I wonder why people are so afraid of change? I am working with faculty to try and redesign the elementary education major, yet there is still so much resistance to doing things differently. We live in times that are open to real educational reform; bold thinking is needed now to be able to capitalize on this pendulum swing.
I remember reading Neil Postman's Teaching as a Subversive Activity as an undergraduate. What an amazing book, yet a mere 11 years later, he completely reversed his thinking and wrote Teaching as a Conserving Activity. Both books contain well-reasoned, thoughtful ideas; Postman responded to the shifting context of education and wrote what he thought was needed for the particular times in which he lived. I admire his audacity and humility in being able to show how the world how his thinking changed, even though it cost him some supporters. Interestingly, he ends Subversive with the words "or vice versa," realizing that he could be wrong, was open to that possibility, and invited readers to consider his ideas against their own thoughts about the topic. I'd love to see more of this willingness to admit one's fallibility in the world. It's especially rare to see among politicians and us academicians. We make our bread and butter by being known for our thoughts on a topic. What if we find out we were wrong?
Let's stop wasting time trying to defend ourselves, and let's move forward, with humble hearts and fallible, questioning minds, to solving the core educational questions of our times: Why aren't students succeeding in school? What core knowledge, skills, and perspectives do they need to have to be successful? How can we help them be successful? How can we train teachers to be facilitators who increase students' chances of success in the world?
13 comments:
People are becoming increasingly afraid of change, because the amount of change is continually increasing. In the same way my parents parent me with some signature ideas from my grandparents, I am hesitant to accept my younger sister going through school in a different way than I did. We assume that the way we are is the right was because we are used to it and it is in our comfort zone. Learning comes when we break out of that shell, try something new, and experience things and ideas in a new light. Fear of change is a lack of true passion for learning. Once we embrace the change that surrounds us we will be able to see the amazing things that have and will continue to unfold.
I feel that these are important questions to ask as well. I believe people are afraid of change because it means letting go of the ideas, theories, and beliefs that they have become attached to, through being so accustomed to them.
The problem is, we are so reluctant to let go of what we think works, in favor of something that could work much more effectively. This seems to be especially true in politics and governmental reforms. It appears that our leaders don't want to take risks or efforts in the education system, even if they might lead to great triumphs. It seems they would rather stick to their seemingly decaying systems that are no longer adequate for this new generation.
In synthesis, we need courage. The courage to do things that may make us uncomfortable, but will result in positive changes for the greater good. This is especially true in the education system.
We need politicians and reformers who are willing to swim against the current, and think with revolutionary hearts and minds.
I feel that the reason why people are so scared of change and so afraid of being bold is because there are so many "risks" that go along with it. What if the change you once thought was going to better the educational program really hurt more than helped it? What if being bold to make necessary changes meant losing your job? What if the enrollment number decreased and the schools shut down due to changes that were unaccepted by parents or guardians?
Change can be such an impacting and positive thing. However, at the same time, I feel like to many people get "comfortable" in their routine-based lives, that change scares them. Change means experiencing disequilibrium, change means thinking in new and diverse ways, change means bringing about unsureness and doubt, change means to conquer new obstacles and change means to step out of the box and become a more bold character than most. To be the one to make the change is the biggest step you can take.
This is simply why I think many are afraid of change. They would rather not risk the future, and remain in the present.
I feel that people are so afraid of change because they get comfortable with life the way they are living it. When disequilibrium occurs among adults, it causes stress even when the change is for the best. At the time, people cannot see that this change can be for the best, so they automatically conclude that something bad has happened. When adults get used to a normal routine and they are content with the way thing are, they feel sense of peace and happiness in their lives.
I believe that people are not necessarily afraid of change, but afraid of the amount of critical thinking energy and effort that come with making a change or changes. Our society is very fast pace and high stress. Often we over schedule ourselves and our youth in this country. It is much easier to go about your everyday business (even if you are unhappy) than to stop, think, and make a change. Fear of change also comes with the fear of the unknown. I hope as a teacher I can find the strength and be moved enough by my students to make changes necessary to become a better teacher and improve the quality of life for my students.
Many people are afraid of change because they do not know what to expect and many people fear the unknown. People believe it is easier to stick with the same old thing because they are satisfied and even if they are not satisfied it is just easier to leave it how it is now. Also in today’s world so many things are changing because of technology and a lot of people cannot keep up so they just let it happen but do not really accept them and continue to keep their old ways. And another thing when things change a bigger risk is involved and some people will not take risks because they fear it. I do not want people to miss out on opportunities because they are afraid of change. They should learn how to embrace it and accept it when it is necessary because not all change can be bad.
I found all of these posts very intriguing. A friend once said, "The only thing that doesn't change is change." I think people who fear change are simply afraid to face the truth. People can take comfort in thinking they have control over their lives but in actuality, everything is constantly changing and their lives don't lie within their grip.
A proactive change, on the other hand (such as progression attempts in the education system) take a leap of faith, which people may be afraid of because they aren't ready for it, or they may be taken back by it. Some just may not be ready for/to change, nor want to take that step into the unknown.
When people become comfortable living mediocre lives, change can be a scary thing. Stephen, i LOVE your point and to expound on it, I think we NEED people in places of all types of authority who have had a revolution of the heart..
Others may simply not want to exchange one set of problems for another, because let's face it.. we don't live in a perfect world.
When I change, everything changes. I can't change others but I can change myself. Which in turn, changes everything :) If educators were aware of that philosophy, change would be a way more exciting and hopeful thing!!
Many people are afraid of change, I believe, due to a fear of failing. What if their ideas are wrong? Would it have been any different if it remained the same? However, without change there will never be progression. Change allows for different insights, experiences, successes and some failures. I believe that change is inevitable and should be embraced. Change involves disequilibrium which leads to knowledge.
I admit that many people are afraid of change because it is what we are used to, how we were brought up, and it is in our comfort zone. However, there is a lot of speculation that our current education system needs to be reformed and we need to break away from our norm and change it. We need to experiment with different ideas and theories on education. If we don't try, then we won't know if we could do better. If we fail, then it gives us another opportunity to improve it. After all, we learn from our mistakes. So I believe that we should experiment with our current education system until we perfect it and start to show some improvements.
Change is such a hard thing to go through. I feel that change puts everyone at a disequilibrium and when we are put out of our comfort zones we tend to have a negative outlook on things. I also think people are afraid of change because they are afraid of failure but in order to move forward with things we need to make mistakes and learn and improve what needs to be improved on.
Change is different and most people are afraid of something that is different. The problem with this kind of thinking is that without change, the world will never get better. I love what you have to say about how more people need to be open minded to the possibility of them being wrong. Opening the doors to the possibility of you being wrong allows for others to voice their opinions and the pool of knowledge to grow. This is a trait I am going to carry into my teaching career. I will always be open to the idea of different teaching methods because all kids are different and not one teaching method can be applied to all kids.
Change is different and most people are afraid of something that is different. The problem with this kind of thinking is that without change, the world will never get better. I love what you have to say about how more people need to be open minded to the possibility of them being wrong. Opening the doors to the possibility of you being wrong allows for others to voice their opinions and the pool of knowledge to grow. This is a trait I am going to carry into my teaching career. I will always be open to the idea of different teaching methods because all kids are different and not one teaching method can be applied to all kids.
I felt impacted directly when you said "I'd love to see more of this willingness to admit fallibility in the world." I feel like this couldn't be any more true, especially for educators. Things aren't going well right now, so why don't we "reform"? Well, we've "tried", but everyone is so set in their ways that I think failure is scary to most. Additionally, I think people are frightened of changing the education system so much because it's just how it is - how it has been for so long. People are scared to change something that has (give or take) remained in the same basic structure since they were kids. I think as an educator, it's easy to SAY we want to help kids be the best they can by reforming education, but will we really put this into practice? I hope to be able to, and this blog put it into perspective even more for me. I'm going to have to try new things if I want things to change, I'm going to make mistakes, and I have to accept and learn from these mistakes in order to better myself as a teacher and my classroom as a learning environment. I hope that soon, people can learn that taking chances is necessary for things to change. Will we succeed? Will we have to start over? We'll never know unless we give it a chance.
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