moonandme.com

So, you take your car in for repair. You know the problem but want to confirm it is X, so you ask the technician to run diagnostics. A few minutes later you are told, “:yes it is X, the car will be done later today.”

So, you go about your day and get a call stating, “No, the car isn’t ready, our technicians aren’t allowed to use the tool your car needs. They offer to call an expert mechanic who not only has the tool. but his company will sell it you for a reasonable rate.”

Being annoyed at the delay, needing your car to be working again, you agree to the tool and expert.

The next day, the expert mechanic calls saying your car failed inspection and that in order to get your car fixed, you will need to pay for more specialized tools and of course more experts.

Now, being a smart person, you decide that this is ridiculous and refuse anymore work on your car. You pickup your car and find that they took away several essentials parts to your car and now it won’t run at all, so you feel stuck using their experts and tools in order to have your car working again. You agree to the repairs so you can get your car back.

The technicians call saying it is done but really for it to run well, you need additional work and really, while you are at it, you should buy a new car because th old one really isn’t give you the best performance. In fact, they argue that in order to get the best performance from a new car, you really should start at the beginning with a big add on package that will cost you mega bucks but worth it in the end. You finally agree to th mega add ons, cause they make your new car shiny and you don’t want your car to be less than your neighbors.

Maybe you can relate to this story.  What part do you relate to? Can the person be the teacher or parent? Is the first technician a first time teacher who is given diagnostics (books and manuals) but someone else holds the specialized tools he/she needs? Are you the specialized tool, someone who can share experiences and knowledge? Are you the publishing company that is tailoring your product to the consumer without looking at all the evidence? Are you the new car- the new, latest greatest research that people clamor to without keeping perspective?

Our children’s future is very bright, there are activists and  change makers who are fighting the education system but they are fairly “old car” according to many politicians.  It is time to embrace change, using our current tools, some new tools, experts, and ordinary people who wish to see a system of education that embraces all families and children.  You can be the change! Stick up for the old car that runs well but needs a repair and tune up. Remember, the essence of childhood doesn’t have to change to fit our world, our world needs to change to fit childhood.

gotta run Erin is up

Posted on May 23rd, 2008 by karen
Filed under: Uncategorized