We have been trying to reform education for a very long time. I believe that one of the main reasons we still have an industrial model of education is because stakeholders use technical solutions to “fix” education instead of dismantling it and redesigning anew. Education is an incredibly complex and adaptive system. There are intersections of race, gender, finance, health care, housing, parenting, leadership and pedagogy. We all have a desire to change the educational system, but how can we disrupt a system that is so complex?
When we have a finite mindset, we repeatedly fail to improve the education system for subsequent generations of students. Finite games are those with fixed rules for engagement, a clear end goal and easily determined winners and losers (e.g.: chess, football). Infinite games, in contrast, are more flexible because rules are changeable, there is no clear end goal and there are no winners or losers (e.g.: business, politics). Education, especially schooling, is an infinite system, yet education reform treats it as a finite system with concrete solutions to systemic problems.
Technical problems are easy to identify and oftentimes have quick solutions. Usually a small change, suggested by an outside authority and if implemented quickly, can solve technical challenges (e.g.: slow computer performance being solved with deleting files/programs on the hard drive). Adaptive challenges, on the other hand, are difficult to identify and require a change in one’s mindset and value system. These challenges require a lot of systemic change, using a variety of levers, from those within the system (e.g.: developing the leadership capacity of teachers to be more innovative and culturally responsive in their teaching). There are no quick fixes to adaptive problems, only shifts in mindset, continual experimentation, reflection and iteration. Unfortunately, adaptive challenges are easy targets for financial solutions.
School districts spend annually millions of dollars hiring outside experts to train teachers in improving education. Professional development expenditures for U.S. public elementary and secondary schools during the 2017–2018 school year, for example, “amounted to $762 billion, or $14,891 per public school pupil enrolled in the Fall” (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). As a recipient of much of this professional development, I have seen firsthand how the majority of these trainings are not designed to challenge mindsets, offering instead expensive silver-bullet solutions in the form of technology tools, frameworks, curricula and book studies.
If we are ever going to disrupt public education and redesign schooling to be equitable, innovative and student-centered, we need to look within, challenge our outdated mindsets, and adopt a more infinite mindset.
This is why I use student-centered design thinking to design culturally responsive learning experiences for my students. Instead of following standardized lesson plans with teacher scripts and fixed rules for student engagement, I spend time building strong relationships with my students. I learn about their wants and needs; their strengths and weaknesses; their hopes and fears. Together, we create a learning environment that is not standardized. We create a space for students to discover who they are, develop their skills, understand how power, privilege, and inequality operate in our society, and feel and express joy in these pursuits.
Throughout the school year, I design small and scrappy learning experiments called “hacks.” Hacks start small, but are built on research-based practices that lead to Deeper Learning. With each hack, I learn a ton and they help me create the kind of big change I inevitably aspire to: preparing your students for life in the real world.
Being a teacher today is vastly different than being a teacher 20+ years ago. Today, we have more access to knowledge, resources, and materials in comparison to world leaders just two decades ago. We cannot continue teaching with outdated and fixed mindsets.
We need to do school differently.
In order to bring out the best in our students (and ourselves as educators), we need to design powerful learning experiences that prepare students to innovate and create a just and equitable world. True equity and justice in the classroom occur when teachers build authentic relationships with their students in service to creating an environment that is conducive to experiential learning. I believe that learning experiences are greater than lesson plans. When teachers spend time creating an experience where their individual students connect what they are learning to their culture, environment, community, etc., this is when magic happens in the classroom.
Resources
5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education
12 Realities That May Break Public Education As We Know It
It's Time to Disrupt Education
How Might School Leaders Hack toward Deeper Learning?
Simon Sinek in conversation with Big Change - Education as an Infinite Game
I link to a snippet of Simon Sinek discussing education as an infinite game. I highly recommend you take 30 minutes and watch the entire interview.
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
References
Kolbe, T. & Steele, C. (2015). Wicked vs. simple problems: Implications for education policy. Testimony on complexity theory and education policy presented to the Education Committee of the Vermont State Legislature. January 15, 2015.