We live in a society completely infatuated with the notion that there should be a quick-fix for everything. Got a cough? Try this lozenge. Headache? This pill should do the trick. Sudden breakout? This cream will clear you up overnight! Need to find directions to the nearest drugstore to purchase these items? Well, there’s an app for that. Our entire way of marketing revolves around solving needs as quickly as possible. You’re broken, this is what will make you better. Quick-fix. Topical treatments. Whitewashing the tombs. It’s so pervasive (and so effective) that it bleeds over into every corner of our lives and as so many infomercial pitch-men have proven, it’s profitable. Extremely profitable. We’re willing to fork over good money for that which promises instant results.
And so it seems many education reformers (or, at least, would-be reformers) have bought the magic beans.This trick, that tool, this contest, that grant money. Surely THAT’S what will finally fix education.
We fail to see that, like our bodies, education is a system. We can hide or cover up symptoms, but the root problem remains. We’ve ignored the real issue and just want to pretend that our simple solution is all that is needed. And often, it “works.” At least from a marketing standpoint. We see this teacher or that school or that district doing something different with positive results and we jump on the bandwagon. We buy the magic beans thinking that will fix our ailing system. We think that one person’s recovery is another’s prescription. We ignore the differences.
Think about it. Technology initiatives, teacher training camps, professional development opportunities, private and/or charter schools, teachers’ unions, extended day/year programs, copious amounts of money/incentive pay, and more aren’t inherently bad ideas, but what happens when scores don’t improve (that’s the goal of most reform movements)? Was it the technology’s fault? Should we have not trained the teachers? Should we have offered a different amount of PD? What if schools could determine who they kept and who they rejected? We flounder from one idea to the next, wondering why one change seems to cause another problem. Maybe we should have read the label that reads: side effects may include…
So here it is: there is no quick-fix. There are no shortcuts. There are no simple solutions. There are no magic beans. The solution? Hard work. Every instance of success that I read about has exactly one common denominator: a group of people absolutely dedicated to making success a reality and then working towards that goal.
The problem, of course, is answering the question: who determines and what defines success?
