Blog Archive for February, 2009

This afternoon I had the pleasure of being on the grounds of the University of San Diego. As I walked up and down the hills of the campus, I reminisced about my days in college several years ago. I watched students stroll from class to class and something very profound hit me. I realized just what a pleasure it is to be able to attend college. In addition, I couldn’t help but be somewhat disappointed in the fact that I let it fly by without realizing exactly what that opportunity was all about. Higher education is about learning, being immersed in ideas that help you to grow and think. Unfortunately, I spent 90% of my time thinking about passing my classes. What caused this “countdown until graduation” mentality in me? I can’t help but think that it is related in some form to the education that I received in high school.

I unfortunately was surrounded by secondary teachers who never, literally, never talked about college or the joy that true learning brings. To the contrary, I was trained to know exactly what I needed to do to get a certain grade in a class that was required in order to earn a high school diploma. And while I would acknowledge that my teenage attitude didn’t always lend itself to being open to all the ideas that education can bring, I also understand that to learn such ideals from my high school teachers came way too late in life. The joy of true learning, in pursuit of a college education, begins in elementary school. As you go forward today, in whatever position you hold in education, remind yourself that while we are held accountable for the academic success of our students, it’s not just about the grade. True learning takes place when one receives the extrinsic award of a good grade along with the intrinsic joy of the learning that took place along the way.

Have you ever noticed how some educators in performance challenged schools seem to be authorities on what is wrong with their school, but can’t seem to be able to come up with a single way to fix their problems?  Lately I have been intrigued by this “knowing-doing gap” phenomenon and thus have decided to challenge the thinking of such educators whenever I get the chance.  Upon doing so, I’ve learned that the answer is almost always the same, it’s always someone else’s fault.  “The district makes us do it this way” or “everyone’s not on board” they’ll say.  And while I sympathize with the very real challenges that exist in schools today, the truth is that the best schools are staffed with people who love finding solutions to problems instead of finding problems with solutions. The rule at our school is this: You can talk about the problem, you can vent about the problem, and you can even be angry about the problem.  But at the end of your sharing, you must always offer a suggestion on how to fix the problem.