Are Schools Bastions of Truth? Repurposing Learning – Part I | 3 Min Read

Are Schools Bastions of Truth? Repurposing Learning – Part I | 3 Min Read

What is truth? What is real and what isn’t? Are we “entitled,” under the guise of free speech, to embrace whatever crackpot theories and conspiracies are peddled in social and public media? Is the earth “flat” because tens of thousands of people believe it is? What is the link (or, as it may happen, the disconnect) between fact and belief? Is climate change real or a “hoax”? How should we navigate a world in which anyone and everything is capable of being manipulated and twisted to serve the purpose of postulating alternate realities?

No, I do not propose or have simple answers to these questions. The point is that they – as well as a host of others that guide us through the labyrinth of life – must be asked – in schools and in just about any place where people gather to hold intelligent conversations and discussions with agreed-upon norms and rules. These are not “trendy” or tedious questions that will come and fade like fashion styles; they are existential in that they define our humanity and shape what we are capable of becoming, for better or worse.

But are schools putting questions like these and hundreds of others prompted by them at the center of their curricula beyond dutifully – and often glibly – mouthing commitment platitudes in their mission and vision statements? Do schools instill in their learners (a much more powerful word than “students”) the mindset, skills, healthy skepticism, curiosity, and relentless persistence required for asking questions that have not yet been asked and for identifying problems that have not yet been identified? Does the mostly unchanged and “required” “canon” of knowledge which schools have enshrined in their curricula serve what we need in these turbulent times? Do the persistent narratives to which schools continue to adhere and which define their structures remain relevant when volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity hold sway in our world? 

We argue that, by and large and with very few exceptions, schools unwittingly or, worse, wittingly, are trapped in self-replicating fallacies about what “effective” curriculum, appropriate assessment practices, sustained professional development, supporting learning environments, governance structures etc. should, or should not look like. And, as we know, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

We do not live in a golden age despite our reach for the stars and the incontrovertible…

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Peter Mott

Peter C. Mott has more than 40 years of experience as a Director of International Schools, a Director at the New England Association of Schools & Colleges (NEASC), and numerous educational Board leadership positions. He has conducted workshops at the Principals Training Center and has presented at virtually every regional conference for international schools. He has led dozens of accreditation visits to schools on every continent. He has developed innovative new curricular pathways and, together with his colleagues Kevin Bartlett and Greg Curtis, is the author of ACE Learning, NEASC’s groundbreaking new accreditation protocol which aims to transform rather than simply improve learning communities. He was instrumental in developing a symbiotic partnership with KHDA in Dubai which oversees and inspects private schools. Peter is passionate about shifting mindsets in education and challenging cherished assumptions and premises that have shaped K-12 education for more than a century. This is why, in 2017, Peter founded TreeTopVisions, a consulting and advocacy firm dedicated to looking at and re-imagining education from different perspectives and vantage points.