Decided: Returning to school in Sept. w/o expecting people to be rational
This is my 30th year and most of my frustration at school is not the kids, really, but irrationality in everyone: Kids, teachers, school laws, school procedures, admin. and especially parents.
I'm reading Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely, and I've decided to read it enough times in the next weeks to brainwash myself to stop expecting rationality. I'm going to be alot happier. It's my 30th year gift to myself. Ok, this is cynical, but, hey, it's what the system demands.
Not saying I'm never irrational myself, just saying I recognize it in myself and know when to indulge it and when to reign it in and go along to get along.
When an entire group has been conditioned to accept irrationality, it's a constant source of frustration. For instance: We can't open a door at school because terrorists. Never mind the fact that every room has a whole row of open windows 3 feet off the ground, thus allowing entry by anyone, anywhere any time. We'll pretend that locked doors keep the bad guys out. Right.
Or, that if we follow the special ed details, every child will succeed and every parent will love us. Sure, they will.
Or, that anyone will actually follow through on the details laid out in any meeting, or on any memo. 3/4 of the stuff I read on my puter screen either never happens, happens once, or goes totally unnoticed, and we all just do our own thing, pretending like the new protocal was followed. Of course it was. Right.
It starts with the state legislature making micro-managing decisions about everything we do, as if they have a clue what their decrees actually foster. Because give it 5 minutes, and they'll totally forget what they just told you was the new law of the land. Of course it is.
So, I'll catch up with the lounge in a year and tell you how my new mind experiment has or has not worked.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yup...
