Appendix A
An Exercise: Investigating the Principles of our Conventional Education System
The Ecosystems Working Group was brought together to imagine and generate guidance for the creation of new infrastructure that would enable the growth and development of learner-centered ecosystems. In this work, it was often useful to illuminate and consider the kinds of assumptions, principles, and norms that set the foundation of the current education system and its structures.
Rather than being an exercise in identifying what not to emulate, this is an exercise in understanding the impacts of such principles on how the system operates today. It reveals how any single principle shapes, constrains, and generates choices for those within the system, inviting those inventing a new infrastructure to attend to the impact (intended or otherwise) of the principles they may choose.
In this appendix, the Governance, Accountability, and Resource Allocation team has applied this thought exercise to the operations of the current school board structure.
An Example: Current School Board Operations
As we consider what it would look and feel like to operate a governance structure aligned with our ecosystem’s principles, we recognize that the predominant governance model for education systems today—the local school board—is poorly aligned.
School boards prioritize order and control. Consider the following excerpts from the National School Board Association’s Key Work of School Boards section on “Public Participation” (emphasis added):
“The board’s priority is to conduct an orderly and efficient session.”
“While board meetings are public meetings, no individual has a ‘right’ to speak.”
“Firm board procedures are essential for board hearings and meetings when angry citizens descend upon the board.”
“Local governing bodies may establish and enforce rules and regulations for individual conduct at public meetings. To require otherwise would be to permit any person to destroy the effectiveness of local government by monopolizing its time at public meetings and disrupt the business that could be conducted.”
Order and decorum are indeed important to ensuring that all voices are able to be heard, but strict rules of order can also be used to silence, rather than hear, what those in power don’t want to hear. The result is order at the expense of true democratic participation by the very people school board members represent.
Aligned with the principles of order and control, school boards deliberate and make decisions using parliamentary procedures, such as Robert’s Rules of Order, that rely on majority rule (i.e., a proposal will pass if more than half of the voters vote in favor of it). While in theory majority rule has advantages such as efficiency, decisiveness, and neutrality, it also can create competition, be vulnerable to exploitation, and absolve voters of ownership or ongoing commitment to the decision (see “Majority Rule: Principles and Criticisms” sidebar). These effects work against the participatory, trust-building principles of learner-centered ecosystem governance.
| Principles | Criticisms |
|---|---|
| Deliberative: Debate is systematically encouraged.
Neutral: Each side gets equal opportunity to present their case, and each option is held to the same threshold of earning more than half the votes. Anonymous: Each vote is treated identically no matter who cast it Efficient: A single winner is quickly selected. Decisive: Decisions can be made even when there is widespread disagreement. | Competitive: Creates clear dichotomy of winners and losers, ignoring alternative outcomes like compromise.
Enables exploitation: Winners can exclusively pursue their own interests and ignore or oppress minority opinions (“tyranny of the majority”). Lack of ownership: Voters may feel less commitment to a decision even if they voted for it. Those who didn’t vote for it may continue to actively work against it. Inequitable: Some participants may be unequally affected or disadvantaged by the decision, or may be unequally responsible for implementing the decision. |
Reflection Questions
- How else do you see these underlying principles of current school boards show up in the current education system? What impacts do they have?
- If you consider other foundational structures within the conventional education system, what do you notice about their underlying principles? Are there places that actually document these principles?
- What would it mean to invent a system of governance with a new set of principles at its core, like those offered in Chapter 2 (Inclusive, Learner-Centered, Relational, Dynamic, Ongoing, Transparent, Protective, Enrolling)? What criticisms or tensions might emerge? In Appendix B, the Ecosystems Working Group offers a vignette that imagines this alternative.