It's funny how a quote can get your back up, if you're in a mood. "None of us is smarter than all of us." did that to me this morning. It got me thinking about individual responsibility to act in ways that are morally correct, for some reason. While collaboration is critically important in helping solve problems, there are times when the individual and the sense of personal resolve stand in the face of mob thinking.
The American election process comes to mind. The vitriol being spewed by media-seeking pundits (Ann Coulter's use of the R-word to describe Obama is the latest example.) borders on hate speech, sometimes. How is the group identification, in this case, an example of intelligence? Sometimes, the individual's buy-in on group values or group belief seems to suspend intelligence.
Another concern I have is the increasingly rapid-fire discussion on education reform. Why has this become increasingly urgent. Are we losing students from our schools in record numbers? Do we have more drop-outs? More failures? Fewer suitable candidates for university and the world of work? Yes, reform is important, but why is there a sense that public education is a complete and utter failure and must be changed NOW! Not tomorrow, but immediately. How is this smarter than the individual teacher in his or her classroom dealing with the children in that room? The sense that the person who is actually working with the children is being asked about the reforms is not present. It is yet another thing being "done to" teachers instead of giving teachers time to explore how they want to integrate the good research, practice and ideas that are being thrown at them almost daily. When teachers finally are freed from administration "pet projects", as they are sometimes called in my district, perhaps the reform will happen in a way that sustains both teachers and students.
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