MORE THAN NUMBERS
Through 45 Zoom chats (and still counting) and more than a dozen email responses from educators around the world, The Quest has been far more professionally and personally rewarding than I ever imagined. The energy, commitment, and passion for education, learning, and change were evident in every single contact!
AND I will share what I have learned from these conversations and further research of my “essential questions” through periodic updates. Each update will highlight a key understanding from the conversations along with new learnings, links, resources. Let’s get started with some of your insightful comments from our conversations…
ZOOM & EMAIL QUOTES
“We had the formula. Now, they pulled out one of the parts of the equation!”
This comment shared by an Admissions Head in China shows a stressed international school parent describing highly selective universities going SAT/ACT test-optional during the pandemic. A perfect metaphor that includes a fixation on Math and gaming the admissions system. Wonder what the parent thinks now that China has “cracked down” on the private tutoring business. It may not matter as there is little hope on actually reducing the stress and cost of off-campus tutoring as families will likely head to the black market for services.
Click on the video below for your additional comments about the state of change in education.
– QUEST Quotes Video –
Please use any/all portions of the video for your personal or professional use. Might be a conversation starter or two with your teams in there. Thank you again for sharing with me.
Going Macro – Systems Thinking
I’ve always looked at change in education with a focus on how other systems impacted it. Then, I tried placing society at the center with the various systems (including education) influencing outcomes. That didn’t feel right either. Now, I see neoliberalism dominating it all. A significant majority of independent and international school families are on the neoliberal economic treadmill and can’t see anything different for their children. It worked for them, right?
Think I’m kidding about the impact of the economic system on change? In this clip from The Tonight Show, 88-year-old Willie Nelson pretty much sums up what drives it all:
Staying Macro
What do a Washington Post columnist, TV game show, The Chase, a postcard in my mailbox, and a man duct-taped to his airplane seat have in common?
I’ve been paying closer attention to how status quo forces have infiltrated and dominated societal perspectives, especially mainstream media. Fareed Zakaria got me going when he provided a misguided, heartless commentary on the state of “learning loss” on his Global Public Square CNN program. I sent him an email in protest (still waiting for his response) and followed up with this blog post, The Elitist Hammer and Nail.
It is vital for the future of learning to wrest control of the narrative from elitist standardized dogma.
I’ll be blogging about the impact of status quo thinking (and the dude in the airplane seat) in the near future. It weighs heavy on change initiatives.
One Last Thought
The emotional toll that the pandemic wreaked on students and educators was evident in every Zoom chat. With Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, and (previously) Michael Phelps going public about protecting their mental well-being, we have high-profile attention on the importance of mental health. It is imperative to start the new school year focused on wellness and relationships, not learning loss. When someone starts blathering about “falling behind” or “catching up”, send them one (or all) of these:
“Falling Behind” Is A Dangerous Myth of Compliance and Control in Education
Is Learning “Lost” When Kids Are Out Of School?
Too Much Focus on ‘Learning Loss’ Will Be a Historic Mistake
Learning Loss Illusion
Taking it further, the Human Restoration Project has created a free Learning Loss Handbook. “In this fillable handbook, they address if ‘learning loss’ is something we need to address. And if it isn’t, we must figure out what to do instead.”
Just getting started but that’s all for now. Let me know what you’re thinking.