The Forest for the Trees

      Those of you who know me, know that I skew toward the cynical and sarcastic. But I like to think that it's because of a deep conviction that "we" and "I" can always do better, make the world better. Naturally, given my cynical nature, I suspect I might only be easing my conscience by choosing to believe that I believe we can do better. Whatever. At some point you still have to chop wood and carry water, as the zen proverb says. You have to do something, so it might as well be helpful.     Lately I've been thinking a lot about the pandemic as a transformative opportunity for systems, specifically school systems, to revise what we mean by success . For maybe the second time in my life, I actually looked at our school board goals, and it struck me that there are other people who regularly think about my students. I was a little embarrassed. It shouldn't come as a surprise to me that other people, including administrators and governing boards, think an...