The Second Year
Every now and then, someone plants a useful insight in your brain, a bit of truth with great utility, something you can use as a lens for multiple questions.
Last week, gathered with a group of IDEA organizers launching a new round of projects and initiatives, Arnie Langberg played a role you almost never find in education reform these days: wise elder. Langberg, most frequently associated with the free school movement, has done many things in his life as an educator, including starting four schools. He came to talk with us about lessons learned, reasons for hope in the edu-landscape--the big picture. For those in despair over just how frustrating school reform has become, he suggested a hopeful metaphor--toilet training--a kind of variant on "it's always darkest before dawn." And for those excited about organizing for societal and educational change, Langberg offered a cautionary note:
The second year is harder than the first.
In the first year, there's adrenalin. There's also purpose, vision, energy, mission, belief--and a built-in excuse.
Last week, gathered with a group of IDEA organizers launching a new round of projects and initiatives, Arnie Langberg played a role you almost never find in education reform these days: wise elder. Langberg, most frequently associated with the free school movement, has done many things in his life as an educator, including starting four schools. He came to talk with us about lessons learned, reasons for hope in the edu-landscape--the big picture. For those in despair over just how frustrating school reform has become, he suggested a hopeful metaphor--toilet training--a kind of variant on "it's always darkest before dawn." And for those excited about organizing for societal and educational change, Langberg offered a cautionary note:
The second year is harder than the first.
In the first year, there's adrenalin. There's also purpose, vision, energy, mission, belief--and a built-in excuse.