The end of every year is all about lists. Lists that list the good stuff. Lists that list the bad stuff.
Lists.
They are as ubiquitous to the advent of a new year as Dick Clark, cheap champagne, college football and those unspeakably bad Kay's jewelry commercials.
Every kiss begins with Kay's.......
Somebody shoot me. Please.
In any event, one such list making the rounds though the cyber universe is the "20 Biggest Tech Failures of 2010." There are a number of variations on this list; I've selected just one. But there is one surprising fact common to every list. Browse through each list and you will find some of the most successful companies on the planet. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Blackberry and HP. These are the billion-dollar big dogs of the technology universe. In fact, the long time king-of-the-IT-hill, Microsoft, is routinely credited with the dubious distinction of having the biggest flop of 201o, the Microsoft Kin.
Here are some other "flops" from 2010:
Google Buzz.
Apple Ping.
Google Wave.
Facebook privacy.
Palm Pre.
Google Nexus One.
As I read through these lists, and perused through some of the smug, sardonic comments posted from readers about these flops, I felt an odd sense of....
Inspiration.
That's right.
I was inspired by these failures.
And anyone who takes the idea of school reform seriously should be inspired by these lists as well.
Lists.
They are as ubiquitous to the advent of a new year as Dick Clark, cheap champagne, college football and those unspeakably bad Kay's jewelry commercials.
Every kiss begins with Kay's.......
Somebody shoot me. Please.
In any event, one such list making the rounds though the cyber universe is the "20 Biggest Tech Failures of 2010." There are a number of variations on this list; I've selected just one. But there is one surprising fact common to every list. Browse through each list and you will find some of the most successful companies on the planet. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Blackberry and HP. These are the billion-dollar big dogs of the technology universe. In fact, the long time king-of-the-IT-hill, Microsoft, is routinely credited with the dubious distinction of having the biggest flop of 201o, the Microsoft Kin.
Here are some other "flops" from 2010:
Google Buzz.
Apple Ping.
Google Wave.
Facebook privacy.
Palm Pre.
Google Nexus One.
As I read through these lists, and perused through some of the smug, sardonic comments posted from readers about these flops, I felt an odd sense of....
Inspiration.
That's right.
I was inspired by these failures.
And anyone who takes the idea of school reform seriously should be inspired by these lists as well.
*********
Greatness requires both the willingness and the ability to fail...and fail spectacularly. You will never, ever, achieve greatness by being safe. Safety is great for car seats and little girls. It is not great for those who would change the world. You must be willing to experiment, to push beyond the known, to risk scorn and humiliation, to fall flat on your face, often publicly, in order to achieve the unachievable. I am reminded, for example, of Christopher Columbus.
The world is round, he said.
You are wrong, was the retort.
The earth is not the center of the universe, he said.
You are a heretic, was the retort.
I will discover a new world, he said. A world overflowing with gold.
The reply?
You will fail.
Greatness requires failure. Greatness requires persistence. Greatness requires boldness. You've got to make mistakes to make successes.
Greatness is not neat, orderly and sanitized.
Greatness is messy.
But how many of these words would you use to define our public schools or anything that's associated with current efforts at "school reform?"
Is it bold?
Is it persistent?
Is it messy?
How often will you find lists documenting "the top 20 educational failures" of the year?
The answer? You won't.
Ever.
Because if one word could be used to define our schools, it would be safe. Our public schools absolutely practice what they preach, there's no hypocrisy there, it's all about writing in the margins, respecting time-honored traditions and waking in a straight, orderly line.
It's all about safety and sameness.
Am I wrong?
C'mon folks, let's call a spade a spade. Let's take off the kid gloves for a minute, shall we?
Why do most efforts at school reform fail to reform anything? 400 billion dollars in funding at the state and federal level each year and our public schools are being outclassed and outperformed by Guam. Why? Because lofty rhetoric and grandiose promises aside, most school district administrators and school boards simply refuse to push the pedagogical envelop. Risk is a word you will rarely hear in their vocabulary. Everything is close to the vest, easy does it, let's form a committee and talk about it so we can then invest in something like whiteboards, lie to an ill-informed public, call this school reform, and then sit idly by while our ill-prepared, under trained teachers proceed to use these pretty, shiny, new whiteboards in exactly the same way that teachers have been using blackboards for the last 100 years.
How's that for a sentence?
Ok.....try this one.
If public education was a car, it would be a 1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.
Yeah, it runs.
Yeah, it will get you from point A to point B.
Yeah, at about 4000 gas-guzzling pounds, it's relatively safe.
But a Caprice Classic? Really?
It's big, bloated, inefficient, unresponsive and slow.
Who in their right mind would want that?
The world is round, he said.
You are wrong, was the retort.
The earth is not the center of the universe, he said.
You are a heretic, was the retort.
I will discover a new world, he said. A world overflowing with gold.
The reply?
You will fail.
Greatness requires failure. Greatness requires persistence. Greatness requires boldness. You've got to make mistakes to make successes.
Greatness is not neat, orderly and sanitized.
Greatness is messy.
But how many of these words would you use to define our public schools or anything that's associated with current efforts at "school reform?"
Is it bold?
Is it persistent?
Is it messy?
How often will you find lists documenting "the top 20 educational failures" of the year?
The answer? You won't.
Ever.
Because if one word could be used to define our schools, it would be safe. Our public schools absolutely practice what they preach, there's no hypocrisy there, it's all about writing in the margins, respecting time-honored traditions and waking in a straight, orderly line.
It's all about safety and sameness.
Am I wrong?
C'mon folks, let's call a spade a spade. Let's take off the kid gloves for a minute, shall we?
Why do most efforts at school reform fail to reform anything? 400 billion dollars in funding at the state and federal level each year and our public schools are being outclassed and outperformed by Guam. Why? Because lofty rhetoric and grandiose promises aside, most school district administrators and school boards simply refuse to push the pedagogical envelop. Risk is a word you will rarely hear in their vocabulary. Everything is close to the vest, easy does it, let's form a committee and talk about it so we can then invest in something like whiteboards, lie to an ill-informed public, call this school reform, and then sit idly by while our ill-prepared, under trained teachers proceed to use these pretty, shiny, new whiteboards in exactly the same way that teachers have been using blackboards for the last 100 years.
How's that for a sentence?
Ok.....try this one.
If public education was a car, it would be a 1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic.
Yeah, it runs.
Yeah, it will get you from point A to point B.
Yeah, at about 4000 gas-guzzling pounds, it's relatively safe.
But a Caprice Classic? Really?
It's big, bloated, inefficient, unresponsive and slow.
Who in their right mind would want that?
***********
But let's be fair here. Because the one thing those of you familiar with my blogs should know, I do not take pot shots at educators. I'm not a member of the howling masses, I'm not here to hit below the belt or to throw stones. My mom was a career educator. I love my mom. I'm not throwing rocks at my mom.
Dirty laundry, yes.
But not stones.
So I must acknowledge, in the spirit of complete candor, that while some of the intellectual giants that are school district administrators would be better served as greeters at Walmart (if Walmart would have them) most school districts don't change...
Because they can't.
They can't risk innovation. They cannot play what they consider educational Russian roulette with the lives of their children. What if the next great effort at school reform doesn't work? What if, after all of the time, money and promises, it fails? This risk-adverse fear of failure leads to a "not on my watch" approach towards change in education. Everyone seems to want it, everyone seems to need it, but no one seems to do it. No one wants their kids to be the guinea pigs. Don't believe me? Try to rattle the cages in most school districts, try to suggest something truly different, and here's what you'll get....
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the principal."
So you go to the principal.
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the superintendent."
So you go to the superintendent.
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the board."
So you put on your best suit and go to the board.
"GREAT idea! But our curriculum is mandated by the state. So we've got to run it by the state ."
So you get in your car and travel to the state capital.
"GREAT idea! But we've got to run it by the politicos because their constituents don't want us messing with their schools."
By this point, you have retired. Or you are dead.
And therein, folks, lies the problem.
Public educators understand, and understand implicitly, that they are beholden to a captive audience. There is a undeniable sense of obligation that hangs over every decision. Schools must make AYP. Schools are required to fulfill certain curricular mandates. Schools have to reach certain benchmarks. There's simply no time, and no room, for experimentation. Educators can't risk mistakes. Because they know the kids from their community depend on their local schools for their educational future. That's a heavy duty responsibility folks because most educators know, and will tell you openly when challenged, that their kids don't have a choice. If you live in this area you WILL go to this school. End of story. So what happens?
Educators play it safe.
Because they have to.
These are our babies.
We are beholden to these kids.
They've no where else to go.
We can't risk.
Because they can't fail.
We can't change.
Because they can't choose.
It was then, with this realization, that I had an ah-ha! moment. An epiphany.
What drives our economic engine? What spurs ongoing innovation in the private sector?
Choice.
The fact that we can choose to buy a Palm Pre or not. And if we choose not to buy a Palm Pre, then the good folks at Palm can do one of two things.
They can do nothing, sit on the sidelines, and let the market pass them by. Or they can say, this doesn't work, there is no demand for what we're producing, so let's do it better.
Freedom of choice, or in economic parlance, demand, fuels innovation.
It's absence fuels....
Complacency.
Stagnation.
Inefficiency.
Redundancy.
And sadly, these are the words, along with the word obsolete, that too often characterize public education.
So where am I going with this?
Here it is.
One recurring question in education is "what would you change about our schools if you could?" or it's close conceptual cousin, "where does change begin?"
My answer to this question has changed over the years.
When I was introduced to the wonderful world of education technology, I would have said "by providing all students with 1-to-1 access to technology."
After a few years, my answer changed a bit. While I am still an ardent advocate for the ubiquitous integration of technology into our curriculum and classrooms, my approach has softened and broadened a bit. I grew to think, and have said as much, that before we could change minds about school reform generally and technology integration specifically, we had to change hearts. I thought that we had to base our pleas for reform less on logic and more on love; in other words, we had to tell better, more emotionally resonate stories.
I still think that.
But here's my answer today. An answer that evolved, strangely, while I considered the greatest tech failures of 2010.
Where does change begin?
I don't think change begins with 1-to-1 access to technology.
I don't think change begins with increased funding.
I don't think change begins with changing hearts.
Systemic change...
...I think...
...begins with and requires...
Choice.
Or to be more precise, educational choice for all public school students.
The absence of choice is the 1000 pound gorilla in the room. The absence of choice will forever bog down meaningful efforts at educational reform.
Why do charter schools seem to work so well? Why are they all the rage? Is it because there is something pedagogically revolutionary about charter schools?
Nope.
Charter schools are essentially privatized public schools where administrators get to choose how their school will be run, get to choose their curriculum, get to choose their teachers and most importantly, where the students who attend the school are the students who choose the school. Because the parents and student choose this school, they are vested in its success and have assumed the risk of its failure. If I should decide to open a charter school, and my great idea is to have teachers rap their lectures to their students, and you decide to send your child to my school because you like the idea of teachers who rap....well, you've made the choice. If it works, God bless. But if it doesn't, or you find the idea of hip-hop education horribly stupid, then you don't have to send your child to my school.
What if every child had that kind of choice?
What would that mean?
For students?
For teachers?
For communities?
It would mean that educators would have far greater freedom to try new things. To experiment. It would mean that a local school could make educational decisions based on the unique cultural needs of their local community. It would mean that school administrators could say to a community, "Look, we're scrapping everything. We're starting over. We're going to try this and this and this. And this this doesn't work, we're going to try that and that and that. If you're okay with that, if you believe in what we're going to try and do, please join us. Send your children here. We cannot guarantee success. There may be missteps. It may get messy. But we're determined to turn this school around and we're not going to get there doing the same old, same old.
But...
If you're uncomfortable with any of this, we understand. Don't send your kids here. You can send your children to a school that you think is best for them. We're just an option. One of many.
The choice is yours."
How often, good people, in the history of public education have you heard something like that?
Would that freak you out?
Or would you say, "It's about time."
Our public schools are not great. Not because there aren't great people in education. There are.
Our public schools aren't great because greatness requires the ability to fail. Greatness requires the ability to risk.
Greatness requires choice.
And there is no choice in public education.
So isn't that where the discussion should begin? How do we create more choice in public education? How do we encourage the same relentless push for innovation that fuels the private sector? What do we do?
Vouchers?
Do we make every school a charter school?
Do we separate school funding from school administration?
Do we privatize public education?
I don't know. This is virgin territory for me.
But we need to figure this thing out.
So let's talk.
Do you agree that focusing on educational choice the right place to begin any discussion on educational change?
And if you do, what do you think is the proper means for encouraging that choice?
Is this an idea whose time has come?
Or am I just baying into the wind?
And so this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
2010.
It's been a heck of a year, hasn't it?
I've certainly said my fill.
I've got a cool new website.
I'm recharged and renewed.
It's time to look forward.
But before we say a fond farewell to 2010, I'd like to leave you with this:
Choice before change.
That's my take.
Any thoughts?
Dirty laundry, yes.
But not stones.
So I must acknowledge, in the spirit of complete candor, that while some of the intellectual giants that are school district administrators would be better served as greeters at Walmart (if Walmart would have them) most school districts don't change...
Because they can't.
They can't risk innovation. They cannot play what they consider educational Russian roulette with the lives of their children. What if the next great effort at school reform doesn't work? What if, after all of the time, money and promises, it fails? This risk-adverse fear of failure leads to a "not on my watch" approach towards change in education. Everyone seems to want it, everyone seems to need it, but no one seems to do it. No one wants their kids to be the guinea pigs. Don't believe me? Try to rattle the cages in most school districts, try to suggest something truly different, and here's what you'll get....
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the principal."
So you go to the principal.
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the superintendent."
So you go to the superintendent.
"GREAT idea! We've got to run it by the board."
So you put on your best suit and go to the board.
"GREAT idea! But our curriculum is mandated by the state. So we've got to run it by the state ."
So you get in your car and travel to the state capital.
"GREAT idea! But we've got to run it by the politicos because their constituents don't want us messing with their schools."
By this point, you have retired. Or you are dead.
And therein, folks, lies the problem.
Public educators understand, and understand implicitly, that they are beholden to a captive audience. There is a undeniable sense of obligation that hangs over every decision. Schools must make AYP. Schools are required to fulfill certain curricular mandates. Schools have to reach certain benchmarks. There's simply no time, and no room, for experimentation. Educators can't risk mistakes. Because they know the kids from their community depend on their local schools for their educational future. That's a heavy duty responsibility folks because most educators know, and will tell you openly when challenged, that their kids don't have a choice. If you live in this area you WILL go to this school. End of story. So what happens?
Educators play it safe.
Because they have to.
These are our babies.
We are beholden to these kids.
They've no where else to go.
We can't risk.
Because they can't fail.
We can't change.
Because they can't choose.
**********
It was then, with this realization, that I had an ah-ha! moment. An epiphany.
What drives our economic engine? What spurs ongoing innovation in the private sector?
Choice.
The fact that we can choose to buy a Palm Pre or not. And if we choose not to buy a Palm Pre, then the good folks at Palm can do one of two things.
They can do nothing, sit on the sidelines, and let the market pass them by. Or they can say, this doesn't work, there is no demand for what we're producing, so let's do it better.
Freedom of choice, or in economic parlance, demand, fuels innovation.
It's absence fuels....
Complacency.
Stagnation.
Inefficiency.
Redundancy.
And sadly, these are the words, along with the word obsolete, that too often characterize public education.
**********
So where am I going with this?
Here it is.
One recurring question in education is "what would you change about our schools if you could?" or it's close conceptual cousin, "where does change begin?"
My answer to this question has changed over the years.
When I was introduced to the wonderful world of education technology, I would have said "by providing all students with 1-to-1 access to technology."
After a few years, my answer changed a bit. While I am still an ardent advocate for the ubiquitous integration of technology into our curriculum and classrooms, my approach has softened and broadened a bit. I grew to think, and have said as much, that before we could change minds about school reform generally and technology integration specifically, we had to change hearts. I thought that we had to base our pleas for reform less on logic and more on love; in other words, we had to tell better, more emotionally resonate stories.
I still think that.
But here's my answer today. An answer that evolved, strangely, while I considered the greatest tech failures of 2010.
Where does change begin?
I don't think change begins with 1-to-1 access to technology.
I don't think change begins with increased funding.
I don't think change begins with changing hearts.
Systemic change...
...I think...
...begins with and requires...
Choice.
Or to be more precise, educational choice for all public school students.
The absence of choice is the 1000 pound gorilla in the room. The absence of choice will forever bog down meaningful efforts at educational reform.
Why do charter schools seem to work so well? Why are they all the rage? Is it because there is something pedagogically revolutionary about charter schools?
Nope.
Charter schools are essentially privatized public schools where administrators get to choose how their school will be run, get to choose their curriculum, get to choose their teachers and most importantly, where the students who attend the school are the students who choose the school. Because the parents and student choose this school, they are vested in its success and have assumed the risk of its failure. If I should decide to open a charter school, and my great idea is to have teachers rap their lectures to their students, and you decide to send your child to my school because you like the idea of teachers who rap....well, you've made the choice. If it works, God bless. But if it doesn't, or you find the idea of hip-hop education horribly stupid, then you don't have to send your child to my school.
What if every child had that kind of choice?
What would that mean?
For students?
For teachers?
For communities?
It would mean that educators would have far greater freedom to try new things. To experiment. It would mean that a local school could make educational decisions based on the unique cultural needs of their local community. It would mean that school administrators could say to a community, "Look, we're scrapping everything. We're starting over. We're going to try this and this and this. And this this doesn't work, we're going to try that and that and that. If you're okay with that, if you believe in what we're going to try and do, please join us. Send your children here. We cannot guarantee success. There may be missteps. It may get messy. But we're determined to turn this school around and we're not going to get there doing the same old, same old.
But...
If you're uncomfortable with any of this, we understand. Don't send your kids here. You can send your children to a school that you think is best for them. We're just an option. One of many.
The choice is yours."
How often, good people, in the history of public education have you heard something like that?
Would that freak you out?
Or would you say, "It's about time."
Our public schools are not great. Not because there aren't great people in education. There are.
Our public schools aren't great because greatness requires the ability to fail. Greatness requires the ability to risk.
Greatness requires choice.
And there is no choice in public education.
So isn't that where the discussion should begin? How do we create more choice in public education? How do we encourage the same relentless push for innovation that fuels the private sector? What do we do?
Vouchers?
Do we make every school a charter school?
Do we separate school funding from school administration?
Do we privatize public education?
I don't know. This is virgin territory for me.
But we need to figure this thing out.
So let's talk.
Do you agree that focusing on educational choice the right place to begin any discussion on educational change?
And if you do, what do you think is the proper means for encouraging that choice?
Is this an idea whose time has come?
Or am I just baying into the wind?
**********
And so this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
2010.
It's been a heck of a year, hasn't it?
I've certainly said my fill.
I've got a cool new website.
I'm recharged and renewed.
It's time to look forward.
But before we say a fond farewell to 2010, I'd like to leave you with this:
Choice before change.
That's my take.
Any thoughts?
Posts
Choice is a good place to start because it gives the chooser a sense of empowerment. Now they are in control of their own destinies. There is no one to blame. The problem is that choice (right now) isn't free (I aim to change this with Twit academy). Sure you might have a handful of charter schools to choose from but you are forced to stay in whatever school you are currently at because of over crowding. Those choice schools can only open their doors so wide. Colorado has tried to give everyone choice by letting parents open enroll their child in any public school (not just the neighborhood school). This still isn't true choice, at the end of the day parents can't drive their kids an hour north to a better school every day. They work two or three jobs and have to keep their kids at a school that is within walking distance. Those schools that are known for being great? They are always full. If you aren't already in, you aren't likely to get in. And so the choice isn't really choice after all.
ReplyDeleteHere is the model I am working on making a reality that I would like to see. Schools that are learning centers. Free to all students, not government funded. (there are creative ways to do this). Technology in every school that allows every student to connect with a teacher/mentor anywhere in the world to learn from. They get to choose from the best and supplement their learning with this virtual learning. Twitacad. Connecting students and teachers with technology. Making the choice bigger than just the city or state, making the choice world wide. (I may have the beginning of a new blog post ;) )