Education Reform is Hard Because We Care So Much

When it comes to reform in education, people's opinions run a wide gamut of ideas. Ideas can be well-informed and even based on research and facts. However, so much of the passionate debate around the quality and experience of education stems from our deep interests in our children and their future. Many of us have strong opinions and ideas because we have so much vested in our own children, in our communities, and in the future of our nation. And this is good news! It is great that so many people care so much. It creates lively debate and, in many ways, we are all right (and sometimes wrong) to some degree with the ideas that we bring to the table. 

In conversations around effective education, we all bring our own ideas, experiences, and judgements. As Jonathan Haidt points out in the Righteous Mind, our moral foundations act as a guide for our decision making. These moral foundations become part of our nature and guide our way of seeing things and how we make decisions. In his book, The Happiness Hypothesis, Haidt introduces the metaphor of the elephant and the rider to understand our emotions and our reasoning. We all have our emotional and intuitive responses (the elephant) as well as our riders (conscious reasoning) and the two must work together. For many of us, education is a moral matter, and we address issues around reform with a moral zeal. As Haidt also points out, much of our moral reasoning is created by intuition rather than logic. Someone can present all sorts of research and data at a board meeting, but if it is not conclusive with their children’s experience, parents won’t necessarily be persuaded.

 Effective discussions around education must be driven by a willingness to see others’ perspectives. I really appreciate Rick Hess’ suggestion in chapter 3 of Letters to a Young Educator that we need to approach conversations about education with humility, specifically in conversation around education reform, and with people who think differently. He also points out that one must recognize the limits of one’s knowledge, listen to practitioners, and remain open to adjustments. This is a great formula for any good conversation! Discussions around education policy are passionate because so many of us care deeply about education. We need to approach these conversations with humility, and an understanding of our moral foundations and those of others.