Are You Hacking Branches, Or Are You Striking Roots?

Henry David Thoreau

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, . . .” – Henry David Thoreau

I recently had the immense pleasure of having been recommended and listened to a presentation given by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig. The presentation was titled “How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It.” In listening to the presentation, Lessig provided reference to the above quote of author, activist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau from his book Walden. In Lessig’s presentation, he uses this quote to provide a clear example of typical congressional reforms. Normally, we look at ways to keep our representatives honest to our wants and needs. Unfortunately, what is touted as reform efforts fall far short of their intended purpose – that is the hacking at branches. Very simply, Lessig makes the argument that in order to achieve the reforms in Congress, we have to strike at the root – the money flowing from special interest groups.

Whether or not you agree with the case made by Lessig, much of the order of argument Lessig makes can carry over into education as well. Recently, I was asked if the iMessage service could be disabled on student iPads. There was a rash of students sending mass messages over iMessage, and I was asked what to do about it. I reminded those asking the question that the technology acceptable use policy and school district disciplinary policy would guide what actions, if any, needed to take place.

What my colleagues failed to recognize was that even if I was to take an entire step back by attempting to disable the iMessage service on student iPads, this does not strike at the root of the problem. The next time there was any technology related incident, the reaction would be to hack off another limb. As I walk through the hallways, the root is glaring me in the face in that teachers have not appropriately changed their pedagogy to properly account for this new technology.

I still see rigid rows of desks. I see sage on the stage lecture. I see idle time where students are not working in groups on collaborative, creative and constructive projects. That is the root of the problem, right there. If students are properly engaged in a lesson, then the electronic note passing should be a more remote event. What I need to do, and my greatest failure as a leader in my school district, is promote professional development that helps teachers better realize our vision for education. Nowhere is technology even mentioned as a root when you look at what the vision is and what the teachers are doing to achieve that vision. But technology certainly is a branch.

At the upcoming Illinois Computing Educators Conference in the beginning of March, there appears to be many sessions that discuss ways to hack at branches, but only a few to strike at roots. This is not an attack on my colleagues, but a call for my colleagues to up the ante on the focus of the precious time they have been allotted to present their topics. Do not simply peddle a myriad of confusing and sometimes short-lived Web 2.0 applications, or another odd use for an interactive whiteboard. Clearly point out how these tools are addressing the bigger picture. Provide a substantive argument for how you are working to go to the root of the issues plaguing your school or district and how technology is affecting those issues.

There are several spotlight speakers who I have a great deal of respect and who have demonstrated, through conversations I have had with them and through arguments they have made, that they are capable of singling out and striking right at the root of issues in education that technology can address. I truly look forward to the time not in the breakout sessions, but away from the conference rooms where a free flow of ideas will result in some profound strike-at-the-root-a-ha moments. Those are the moments where a face to face social network clearly trumps a virtual personal learning network.

There has been too much hacking made recently on topics in education that truly are branches. Let us focus our time and efforts to engage each other on how we are striking the roots.