Took a bit of a “clear my head” break.   I’ve been working on a white paper dealing with some of the implications of our current practices and our culture on the future of public education as we experienced it as students, parents, and educators. As a boater and fisherman, I found myself seeing the current direction as a kind of “Perfect Storm”. I’m hoping it ends better.

As a spoiler alert, the white paper and any related shorter pieces that appear here are likely to be more challenging than uplifting. Stay tuned.

Following a pattern I now recognize as normal, I was knee deep in crafting the paper when suddenly I realized that the universe wanted a detour. I had been reflecting on a pair of slides that I saw in a presentation by Yong Zhao in which he depicts the current role of schooling throughout much of the world and contrasts this with what he argues to be the “right thing” for education. I hope you’ve had the chance to get to know Dr. Zhao and his work. If not, I hope you’ll check out his work here.

As you can see from his second slide, Zhao is calling for a new paradigm for educating our children… one which moves well beyond the current narrow focus on academic standards and large-scale assessments.

I was feeling pretty good that my memory actually worked as it should and that it had gotten me back to Zhao’s slides.  Basking in my own self-congratulations was not to be, however, as I saw a notification that a new post had been placed on one of my Facebook groups.

Here’s what the universe wanted me/us to see. It’s very short…

This kind of caring doesn’t happen by accident. Why were you supposed to see this today? Is it a challenge? An affirmation?