A problem that is systemic in nature cannot be solved by good intentions, high ideals or hard work. A teacher who sees the problem and tries to remedy the situation might get away with small changes here and there, but those don’t really do much. Sooner or later, she is going to come up against a principal who will tell her to not rock the boat too much, to follow the system, or else.
A principal radical enough to allow teachers certain freedoms will sooner or later come up against a district supervisor, or the government’s Department of Education (DepEd) telling him to stand down, or else. The system is more likely to swallow individuals than have individuals change it. Those in their comfortable seats of power rarely want to do anything that might jeopardize their position, and of course people with new and interesting ideas would more often be seen as a threat and a potential rival, rather than as a welcome guest.
This is what Dan Greenberg saw when he decided to start Sudbury Valley School. This is what Ken Danford and Joshua Hornick realized when he decided to start the North Star Center for Self-Directed Learning. This is what Tomis Parker and Arthur Brock realized when they started Agile Learning Centers. Change cannot come from within the system. It is too huge, too political, too entrenched for any individual to really do anything about them.
Let me share a couple of anecdotes. My eldest daughter homeschooled her senior high year. Last year, we went to DepEd asking about their placement test for homeschoolers. This test was supposed to be a diagnostic exam that would determine the equivalent grade level of the student on the K-12 system. Guess what we found out — there was no such test in place for grade 12. This was in 2018, seven years after K-12 was first implemented. I wonder what DepEd has been doing all these years.
Here’s another encounter that I had. Since we had plans to open a school, we went to DepEd early this year to get a list of the requirements. The first thing we were told was that we had to submit everything by August 2019 and the earliest we could open was by 2021. I mean, really? It takes them 2 years to approve? And included in the list of requirements is the school building, facilities, and even a full roster of faculty — all of which will supposedly sit and twiddle their thumbs for 2 years waiting for approval.
I mean, really, this is the agency that’s going to accredit my school and determine if it is up to standard? No thanks. And if you want to understand bullying on a large-scale systemic level, you need look no further than this.
Email me at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.