Well? What's your answer?

[cross-posted at LeaderTalk]

K-12 and postsecondary education would be very different if we asked ourselves this question more often (thanks, Stephanie). Is your organization ready to take this inquiry to heart – to really, truly critically examine its current practices and assumptions in light of this question? Mine isn’t.

Comments

[Tim]

1.

We are far too comfortable with our traditional structure for "school", believing that it prepares students for what lies beyond graduation. It may have worked for past generations when they left for one of a few possible paths (and you might get an argument against that assumption). However, today the world offers (imposes?) far too many options for us to say that we have the one correct system for educating our kids.

Unfortunately, this traditional system is also very convenient for us as educators and for society as a whole. It makes life so much easier to plan for.

[Karl Fisch]

2.

I frequently use a fairly similar phrase in my staff development - Our schools are designed for the convenience of the adults, not for the needs of our students.

And while I truly believe that most adults involved with our school systems have the students' best interests at heart, and most likely disagree with the sentiment of that statement, I nevertheless believe that it's true way, way too often.

[A,. Mercer]

3.

Hmm, is this a false dichotomy in some ways? Can the two interact? I imagine a square with four quadrants:

Upper left - Highly effective, Very convenient: Easy for you as a teacher, making you less stressed. Good for the kids cause you are not stressed, and they are learning.

Upper right - Highly effective, not convenient: Students are learning, but it is requiring work on your part. The good news is that with more practice, it may become easier for you to implement. Sometimes we have to try something new, different and difficult. We ask our kids to do this, why can't we?

Lower left - Convenient, but not effective: Well, you're kicking back, and perhaps the kids are too, but what is being accomplished. I'm not going to pretend every moment in my class is on task, effective, or something like that, but you want to minimize this occurring.

Lower right - Not convenient, not effective: Now you would think you would NEVER want to be here, but sometimes when you try something new, you end up in this place. I wouldn't want to be here all the time, but to get to effective and convenient, or even effective and inconvenient, you have to risk not getting either. It's the sign your trying something new, and difficult. If all your new plans end up here, well some analysis is in order. If none of them do, I want to meet you and see you walk on the water!

[Jason Bednar]

4.

I have been thinking about this question for some time. I really like Alice's quadrant approach. Looking at my role as an elementary principal, I can see all four quadrants on a seemingly daily basis. It is good motivation for me to aim for the upper left and help staff move from the upper right to the left. I see many things that I would put in the upper half, but parents would put in the lower half. Bridging those divergent views is one of the more challenging aspects of my role, but it necessary for staff development and community outreach.

[Holly Kragthorpe-Shirley]

5.

Wouldn't it be ideal if every school conversation were aligned with this question? What would happen if we stopped jockeying to make adult-centered decisions?

We are limiting our options and potential impact by not asking ourselves what is best for students in every situation. There doesn't always need to be a dichotomy, but let's be real. When we're choosing not to do what is best for students, let's at least name it and own it.

[Mayor McCheese]

6.

i really have no opinion about this article because it is dangerously irrelevant. i find myself at odds with the fact that adults in this day and age have nothing better to do with their time then to teach kids the difference between right and wrong. i grew up on drugs and with no formal education, yet my father encouraged us to take psychadelics as a young kid and i always flunked my tests on purpose. yet, i became one of the world's wealthiest billionaires, hated around the globe for my good fashion sense and despised by asian and blacks alike because i dated caucasian blondes who they could only dream about in their wildest fantasies. when i am buying put options against my company positions while writing up my finance articles, i think about education from time to time and how so many people in school went to harvard and yale and stuff like that, and then i see them come to me at job fairs looking for a handout. it makes me laugh sometimes. anyhow, i am on my yacht right now and i have to get back to work because the spanish guy i hired last week isn't doing such a good job on my lawn and so i think it's back to the good old resume pile in the corner. if any of you know any out of work administrators willing to make $12.99 an hour mowing my 3000 acre grass, please feel free to email me back at whoneedsaformaleducationwhenyoucanjustbuyyourwaytothetop@hotmail.com

[Danys Betts]

7.

I feel that too many teachers today have become too comfortable & laxed with their teaching; we must keep in mind that it is never a good thing to be comfortable--in the sense of laziness when teaching--the youth of today, tomorrow, & from here to the end of time. Eduction is a vital key for every child. For some children an education means the difference between a life of crime and a life of opportunities. If as a teacher, I can show even one child that being educated can make a world of difference then I have helped the future of this nation. I am not busting my hump going to college to become a teacher for the pay--we all know that Burger King pays their managers more than teachers get paid--I am doing this for the future of our nation. I am doing this to improve a childs life, to change a childs life, & to open their mind to endless possibilities.

[heribert]

8.

"no problem can be solved
from the same consciousness
that created it"

http://www.thought-parasites.net

:-)