week 4

JENGA!!! This game challenges us physically and mentally as we decide which pieces to eliminate from the tower while keeping the tower standing. Oh don't forget that pieces can be added on to the top to create even more of a challenge. Hmm... sounds hard doesn't it? Welcome to the world of education and making decisions in U.S. schools.

In lunch the other day, a few education majors and myself were chatting and Brett Epperson (yes, I'm giving him credit and not stealing his idea) jokingly suggested that the school system is a game of Jenga. As we laughed, it dawned on us: he's right. We have this tower, or school system, made up of different elements. Constant revision is being done to this tower and elements (ie: budget cuts, arts programs, science programs, teachers, etc) have to be eliminated. The challenge lies in choosing which block or element to take out of the tower while not letting the tower fall crashing to the ground. Oh and don't forget that blocks are sometimes added on top of everything else, even if the tower is swaying unsteadily. Blocks like standardized testing requirements, tighter teacher requirements, etc. just add to the school system tower, creating a complicated situation. Sound challenging? You bet!

This analogy very much sums up the school system and our efforts to make better decisions for U.S. schools. Some things have to be cut, but what can we afford to loose and still have a solid tower/school system that benefits all students? Some things are added when we least expect them and how do we balance those new things into the system without letting the system fall apart? These are issues that we have been discussing and will continue to discuss in PCAP. I am interested to see where we will find ourselves at the end of the semester. Though we are (thankfully) not responsible for a school system and our discussions will not have immediate affect students, we are setting ourselves up for future situations in which we will be either as teachers, parents, or community members. Based on what we discuss and decided, will our tower still be standing? Will we successfully manage making decisions in our school systems without letting it fall apart and fail our students? I hope so!

So here's the challenge: Go forth and play Jenga, but don't let the tower fall because if you do, you'll be letting down the people who need you most. Good luck!