What Exactly is Holding Us Back in Education?

On social media, I see a lot of comparisons between the teaching profession and others.
Like...

WOULD U EXPECT A MUSICIAN TO WRITE THEIR OWN MATERIAL?!
Actually ya. The musicians we respect most in fact do write their own music.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS DON'T JUST IGNORE RESEARCH
Actually, research on menopause & standard care treatment has been largely ignored for decades? It's an issue largely talked about and ignored.

But teaching and learning isn't like  any other profession. Truly. I think the closest analogy we can get to is  health and nutrition. It is  a lot like that in some ways.

We know, and have always known, more or less what  we need to do to achieve our own optimal  health. Eat a balanced, whole food diet. Exercise regularly. Sounds simple enough?

And yet the health and fitness industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with advise swinging  wildly from one extreme to another. Eat a strict vegan diet some might say. No no! Its all about Keto! No Paleo! No no... 80% veggies 20% meat and absolutely no sugar. Its all about the Mediterranean Diet girl. What should you do in regards to exercise?  Oh that is simple. Walk 10k steps a day. Definitely increase cardio. Decrease cardio and lift heavy! Run. A lot. Don't run a lot but do at least 5 days of HIIT workouts. Do not do HIIT, just lift heavy weights but like... sometimes also cardio.

​The contradictory advise is enough to make your head spin.

And it's not far from what teachers hear constantly.

We know what kids need. In 2001, what kids need was put together in this now once again incredibly popular concept known as Scarborough's Rope.

We know. And yet, the advice we get to apply  is at best nonsensical. 

Follow programs with fidelity but also definitely don't because one must teach and adapt to the needs of the students in front of them.

Decodables only! Until kids master ALL phonics skills. But also that's ridiculous. Obviously they need authentic texts.

Knowledge building over comprehension skills and strategies! But also definitely comprehension skills and strategies.

Similar to health and nutrition advice, there is a solid path to follow. We know where to begin but... as life is... the plan is never one size fits all. What about the patient with celiac disease?  Or a thyroid problem?  Or Hashimoto's? What about the woman in perimenopause who suddenly is experiencing health issues she never has experienced before despite continuing an incredibly healthy life style? What about those with severe allergies? Or our picky eaters? We cannot simply suggest everyone eats a gluten-free diet. That simply doesn't work for everyone. There is no one size fits all plan for health and nutrition.

And there isn't one for student learning.

This is where education goes wrong. There is no solid advice when it comes to the real life students in front of us. There is only solid advice for the best case scenario. Even the best written program will not address all of the what ifs, all of the needs, all of the resources that real kids might need. 

And no, its often not an implementation problem.

When "pendulums swing," its often a swing to an extreme. Legislation is put into place, new curriculum is purchased, and teachers are asked to teach it with fidelity. Fidelity as if all students fit into the same box. Every cycle, teachers voice their concern- this is too extreme- they say. We cannot swing all the way to whole language, or back to over focus of phonics and then back again. We need a balanced diet. In the same way no one should be eating only red meat. Our kids need more balance. (Not, I don't mean balanced literacy as portrayed in some popular podcasts.) Kids need the entire rope. And they need it in balanced doses. Like nutrition, there is a best practice approach, but like nutrition, so much adjusting must be done for the individual.

There seems to be an insistent refusal to acknowledge the depth and intricacies involved in teaching students. The nuances involved are such that a single program could of course give a solid starting point, but could never make up for the fact that we are neglecting so much. Teacher experts know this, of course, but for some reason they are ignored anad instead the overbearing voices of those who claim to be experts are followed instead.

One single curriculum cannot fully address every issue that comes up in classrooms. We should be hiring teacher professionals (and treating them as such) to do that. A curriculum cannot address the social/emotional needs of students. This is addressed by the teacher, of course, who when given the freedom to adjust and adapt can take the base line of the curriculum and bring it to life for students.

This is what students need.

We now have curriculum that is deeply flawed, ignores current and past research, and is known to be culturally destructive. The lack of mirrors, windows and sliding doors in many programs today leaves inequitable gaps that simply shouldn't exist given all we know now.

Our special ed system is historically and wildly underfunded. The staffing needed to make it successful is never there, rarely hired, and when they are they lack support in such devastating waays, the teachers quit for jobs with less stress and more respect.

We have an unprecedented teacher shortage with teachers fleeing as fast as they can.

And instead of addressing the true issues at play, the loudest voices are screaming to legislate curriculum and force it to be taught with fidelity. They are, perhaps unknowingly, screaming for an extreme solution that simply wont work.

Because like nutrition, our students need balance. They need us to have a solid jumping off point, they need us to be experts in the rope. They need us to be consumers of current research and best practice. And they need us to allow our teachers to use their best judgement to adapt to their needs.