Education and Change

How does education, as a whole, handle change? Change does take place, and it does exercise influence, but maybe, not as you might think.

Change, defined by Webster's is always defined in terms of something occupying time and space. For our purposes today, we will look to the area of philosophy and view change through that lens.

Common definitions of change in the field of philosophy include the idea that change in something implies the passage of time. Aristotle argued that change is different than time because time passes at one consistent rate; change does not. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

"The obvious move to make when confronted with the fact that things change, is to say with Kant (1781) that they change in relation to time, which avoids the inconsistency. But then another problem emerges. In what sense can one thing persist through change? Identity across time and space is the mark of universals, but we also account particulars such as billiard balls and persons as having self-identity across time."

Now, let's take this concept of change, which is still up for debate as to how to measure it, and factor it in to education, and go forward. We know change exists, but we do not know how to measure it; do we ignore it? How do those in education factor change into the equation? We know students change. We know teachers change. School buildings change and books get old and change. Should change be part of the conversation in regards to the education process?

Education is an abstract idea, if you will, filled with concrete parts hoping to obtain an end product defined by more abstraction. There are universals in education... tests, quizzes, books, teachers and students, but some of these things define the process and some do not. And, each tangible part to this process has change factored into it in some way. We have depreciation costs for our buildings, book fees for our books, tuition for our schools and salaries for our teachers, but where is change addressed for the process of education as a whole?

Over the years, many have contributed to this process in positive and negative ways, but have those who contribute ever consider the power of change on the process? I believe when considering education issues this idea of change must be part of the process because it does weigh influence over the process. Change is a powerful affectation... too powerful to not consider.

The chart in this post identifies certain steps to behavioral change. Whether you agree with them or not matters little to the actual issue of change in regards to you. There is still a tangible element to the process of behavioral change - you- and, therefore, a way to measure change in this process, albeit not perfectly. You are the one that can identify whether the steps worked or did not work. Education does not have this advantage as the process itself has been open to discussion and debate since the beginning of time.

Like some of my past posts, I tend to create more questions than answers. I have no answer to our dilemma of measuring change inside the educational process, but I am making a suggestion that may warrant more discussion. Change must be considered in the educational conversations because it does exist and does weigh influence on the process. If we do not consider it we do a disservice to our children and the educational process as a whole. Stay tune for more thoughts on this subject as I do further reading. Blessings!