Colorado Senator Mike Johnston shares his story on the power of learning communities and positive peer pressure to reach achievement goals. The social value of college readiness in this charter school was worth enough to get 100% of the graduating class accepted into college before graduation – because every peer and teacher knew who was accepted, and who wasn’t and the celebration was authentically joyful. Inspiring!
I wonder who held your ladder? (or maybe they are holding it for you right now …)
Like Mike Johnston’s effort, we have been revolutionizing and changing our systems for centuries. Immanuel Kant, in 1777, wrote how we would wait in vain for significant reform to the education system and that schools must be “revolutionized” (source: “Education in the History of Western Civilization” p. 231). How fascinating that this same sentiment has persistently endured. Though we hear it loudly in the education arena it is not a symptom unique to the education system.
Kant’s direct quote is:
“It is … in vain to expect this benefit to the human race from a gradual improvement of the schools. They must be revolutionized, if anything good is to be derived from them; for they are bad in their fundamental organization; and even their teachers themselves must receive a new training.”
Kant’s frustration is the same discord that individuals have held for their organizations and systems throughout history. It is why generation after generation has revolutionized businesses, government and families. It is the process of learning. A struggle for freedom, change, adaptation to a changing world and mind. And this is the essence of what I will explore in this blog.