So, here's another interesting conversation I see played out, but not talked about, in our schools. It's really more a life issue than a school issue: the two camps. There are the people who are content and settled in where they are (and don't plan on moving), and then there are those constantly needing change and newness. The clashes between the two can sometimes be epic. I have experienced the critique of the former over my position in the latter. I have also worked hard not to judge "them" for what I perceive as fear and lack of ambition. So now that I've given my position away, let me say that I really can see both sides. The stakers and the scouters are the two names I have come to call them. Here's what I see:
The STAKERS put their stake in the ground somewhere and call it home. They establish longevity, loyalty, deep connection to an environment and long-term relationships. They find what works for them and have no plans on leaving. If it ain't broke, after all, why fix it? Some of them are the "make a lesson plan and teach it 20 years" type, while others are more responsive to the students they see before them and enjoy reinvention. To an extent. But don't try to push them too far out of what is comfortable, or you'd better believe the wrath is coming for you! I have observed stakers to be the ones with the most predictable responses to anything that is new or proposed. You will hear from the stakers how many times in the past sometime similar has been tried or failed, and when they feel unsure, they use their proven longevity to check you. They genuinely believe that people who change things up every 5 years, or who take PD that is not required, could only be doing it to pad a résumé. It does not occur to them that this change and adventure are in their wiring. For them, change is not growth--it's just unnecessary movement.
The SCOUTERS are not satisfied with the status quo. They are restless and unfulfilled if they can't continually find new things to learn, new people and ideas to experience, and/or new ways of doing what they've always done. They are the ones who are accused of breaking the bell curve in class, or making other people look bad as "overachievers." These people genuinely don't enjoy doing the same thing the same way for very long. They start to feel dead inside if they can't innovate. Any conversation with them will inevitably end with, "What if...?" Forget rehearsing what has been done in the past. They consider it a dead horse unless it's been proven tried and true. These people will keep the peace in a room of stakers and silently abide commitments to tradition, but quietly they will go their way and do what makes sense to them as a way to do it better. They genuinely believe the only way to respect oneself is to stay on the path of constant pursuit. That path is a moving sidewalk.
If you think about it, this debate is as old as time. Those of us seasoned in urban education or college access work see it with our students. Generational poverty can grip a family and community, and a youngster can get a great opportunity outside of the neighborhood. Yet many of those young people are socially conditioned to see leaving as disloyalty. Who do you think you are? they know they'll be asked. How dare they believe their lives can be more than what they've seen? And so, many settle into status quo to prove they're real. But I'm willing to bet that at least half of those who do, die inside...why? They are scouters! Scouters without the freedom to be. If I could say one thing to each camp, I'd tell them simply this: Scouters, be free to explore all that is possible. You're fine just the way you are! Stakers, we need some people who hold to traditions. But please, let no one tell you that change in others will ruin you. There's room for us all!
Friends, I had not intended on so long a post. But I had to speak on this today, and it bears saying again: everyone is not wired the same. It's unfair to think we are, and we have to do better in education when it comes to giving each other room to thrive. That is all. Until soon,
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