Everybody's got an opinion

And that's totally fine! Except.....

When there is no clear Just cause, or WHY, behind our system it flounders. Our society lives off of a surfaced level "why" to get us through each day. But for our thoughts and opinions of how our students should be educated to make any headway, we have to dive deeper than that.

Surfaced leveled WHY's aren't a true WHY.

It gives us a false sense of security that we are "fighting for a bigger cause". But in actuality, it leaves room for holes. And where there are holes comes floods.

These holes are filled with the WHAT people think teachers should be doing to better educate our youth.

And guess what? Everyone (except for your few wild cards) is RIGHT.

But why?

Because there are a million and a half "right" ways to teach kids since kids eventually need to learn EVERYTHING.

This is why the debate is so frustrating to so many. We can all agree depending on what you're arguing on.

Should students know how to file taxes? Of course...but maybe not in 3rd grade. Should students learn how to be organized? Work in groups? Problem solve? Yes of course to all of those.

But what does that look like?

It can look like ANYTHING and that is why we are all RIGHT.

..........................But still so wrong.

When our scope for education is so BROAD and flowing, how can we possibly narrow down the ONE RIGHT way to teach our youth?

The power is in the number of solutions. But we cannot better tailor the solutions until we know WHY we want to educate our children. And for that, it must come from the top to lead our WHY. So that those below (currently those in charge of funding and curriculum) can create a better HOW for those of us on the field to get behind and execute the WHAT.

****if any of this resonates, I highly recommend reading "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek. Many of these beliefs stem from his book.