Yearning to Learn: One School Board Member's Search for Understanding

Tonight as my 6^th grade son was getting into bed, he handed me one of his many Calvin and Hobbes books and said, “Here.  Read this.”  Calvin and his friend are riding in their wagon and Calvin is saying “When I grow up, I’m not going to read the newspaper and I’m not going to follow complex issues and I’m not going to vote.  That way I can complain that the government doesn’t represent me.  Then, when everything goes down the tubes, I can say the system doesn’t work and justify my further lack of participation”.  Hobbes replies “An ingeniously self-fulfilling plan”.  To which Calvin concludes “It’s a lot more fun to blame things than to fix them”.  I appreciated the fact that my son thought I should read that particular comic.  Even at a relatively young age as he observes his father grappling with complex public school issues, he is learning the effort required to fix something -- because fixes almost always require personal change.  And change means doing things that aren’t fun.  And change requires trusting in uncertain outcomes.   And understanding what to change often requires asking uncomfortable questions.

When I initially agreed to run for ISD 197 School Board, I did so out of a sense of duty and a secret hope that I wouldn’t be elected.  I must be clear that I didn’t run to fail.  But I could easily have walked away with only a tinge of disappointment and a huge sigh of relief, had the voters deemed the other candidates better suited for the office.  I had no issues I was fighting for.  I had been only an occasional board meeting attendee.  And all my experiences with the education system had been from its successes – top student in high school, highest honors in college, and my Ph.D. being the crowning achievement of the educational system.  So I admittedly wasn’t well informed of the challenges, the complexities, or  the failings of our public education system.

This all brings me to a personal confession – there is much I don’t know about educating students.  Said another way – like all our students, I too have much to learn.  But I love to learn.  Unlike Calvin, I only occasionally become cynical.  I’m more like Tolstoy.  I believe the kingdom of God is within us and through learning we can create a better future.

I intend to use this blog as my personal classroom, where I ask dumb questions, pose far-fetched scenarios, ask why repeatedly, and restate what I think I learned in sharing my search for understanding.  I will strive to hold myself to a writing standard I learned along the way – the purpose of writing is not merely to be understood, but that one cannot possibly be misunderstood.  And I welcome to my classroom you as readers who share my interest in public education and who yearn to learn.