Business and Politics are Not Teaching and Learning

Business and politics are human endeavors that are easily measured; the results of business and politics are generally objective and unequivocal. Business measures success by profits, if the profits are sufficient for the owner or shareholders, then the business is judged a success. In politics, success is measured in votes. The individual who receives more votes (or more accurately, the individual judged by the officials responsible for certifying the election results to have received more votes) is announced as the winner. (These generalizations are not always accurate, however, as is demonstrated by the results of the 2000 presidential elections in the US and by the interest in socially-responsible business practices.)

In both cases, the measure is clearly defined and quantifiable. In both cases, also, the term is relatively short (profits are usually reported four times each year, and elections are held depending on the term of the office, typically one to four years). Further, in each case, there is an element of competition; businesses gain greater profits or market share than other companies producing similar products or services, and elections have winners who take office and losers who remain in the citizenry.

Learning as a natural phenomena is not clearly definable, it is difficult to quantify, and it is long-term in that the quality of the education may not be known until much later and the judgments of the quality can change over time. What is learned, how well it is learned, and how long it stays learned are all aspects of human nature that cannot be defined and quantified like profits and votes. It is time we stop conflating the two.