“Where are you going?”
We ask that all the time of our kids, our spouses, our friends. Do we ever ask that of our schools?
We should.
And I’m not talking about being #FutureReady or other such recipe. I’m talking about the unique vision that every school should grapple with as the people in it look to the future and try to move forward. A vision that challenges our current practices.
“We’re trained not to speak up and say “I want to go over there, and I’m going to be responsible for getting us over there, and no one has ever been over there, and I’m not exactly sure how to get over there…’Let’s go!’ That’s hard. So we’re to go in acknowledging that it’s hard. That the difficult work of leadership begins with understanding that our responsibility…is to describe a future, a place where we want to go.”
If I asked “Where is your school going?” could you answer?
(Photo by Olivier Miche)
Principals want to lead. Teachers want to teach. Students want to learn. They have heartfelt, genuine, viable visions of where schooling could go. Just read the glorious ideas that post on Twitter every single day. Yet, the powers to be are steadfastly unwilling to dismantle the multimillion dollar assessment-driven system that is at the root of blocking authentic efforts to revisioning schools. We must let our voices be heard. We must ask the question every chance we have. “Where is our school going?” Get people thinking, talking and telling the stories of what could be. Ask the quintessential question. If not us, who?
Thanks, Will for lighting this fire.
Here’s an answer, Will. https://medium.com/@themaclab/re-imagine-high-school-cced444bc0f
And a quote from Why School is in there, too.
Keep fighting the good fight.