This is exactly why I am here. Have you noticed how this doesn’t just apply to education and teaching but to everything that is measured? All data, anything that becomes labeled. I think I write to show the overlap. How it applies at a broader context because it’s more relatable to people not in education. How can we fix education? Step 1. We have to get people to see the world through this lense. We can do this!
I think you’re right that it reaches far beyond education. Education is simply the place I’ve spent the most time looking, so it’s often where I begin. But once you start noticing these patterns, you begin to see them in so many other parts of life too. I suppose that’s what I’m trying to explore more and more — not replacing one way of seeing with another, but loosening our grip on any single way of seeing. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Thank you for this thought-provoking essay, Gem. I love that the opposite of integrity is opinion and the idea that once we become attached to our opinions we then feel obliged to defend them. And the mind closes.
I think of the simplistic way that children are often treated once they attract a diagnosis - as if someone thinks, "Ah! ADHD - so this child needs a fidget toy and help with self-organisation." and forgets to actually consider what *this* child needs.
And embracing our own self-doubts around our decisions and opinions as healthy and markers of our own integrity too.
Yes, like it comes with a neat package of things that will work, when that is often not the reality. Thank you for seeing what I was trying to articulate, that whilst landing somewhere can bring benefits, I think we have to be really careful with it too. Because the individual human experience really is usually so much more than this. And yes, that that stance is more healthy for us too.
This is exactly why I am here. Have you noticed how this doesn’t just apply to education and teaching but to everything that is measured? All data, anything that becomes labeled. I think I write to show the overlap. How it applies at a broader context because it’s more relatable to people not in education. How can we fix education? Step 1. We have to get people to see the world through this lense. We can do this!
I think you’re right that it reaches far beyond education. Education is simply the place I’ve spent the most time looking, so it’s often where I begin. But once you start noticing these patterns, you begin to see them in so many other parts of life too. I suppose that’s what I’m trying to explore more and more — not replacing one way of seeing with another, but loosening our grip on any single way of seeing. Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Thank you for this thought-provoking essay, Gem. I love that the opposite of integrity is opinion and the idea that once we become attached to our opinions we then feel obliged to defend them. And the mind closes.
I think of the simplistic way that children are often treated once they attract a diagnosis - as if someone thinks, "Ah! ADHD - so this child needs a fidget toy and help with self-organisation." and forgets to actually consider what *this* child needs.
And embracing our own self-doubts around our decisions and opinions as healthy and markers of our own integrity too.
Great post! 🤗
Yes, like it comes with a neat package of things that will work, when that is often not the reality. Thank you for seeing what I was trying to articulate, that whilst landing somewhere can bring benefits, I think we have to be really careful with it too. Because the individual human experience really is usually so much more than this. And yes, that that stance is more healthy for us too.