Big Education

You have heard of big oil, big pharmaceutical, big money, and big government. But what about education?

Big Education is a system. It is not about the teaching or learning so much as it is about the supporting an organization that does many things other than teaching.

Big Education...

Maintains things
Buys things
Monitors things
Pays for things
Transports things
Paints things
Cleans things
Trims things
Builds things
Repairs things
Orders things
Fills out things
Reports things
Budgets things
Plans things
Evaluates things
Fixes things
Drives things
Ships things
Collects things
Warehouses things
Meets to talk about things
Measures things
Replaces things

So many things that have nothing to do with learning, but have a lot to do with maintaining the organization.

The key here is that Big Education operates on the premise that learning takes place in certain place and from certain people. Big Education exists to support those places and those people, but in the end does a lot to support the organization itself.

Learning is naturally produced when a learner encounters something or someone he or she wants to learn about. I call this the Open Model of Education, and it can happen anywhere, anytime, and does not require a school building. Maybe I should call it organic learning.

In the movie Say Anything, Lloyd Dobler said…
“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.”

But do we want our schools to those things? Because they do lots and lots of the things that Lloyd Dobler wanted to avoid.

Is that the mission? Maybe. Maybe not.

Might I suggest:

Are we married to the mission or the methods?

Failure Is An Option In The Open Model of Education