My friend Judy sent me a great TED talk by a guy named Tim Harford, who writes about economics. He talks about the dangers of embracing what he calls “The God complex,” which he defines in this way: “No matter how complicated the problem, you have an absolutely overwhelming belief that you are infallibly right.”
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I interviewed PSCS founder Andy Smallman two years ago to get a better understanding of the school’s philosophy. He shared a story with me that went like this:
At the end of his first year at Evergreen, Andy had no interest in a summer break and asked the school if he could continue his study of Human Development in the summer term. The only program going on in the summer was a transition program for incoming freshman. Andy negotiated his way into the course, which was titled “Children of the World.” It was being taught by Will Humphreys, a founding faculty member at Evergreen, and Terry Tafoya, a professor of psychology and Native American storyteller.
Andy was interested in teaching special education from a cross-cultural perspective. “Americans all think this way, they all think in disability,” Terry told him once as they walked across campus. “Native Americans have no term for disability, there is only a term for ability. It’s such an odd culture to be in where we spend so much time and resources talking about disability. It’s a negative focus. How about if we look at this differently: what if dyslexia is an advanced form of evolution?”
That was more than 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, later this month on August 18, Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide will release their latest book, The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain. They write, “Some of the most successful people in the world have dyslexia and it’s no accident. There’s a remarkable strength-producing aspect to dyslexic processing and some of the latest brain research tells us why.”
Schools, however, typically treat dyslexic kids as if they’re broken. But the point of this story is not about dyslexia, it’s about the God complex in school.
Schools have decided that there is one right way to be, and all kids— no matter how complicated human beings are—must be standardized to fit into that mold.
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Harford says:
“I’m not saying we can’t solve complicated problems in a complicated world. We clearly can. But the way we solve them is with humility. To abandon the God complex and actually use a problem solving technique that works. We have a problem solving technique that works. . . . trial and error.”
What’s the best way to educate kids? The search for the answer to this question only leads to more questions: Who are the kids? Where are they from? How old are they? What do they love to do? What is their home situation? . . . Human beings are complicated. There is no one mass answer to this question. There is only a mass of answers.*
A friend asked me what I would do if I were superintendant of a school district. I told her that I’d try to find programs in that district that worked, then expand or replicate them until every kid who could benefit from the program was being served. Then, I’d find schools or programs that were not working and I’d ask the teachers and the families involved: Would you like to try something different?
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Harford says critics have told him that all his talk about trial and error is too obvious. His response:
“I will admit it’s obvious when schools start teaching children that there are some problems that don’t have a correct answer. Stop giving them list of questions in which every single one has a correct answer, and there’s an authority figure in the corner behind the teacher’s desk who knows all the answers.”
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* I stole this line from the brilliant anarchist writer Derrick Jensen.