with their hands, and tries work they never knew existed. By 18, they have a portfolio, paid experience, and a route to supporting themselves. They can work, start a company, go to college, or combine all three. College adds something worth choosing: a lab they could never access alone, collaborators who push them, and a community that lasts.

What we can build on

Massachusetts can connect public schools, vocational programs, employers, community colleges, and research universities into a much richer learning environment. Our bet is that institutions with the strongest infrastructure will lead: people, laboratories, workshops, computing, mentors, and places to gather. MIT is the kind of institution this vision looks to—not a committed partner in this plan.

The gap to close

Too many students spend years preparing for the next institution without discovering what they can actually do. Too often, we debate whether college is worth it without asking what the institution uniquely makes possible. The answer should be visible in the skills, discoveries, companies, friendships, and opportunities students leave with.

The work starts here.

Top three key initiatives

K–8: Personalized learning, hands-on workshops, and life skills

Give every child strong foundations in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and AI fluency, with personalized practice and feedback that meet them where they are. AI should help teachers give individual attention; qualified educators remain responsible for instruction, wellbeing, and important decisions. Protect student data and test whether tools improve learning rather than simply add screen time.

Make doing a normal part of the week: build a robot, grow food, cook a meal, repair something, tell a story, work in a team, and solve a problem for someone else. Teach age-appropriate money skills, communication, responsibility, and how to ask good questions. Equip workshops and give teachers the time and support to turn curiosity into confidence. Childhood should open possibilities, not sort children prematurely into careers.

High school: Apprenticeships, co-ops, internships, and exploration

Make high school a place to explore many futures before choosing one. Offer job shadowing, short employer projects, internships, co-ops, pre-apprenticeships, and paid apprenticeships across hospitals, labs, trades, startups, manufacturers, public service, and creative work. Let students rotate through different environments, meet mentors, and learn what genuinely excites them.

Turn that exploration into capability: a portfolio of real work, practical life skills, and a supported route to earning a living at 18. Pay productive employment, provide transport and accommodations, and supervise placements under applicable age, hour, and hazardous-work rules. Keep strong academics, arts, civic learning, and college options open; this is about more choices, not a single track. 6

College: Company launchpads, R&D, and social communities

Embrace the three things college can do exceptionally well. First, company and innovation launchpads: help people find cofounders, build prototypes, meet customers, and turn ideas into organizations. Second, research and development: give students access to serious equipment, faculty, research teams, and hard problems. Third, social clubs in the best sense: places to find friends, collaborators, belonging, debate, and relationships that endure. Stop fighting these roles and build deliberately around them.

Infrastructure underpins all three. Labs, workshops, computing, clinical and industry connections, venture support, housing, common spaces, clubs, and mentors should be accessible parts of student life. Our bet is that colleges with the strongest infrastructure—MIT is a model for this ambition—will win by making things possible that students cannot easily do alone. Measure access and outcomes, not prestige alone; help community colleges and regional institutions build their own strengths and share resources.

The supporting work

A Jobs-at-18 compact with employers and public service

Invite hospitals, manufacturers, labs, municipalities, trades, and small businesses to reserve visits, mentors, paid placements, and entry-level interviews. Publish actual commitments; named companies in this vision are prospective partners, not signatories.

A diploma that demonstrates capability

Develop a Mastery Diploma proposal covering core academics, practical projects, financial and civic knowledge, and work-based learning. Build it with educators, students, employers, and colleges so it preserves access to further study.

Pay and equip the educators who make it work

Move starting teacher pay toward $70,000, subject to district agreements and funding. Support workplace coordinators, technical instructors, summer training, and smaller mentoring groups where needed.

Remove the cost of participation

Pay students for productive employment. Cover transport, equipment, meals, and disability accommodations so opportunity does not depend on family income. Prefer employer and public funding; any adult training finance must have transparent terms and strong consumer protections.

Open the infrastructure, keep every door open

Build shared-access agreements for university labs, makerspaces, computing, mentors, and venture programs, with supervision and clear safety requirements. Connect high-school and community-college learners to those resources. Let paid experience and demonstrated skills count toward further credentials where agreements allow, and make retraining available throughout life.

The path to 2035

Proposed milestones. Expand against evidence, delivery, and public value.

2027
Start with learning and real exposure
Propose pilots in 10 districts serving 5,000 students, with high-need communities first. Equip workshops, test AI tutoring, and build employer/public-service partnerships. Establish age-appropriate visits and an initial target of 2,000 paid placements over two years. Map available college labs, makerspaces, venture programs, and community spaces; invite institutions to propose shared-access pilots.
2029
Expand what students prove
Expand toward 40 districts only where independent results justify it. Pursue 10,000 paid work-based learning places annually. Track literacy, math, practical skill, wellbeing, employer feedback, and whether students can reach placements reliably. Test cross-campus access to equipment and mentors, and track who actually uses it.
2031
Make experience a normal part of school
Make every district capable of offering AI tutoring, hands-on learning, and a supported route into real workplaces. Seek a statewide mastery standard and broader educator support. Colleges and employers recognize the same demonstrated skills. Expand college launchpad, research, and community-access pilots only where student outcomes support them.
2035
Make earning at 18 a real option
Aim for every graduate to have strong core skills, a practical portfolio, meaningful workplace experience, and a supported route to living-wage employment at 18. Students who choose college retain that option; students who choose work can support themselves and keep learning. Make college a deliberate next step for discovery, venture-building, deeper expertise, and lifelong relationships—not the only acceptable path.

Questions & answers

If students can earn at 18, what is college for?

Earning at 18 creates independence; it does not make college obsolete. College can provide three powerful things: a company and innovation launchpad, research and development, and a social community. The case for attending should be concrete: access to people, equipment, ideas, and opportunities that justify the cost. A student can choose college because of what they want to build and learn, while retaining the ability to support themselves.

Will AI replace teachers or turn school into screen time?

AI should provide individual teaching and practice while educators remain accountable for the whole child. Preserve discussion, reading, projects, arts, sport, and relationships. Evaluate learning and wellbeing independently; do not adopt a fixed screen-time model because a vendor claims faster results.

Will apprenticeships become cheap labor or track poor kids away from college?

Make access broad, participation supported, employment paid, and placements supervised. Keep academics and further-study routes open. Audit opportunity and outcomes by income, disability, and district. At 18, compare actual earnings with a published local basic-needs benchmark rather than calling any job a living.

Show the results.

The public scorecard

These are the measures we would publish to judge progress.

Core learning
Practical mastery
Paid placements
Job offers and employment at 18
Earnings versus a local living-cost benchmark
Continued education
Student wellbeing and access
Access to labs, workshops, and mentors
Student research and company-building outcomes
College community participation and belonging

Sources & context

Reference notes dated September 16, 2026. Plans and proposals are distinguished from existing activity.

[6] U.S. Department of Labor: Youth employment, Fact Sheet 43
Youth employment has age and occupational restrictions, including hazardous-work limits. Massachusetts requirements also need to be applied to each proposed placement.