Debbie and I have lived in the same house for over 12 years now. That’s a record for us. And though it is the same house, it is in many ways very different. I am fascinated by the process that triggers then transforms our home. It usually happens this way:
I will be summoned into a room of our house where my wife stands looking reflective. Uh oh, she has had a vision. She has had a vision of what this room could be. Debbie begins to describe colors, flooring, furniture, finishing touches, etc., etc. As her vision is articulated I too see the room in a new way. The room wherein I have been comfortable, content; the room I could walk through in the dark without collision is now somehow less than it could be. I am discontent with the current state. I have seen the vision; in fact, I add to and embellish the vision with my own sense of what the room could be. We talk about it for a week or two, not doing anything but thinking and sharing. This for me is the creative tension stage wherein I sense things are going to change, am not sure exactly how they will change or how we will pay for it, but know I am growing more committed to the change and less content with the current state.
Next we start to shop, usually on-line, and begin to compile a list of what we will need to transform the room. As the bottom line grows, plans adjust. Perhaps we will do this in stages. We finalize our shopping list and head out to purchase. We never have enough resources to do everything we would like to do, but we do not wait for that or we would never do anything. This is the real commitment stage. If we are going to buy this stuff we sure as heck are going to do something with it.
We begin the actual transformation by making a mess. We move out the current stuff, now referred to as the “old stuff” and get down to the bare walls and floor. As we paint, re-floor, etc., we create even a bigger mess, but the vision of what the room could be keeps us going through the construction stage. We make mistakes, change our minds, swap this color for that, this texture for that, etc., but we keep going. After work and on weekends we eagerly tackle the project eventually reaching the point where we know we must finish soon, or declare war, or apply for federal disaster funds.
And then we are done! We haul off the old stuff. We clean up, move new stuff in, add the finishing touches and step back and look at our transformed room. We congratulate each other. We celebrate. We invite folks over to see what we have done. We are proud and pleased, know that it is not perfect, but it is work of our own hands. One room at a time, inside and outside, over 12 years we have gradually transformed our home. Once again I am content, I am at peace, and knowingly await another vision.
The process fascinates me because it works. It begins with a vision and/or a sense of discontent with the current state. The vision is shared and modified by those who have a sense of commitment and ownership in the outcome. Once articulated, the vision is acted on. Old stuff goes away, new stuff heads in. A mess is made during which time the re-visioned space is really not usable and looks worse. Commitment to the vision gets us through the mess and construction phase and plans are always modified. We conclude with a transformation and celebration.
This process would not work if our neighbors came over and criticized our current room and told us we should improve it. Nor would it work if the city mandated that every room must be transformed by a certain date and time meeting certain standards. It surely would not work if we did not have a sense of ownership, nor would it work if we had such a strong sense of commitment to the status quo that we were unable to have a vision or feel discontent. Real home improvement begins with the folks in the inside, not from folks on the outside. Those inside look outside for ideas, for inspiration, for research, but the motivation comes from inside. It involves the folks who have a sense of ownership in the place. It involves real commitment to improvement by people under the same roof.
That’s the part current school reformers do not get. Real improvement is inside-out, not outside-in. A memo, a law, a standard, a fiat does not result in inspired improvement but does result in mandated compliance. No one is excited or inspired by compliance. How simple it would be for Debbie and I to convene, look at Better Homes and Gardens, and send a letter to our grown children telling them that by September 1 they must transform their homes to meet these new standards and comply with our vision of what their homes should be; and, we are reducing their resources while we are making the requirements. We could even add sanctions if they did not comply.
We would never, ever do that.
So, the next time you hear a candidate, or an elected official, or an educational bureaucrat, or a billionaire discuss reform, mandate improvement, propose new standards, new tests, new outcomes, new processes, new evaluation tools, etc., etc., please stand up and say Poppycock and Balderdash. That is not how real improvement gets done. You may want to use language stronger than that if they propose such things and cut funding.
Please join those of us in the schools in our effort to transform and improve via our own visions. All voices that have a stake in the children of our community are welcome to share. The better the vision, the better the transformation.
One last thing: let’s help each other never to be too content with the way things are, too attached to the old stuff and too fearful to throw it away. That is the path that leads to outside-in reform.
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