Whitewater Tubing

Do you remember when you were little and your parents took you "tubing" on the river or lake? Nothing was more fun than floating on a cushion of air while the hot sun warmed your face and the cool water rippled over your hands and feet. There is nothing quite as relaxing. Sometimes floating on the river could rapidly change. One minute you would be blissfully floating and the next minute you would hit rapids (whitewater) that made you adjust your position and your body for potential hazards. A moment of bliss could rapidly turn into a tense, but exhilarating, ride.

When I think about what's happening in our world, society, and schools, I realize that we are all in the middle of challenging whitewater. Our country has a long history of being the world leader in business, education, and quality of life. Suddenly that is changing. Other countries are challenging us. Our United States economy is dependent upon countries who used to emulate us. Our business and industries are choosing to outsource their workforce. Our children, who had tremendous opportunities if they got a high school diploma, no longer are finding jobs in local companies because the companies are either not there or choose to outsource their work.

Leaders in our nation, states, and local communities are looking for answers to this dilemma and the first answer that comes to mind is re-tooling schools. I think most educators would agree that changes must be made. The difficulty lies in the process. When you were floating on that inner tube and saw turbulence on the horizon, you realized that you had to make changes. You were willing to make changes. You were extremely pressured to make changes. Maybe you needed to increase the size of the inner tube. Maybe you needed to reconfigure it. Maybe you needed to exchange it for a bigger and better one. All of these are possible solutions. Ones that everyone might consider. The difficulty lies not in the vision or goal. The difficulty is trying to inflate, reconfigure, or change something while you are actually riding it - in a whirl of fast moving whitewater where you are perilously close to falling in the river at any moment.

I really think that this is what our teachers face on a daily basis. Most know that we need to change our way of teaching. We need to reach the students who have been unreachable before. We need to decrease the gaps of learning between our diverse students. We need to make our schools inviting and we need to offer so much more than just the academic growth. That is non-negotiable anymore. I think our teachers are willing. They want their students to be successful. Schools just have to find a way through the whitewater that is engulfing them. Everyone must get in the river with them. We need everyone - parents, community, elected officials, and government working togther to make this work. We need to work as a team because there is more whitewater around the bend.