The Delusion of Progress

The Delusion of Progress

It's a law of nature that bureaucrats need to appear busy. They need to appear to be doing something. They need to be able to report that progress is being made in solving a problem, or achieving some fine, noble objective for the betterment of humanity. They need to appear to have some sort of five-year-plan replete with deadlines, goals, milestones, etc. Never mind if these programs are viable or not. That's not important (to the bureaucrat). What matters is that the public is mollified by what appears to be progress. This is what I shall call: "The Delusion of Progress".

I love teachers, but we tend to be a gullible lot. We can be like children, blindly following the Pied Piper by embracing every new educational fad and gimmick du jour. Often fads are harmless enough, but sometimes they can be to the long term determent of our students. Every institution is rife with examples of bad programs, but the education business seems especially prone to fads and gimmicks. These schemes are always introduced with much ballyhoo, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". They run their course, achieve little, only to be replaced in time by something equally insipid.

One clear sign of a bad program is that there is no objective way of measuring its efficacy. There will always be advocates to rave about how wise and wonderful a new policy, program, or bureaucracy is. It's easy to site anecdotal evidence 'proving' its success. It's equally easy to claim the public's approbation through concoction some superficial survey that proves absolutely nothing.

I'd suggest three criteria should be considered in evaluation of any new program, hitherto I shall refer to the 'Criteria For Success':

1.                   Any program should be evaluated by a disinterested party.

2.                  Results should be quantifiable

3.                   Cost effectiveness should be measurable.

Unless these conditions are met, then the program should be scrapped.

There are countless examples of where the public has been duped by the 'Delusion of Progress'. This blog shall attempt to scrutinize just a few.  Over the weeks, I'd like to discuss programs such as:

1                  The infamous 'New Math' of the 1960's

2                  Headstart

3                 No Child Left Behind

4                  iPad use in the classroom

5                  Common Core Standards

6                  SLO's (Student Learning Outcomes)

7                  The Department of Education