On January 9 2001, Mark Moore [now Mark Ackermoore], Founding Director of The Earthville Network, gave a co-keynote speech and led a town-hall-style dialog on the future of education at the Horizons Forum in Colorado, marking the 50th anniversary of the Jefferson County School District. Mark was joined by his mother, Dr. Kay McClenney, who works with The Education Commission of the States, the Pew Charitable Trust, the University of Texas and other educational organizations and regularly speaks and consults nationwide on education reform, administrative excellence and policy issues.
The following are the main points which Mark made to the educators, administrators, students and community members gathered at the conference (paraphrased from his contributions to the dialog).
LESSONS FROM THE PAST: DIVERSITY OF POPULATION REQUIRES DIVERSITY OF APPROACHES
We have learned that the US is too big a country with too diverse a population for one approach to education to work to work for everyone.
We have learned that we need a great diversity of approaches to teaching and learning that reflects the great diversity of the American population.
We have learned that we need flexibility at the local level so that each state, each school district, each school and each teacher, parent and student can shape their schools to fit their unique needs.
Thus, in this time of crisis in our communities, which is inextricably linked with the crisis in our educational system, i believe in my heart and in my head that the most valuable asset from the past that we can and must bring forward into the future is a tradition that is one of this country's greatest strengths, and that is the spirit of innovation.
Without the willingness to take risks and to support experiments and new alternatives, this country could never have achieved what it has today. And without this school district's sometimes begrudging willingness to support the Jefferson County Open High School, which i had the privilege and blessing to attend, i might not have made it either.
Like so many other gifted and sensitive young people (which i believe is pretty much all of them), i felt beaten down by my experience in conventional public schools, which i saw as both impersonal and irrelevant. More poignantly, conventional school demanded little of me but punctuality and memorization - neither of which were my strong suit! It routinely punished me for expressing myself outside the box (even when i hadn't broken any rules), and it utterly failed to recognize me as a human being with unique needs. I became one of those kids who slipped through the cracks.
At the Jefferson County Open High School, i not only met the standards which are expected of a High School graduate; i far exceeded them, and went on to do very well in a private liberal arts college. More importantly to me, though, i was able to meet, exceed and keep raising my own standards and to invent and continue reinventing a life that has meaning for me and brings benefit to others. This is a lesson i keep learning, seeking always to challenge myself and to learn everything i can from my personal and professional experiences by living what Socrates called "the examined life." This is one of the best lessons i ever learned, and one of the few lessons from high school that i will never forget.
This is what students need to learn in school: to examine and understand themselves and the world around them and to challenge themselves continuously to improve the way we relate with that world and the people and creatures that live in it. For schools to be able to provide this experience for students, our schools must have the flexibility, creativity and sensitivity to understand each unique student and help that student find his or her unique way.
THE MOST PRESSING NEED FOR THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION: STUDENTS MUST BE EMPOWERED TO BECOME LEADERS, WHICH WILL ONLY HAPPEN IF THEY ARE ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED TO MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES IN SCHOOL
Students must be prepared to be more effective leaders for tomorrow than we have been for today. For this to happen, they need to be able to solve problems, which means they need to be able to think and act for themselves. How can we expect students to think well for themselves and act responsibly if they are not allowed and encouraged to make the decisions which will shape most of the formative years in their lives - the decisions about how they will learn what they need to learn?
Students must be helped to become responsible for blazing their own path to meeting the educational requirements imposed on them by law, plus their own goals and expectations. They must be allowed the flexibility to do it in a way that works for them, and they must be encouraged and guided to make the best use of that freedom. How can we expect students suddenly to start making responsible decisions about important issues after graduation if they are not given the opportunity to take responsibility for the major and minor choices which shape their lives while they are young?
In the Himalayas, and in the villages of India, Nepal and Tibet, the transition from child to adult is blurred. On the one hand, kids are generally treated more or less like adults from the time they are eight or ten years old - and they are expected to act like adults. On the other hand, even adults tend never to lose their childlike spirit - they never stop playing and never stop having fun. The net result is the most well-adjusted people I have seen in all my travels of the world. I don't mean to romanticize them or suggest they don't have problems, because they do face many hardships, but after living with the people of the Himalayas for years i can attest that on balance they are some of the most resourceful, resilient, hard-working, peaceful and happy people on the planet.
Our young people are no different from those of the Himalayas in that they usually respond very well to being treated as if they were responsible adults, assuming there is a cultural context to support that and guide them when they stray too far from kindness and sensibility. It is clear that are communities as a whole are too often failing to provide this supportive cultural context, so like it or not it is up to the school to do so.
Our schools must create an environment where students are supported to grow into mature and responsible adults who will live in the world outside the classroom. If that transition from young child to mature, responsible adult doesn't happen in the context of school, is it likely to happen anywhere else? Not very often.
THE ISSUE MOST DESERVING OF ATTENTION AND DISCUSSION IN OUR COMMUNITIES: THE CULTURE OF THE LEARNING COMMUNITY
I really believe the most important area which our communities really need to examine and discuss is one that is much lamented by students, yet rarely addressed at all by "grown-ups", and that is the culture of the learning community. What do i mean by "culture" in this sense? We all come from our own cultural backgrounds, of course, but that's not really what i'm talking about here. When i talk about the "culture of the learning community", i mean the chosen common culture - the environment, the assumptions, the relationships, the rules and other factors which create the overall atmosphere of a school or other learning community (which includes the students, faculty, staff, parents and greater community).
One of the most important defining characteristics of the culture of a learning community is what some of would refer to as the "vibe" of the learning environment. What does it feel like when two people encounter each other in the hall? What does it feel like when a student talks with a teacher? What does it feel like when students talk with other students and teachers with other teachers, administrators and so on? Does it feel like a relationship of mutual understanding, respect and support? Does it feel like a relationship of love?
All of us are here because we are loving people. We're surely not in it for the money! [Laughter from the audience.] We're involved in education because we care about other people, because we love our children. So, if love is what this is all about, why don't we talk about it more often?
Love for one another is what we need to heal our communities and empower our young people with confidence in themselves so they can thrive and serve as effective leaders for tomorrow. Love is also the source of the courage we need to look at our schools and our communities and our practices honestly and identify the things that aren't working so we can use our creativity to improve them. Love is the only thing that will heal the wounds of history and the resultant violence in our communities. Our communities need to learn to talk about love, and make sure that the culture of our learning communities is a culture of loving.
I love all of you. Thank you.