Limits to ideas...

I'm just coming to terms, tonight...as I watch a teacher for the umpteenth time fruitlessly try to force a kid -- and a kid who is persistantly defiant, at that -- to do her bidding...

And as I run interference...trying to move kids in the direction of following teacher instructions...

I'm coming to terms with the fact that there are limits to even the best ideas...

So then...I'm wondering...what comes next?...

As least possible necessary aggression gets more fully explored...

What comes next?...

What big ideas get developed to improve on least possible necessary aggression...and other similar ideas, as well...

First of all...the experience I've had at Eisenhower definitely confirms what past experiences at Amarr and Downings already confirmed for me...

Which is that these ideas don't just have theoretical strength...

They work...in real life...and I have not a shred of doubt of that, at this point...

Experimental tests that allow for falsifiability...perhaps with drug and gun laws and the death penalty would still be useful...

But these ideas definitely have real world validity, independent of more abstract arguments for their them...

Now the issue I'm wrestling with...intellectually...is...

What comes next?...

What ideas can build on least possible necessary aggression to improve the underlying principles?...

I'll have to spend some time on that one...

In the meantime...as I watch the really important education policy debate around school choice, right now...

It's becoming clear to me that old fears and prejudices and bad ideas take a long time to die out...

School choice is a great idea, is the truth...for public schools as much as for charter schools, private religious schools, and private college preparatory schools...

And I don't care how it pans out...I don't care if there are public or private vouchers, public or private charters, religious or non-religious vouchers...whatever...

The fundamental idea that is good is that people who have freedom to choose their destinies...are more responsible for their destinies...and that is more important than any other principle at issue...

It's probably the most important lesson I teach and model for my kids...

And it is the lesson that each and all of us should be teaching and modeling for our children...

The truth is that most adults struggle with this, as much as most children...

But the only way to create a more responsible society...

Is to free it up, more...

Which we will do over time, I'm sure...despite the abyssmal situation, on this mark, in the country, right now, relative to a more genuinely free country...and a more relatively free world...

As I listen to the school choice debate in Kansas...which seems weighted against school choice, at this point...

I hear a lot of scared, less responsible, excuse-making adults...trying to rationalize both the failures in public schools...but also rationalize their own failures...

...politically...personally...professionally...and otherwise...

And I just don't have the patience for it any more...

When you suck...

Just admit it...

Don't spend a lot of time trying to make excuses for why you suck...

You know why?...

Because everyone knows that you suck...and you'll never argue you're way out of that one...

And in the meantime...

The only way you will get better...

Is by admitting it...

Not by making excuses for it...

And no matter what you try to do to avoid dealing with the fact that you suck...and your mistakes...

People will find out, I've learned from experience as much as anything else...

But the more you admit it...to yourself and to others...

The better opportunities you have for getting better...at whatever it is that you want/need to get better at...

And when I think about how long it took me to learn not only that lesson...

But all the lessons that came before and during and after...

It amazes me just how quickly people learn, at all...

Though the truth is...the only time when I feel some urgency that they learn the lesson...

Is when they're pushing me or someone I care about around...

Which is most people most of the time...

And generally getting better:):)...

Up until Eisenhower...it's been kind of lonely being so ahead of the curve on this one...

But finally I have friends and colleagues who are interested in my lead...

And not in always trying to drag me down...so they don't have to face their flaws...

Teachers...generally...are more honest people, than others...more honest with themselves and with each other...

And it makes for a much more decent place to work, I have to say:):)...

I've got a band performance to go to...

Hope everyone has a great weekend:):)...

Love,
Ben