Subject: System Objective

Posted by Steve Bosacker on 10/4/2006
In Reply To:System Objective Posted by Steve Wilhite on 9/27/2006

Message:

From what Dr. Forrester is wonderfully clarifying for us, these flawed mental models likely apply to most of the political realm. I recently found an interesting quote that describes some of this problem, set in a school reform context:

"Reform often fails because politics often favors symbols over substance.
Substantial change in practice requires a lot of hard and clever work "on the ground," which is not the strong point of political players."

Fullan, M.G. and M.B. Miles. (June 1992). "Getting Reform Right. What Works and What Doesn't". Phi Delta Kappan 73, 10: 746.

Found in Results: The Key to Continuous School Improvement, 2nd Ed. by
Mike Schmoker. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VI. 1999. Page 1.


So what do we, who are "on the ground," do with this conundrum? For sure, wisdom is essential to make progress when powerful people are setting the system on edge with their flawed mental models.

Steve Bosacker

Follow Ups:

System Objective - Jan Morrison 10/6/2006 
System Objective - Bill Braun 10/6/2006