Zesty Louisiana Education Politics
How do you eat an elephant?
Posted on June 10, 2014
1
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
Have you ever come across a saying that seemed new to you, but then once it developed personal meaning it felt like you would never stop hearing it repeated?
I’ve been hearing this elephant joke a lot these days, but it’s never felt more appropriate to me personally than right now. My personal life is facing a little upheaval to be sure, but so too are the education deform and pro-education movements. Things seem to be spinning out of control for both sides. People may be switching sides. What was bad may be good? Are enemies becoming friends? I really can’t figure out if some people are being crafty, sincere or unbelievably stupid. I’ve given up trying to figure it out but I put little stock in words these days. Actions by those n the position to take them is what I will base my final judgments on.
But back to my elephant eating analogy. I’ll be honest. I can’t always keep up with the demands on my time. It almost feels like I’ve been paralyzed into inaction, but it’s more than that. With so much going on, so much happening so quickly, it’s hard to know exactly where to apply pressure, which topic to address, what post I might write that will have unintended consequences and tip the balance the wrong way. . . When I first started writing it didn’t rally matter because no one read what I wrote anyway and I had no allies (that I knew of.). Now things are different and I feel like I should be doing more, but the equations are much more complicated now. Sometimes doing something, just because something needs to be done, is not the right answer. It’s precisely that mindset that is the root of much of the horrible policies and decisions being made right now, and its that mindset that I’m so adamant about fighting.
Paul Pastorek, John White’s predecessor as Louisiana Superintendent of Education, told my colleagues during one of his departmental meetings/rallies that public education was facing an imminent crisis of epic proportions and we needed to act. There was no time to analyze the How do you eat an elephant? | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:
