Over the next few months, the School Committee will be called upon to make critical decisions about budget matters for the next fiscal year. In the decision-making process, we set guidelines and highlight priorities to assist us in arriving at a budget number. It is unfortunate that during this process, we often lose sight of the need for practical wisdom, a topic not easily susceptible to numeric calculation.
Along those lines, I was drawn to a video on this topic which deserves your review and consideration. In this 20 minute talk, Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for practical wisdom as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.
In his remarks, Schwartz reminds us that kindness, care, and empathy are essential human interactions which are not part of the job descriptions, but are essential parts of every job. He also notes that it is difficult to teach these concepts in standards-based curricula, and that we must rely on the judgment of our teachers to deliver the messages of moral skill and moral will. He further goes on to remind us that you don’t need to be brilliant to be wise, but you must have that combination of moral will and moral skill in order to possess the practical wisdom which is necessary for success.
I urge everyone to take a peek at this video and give consideration to the big picture elements of our education system. The video can also be used as a helpful set of guiding principles for what is important to maintain in our education programs.
