As the summer settles in and I try to take care of the thousands of things I have neglected over the past year, this is what is on my mind right now:
There are three links that have me thinking about the people who run education. I have read the following articles in the last couple of days.
Joel Klein- The Failure of American Schools
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-failure-of-american-schools/8497/
David Brooks - Smells like School Spirit
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/opinion/01brooks.html
John Merrow responds to David Brooks' article
http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=5183
It is such a confusing landscape and it gets uglier when politics and power are in the mix.
The thing that resonates with me the most is Merrow's talk about Faster Ponies. We could improve the Pony Express with "Faster Ponies" but is that what we want. Do we want to improve the system that exists? When Klein talks about the demise of our national standings in NAEP and College graduation, the question that I wonder and is never addressed is, "Does it matter?".
Once again it comes down to the question that always haunts me.
What is the purpose of school and education?
Maybe this blog can help me figure it out.
Best,
Jeff
The thing to do is figure out what one's own view is of the purpose of education and pursue it with integrity. Often one's own purpose will overlap (even unintentionally) with the powers that be - in those cases, take advantage of the resources. In other cases, there will be contradictions. Stick with your own and minimize or eliminate the effect of the contradictions. Taking such a stand, it may still be useful to be informed on the conversations of purpose "out there" but it's not necessary to get on with one's work.
ReplyDeleteMichael- I think that makes a lot of sense. Have a purpose to your work and pursue it. In my practice, I don't have an issue with it, I hope. However, when I am reading articles or listening to people "out there" my head spins. Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Jeff
The difficulty for me here, Michael, is that it is hard to pursue my purpose for education with integrity without the working knowledge of what the powers-that-be are expecting that you mention. I have difficulty keeping myself informed but not letting that information pollute my purpose. It's a balancing act in which I often feel tipped over. And there are so many people who share my purpose that I know who have left the NYC system (or never joined it in the first place) that I wonder many times if that balancing act is even possible within the DoE.
ReplyDeleteIt may be that the purpose I feel so strongly about needs to be MORE present in my mind than the conversation "out there."
Thanks!
Peace,
Al