We are in the middle of yet another political season, and there is a great deal of rhetoric flowing through our culture.  By rhetoric, I refer to the first in a list of definitions at dictionary.com "(in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration ordisplay; bombast".  Everything is dramatic, the opponent, is evil, and our country is going to hades if we don't do whatever the speaker or commercial says we should.

In the midst of all this, is the renewed focus and debate on educational reform.  As a nation, we have finally started being honest with ourselves about our national dropout rates, and other issues with our educational system.  For many years, we had very similar rates as we do now, but since we have stopped being lied to about them, we are up in arms.  

On balance, this is a good thing.  We seem to be getting to the point where we will try almost anything reasonable to improve the educational success of our young people. 

Of course, since education is a political issue, and many people having to do with educational leadership are elected, there is a great deal of rhetoric.  One of my favorites is, "Our children have to be ready to compete in a global economy."  This is a very powerful statement, the kind that strikes fear into people.  

As I see it, our children have to be ready to work and succeed in organizations that can compete in a global economy.  Very few of our children will be sending in job resumes to compete directly with people from Europe, Japan, China, and/or India.  This, while challenging enough, doesn't scare me as much as the first statement.

We need to watch our rhetoric for several reasons.  As a nation, we are in a recession, and, for many, this is overwhelming.  It is scary.  For at least one tenth of us, it means we don't have jobs, and that is even more scary.  Instead of leaders like Roosevelt saying "We have nothing to fear but fear itself", we have people running for office on the theme of "be very afraid if I am not elected."  Dishonesty is rampant, and winning at all costs the goal.

In education, we want to motivate teachers, parents and everyone else to work together to help our young people succeed.  Using fear-based rhetoric, especially that which primarily attacks, divides us, and causes the very partners we need to withdraw from the process. We need our leadership to be very specific about what might work in education reform and to pull us together to make the improvements we need. 

I missed the Sixty Minutes interview with Melinda and Bill Gates Sunday, but found it online yesterday.  I was absolutely blown away with the wonderful ambition imbedded in their goals, and the frame that all lives are equally important.  For me, this is a baseline spiritual principle but one which isn't observed in our society, or our political structure.  I was both inspired by Melinda's work (I have a new hero) and by the couple's leadership.  I was also envious that I hadn't made enough money in my life to do something on a similar scale.  

I am going back through a really good book by a cognitive researcher, Daniel Willingham, titled Why Students Don't Like School.  I have read it before and am really impressed with the issues he points out about findings in cognitive science and the applications of those findings to education.  I recommend it for anyone interested in understanding learning, and perhaps how we need to rethink our over one hundred year old model of school.  Here is the first of nine points that guide his chapters:

"People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking."

So, unless there is a high likelihood that we will succeed in thinking, and get the rush from that, we will avoid thinking at all.  Given the hours I have spent coaching and teaching both adults and young people, this actually matches my experience more than the idea that people enjoy thinking.