Friday, November 16, 2012


Intersection (M.A. Reilly, 2012)

I am reading an article about Joi Ito and am taken by his four key principles that he shares during a meeting.
"Encourage rebellion instead of compliance"; "Practice instead of theory"; "Constant learning instead of education"; "Compass over map". 
"The key principles include disobedience -- no one ever won a Nobel prize by doing as they're told," he explains later. "And it's about resilience versus strength -- you don't try to resist failure, you allow failure and bounce back. And compass over map is important -- you need to know where you're going, but the cost of planning often exceeds the cost of actually trying. The maps you have are often wrong. These principles affect and apply to just about any organisation."
The principles strike me as being largely antithetical to the more current push for adherence to common standards, rubric-controlled unit planning, and common assessments that are present and privileged in public education.  The articulation of Ito's principles leaves me wondering what principles have informed and now govern the emphasis on standardization in public education?  What is driving that engine?

Curious what you think.


  1. My understanding is that free public schools were originally offered in part to get people used to responding to bells - to make good workers. And that's a very clearly stated purpose these days, sadly.

    1. GIven that definition and sought outcome-the room for change is enormous.