Through the lens of exile, this conceptual study explores the complex associations of choice and change, and their implications for education, in a range of areas from sociology through psychology and physiology. In bringing together and synthesising diverse thoughts about choice and change, it inquires into how educators and their professional practices can support the choices of young people in creating significant change and the hopeful future through knowledge economies. It concludes that, if the moral purposes of change are to be social and communal development, mental models should be chosen and knowledge created to accomplish those purposes. At stake is the legacy of today's choices for young people's futures.