School systems respond to pressure uncreatively

This is based on this post I made to a Complex Systems mailing list.

With all the pressure to improve that's being applied to school systems these days, why don't they improve? My answer must include two complicating factors: First, a school system is made up of individuals, and how they respond to stress is important. Second, a school system is connected to its community, and so the "system" under study must include the schools plus any feedback they get from media, politicians, and so on. A school system under stress will become increasingly rigid and ineffective, thus increasing the stress.

The Human Factor

To really understand a school system, you'll need a hefty dose of human psychology. There are a few individual humans in the school system who need to be considered as significant components of the Complex System. So how do they react to diverse pressures? It seems there can be a "flattening" effect where all of the pressures are mentally lump-summed into a simple perception of "pressure", experienced as "unhappiness" (of the people who pay the administrators, and of the admins themselves.)

If the system becomes too complex for a person to grasp, he will have to simplify his mental picture of it. Beyond that point, increasing pressure, and even increasing potential resources, will cause a narrowing of focus, a lumping of inputs and an ignoring of choices. In short, rigidity. The bureaucrat will start to look for quick fixes and quantifiable measures, and in the extreme worst case, will be more involved with trying to get people happy with him than with trying to improve the school.

People have different mental modes--an extreme example is road rage. A person's level of generosity, empathy, and creativity can also vary widely depending on the situation they find themselves in. We all know the stereotype of the bureaucrat who won't make the slightest attempt to be helpful.

Edward De Bono, in _Six Thinking Hats_, claims that human brains are not set up to think in two modes at once, and that optimistic/problem-solving thinking is a different mode from pessimistic/threat-avoidance thinking. This is consistent with the previous paragraph. If the situation in schools is defined as "unacceptable", then people are more likely to go into threat-avoidance thinking.

I claim that there are distinct patterns of behavior of an administrator or teacher:
1) Applying creativity, solving problems as they occur, able to maintain an overview.
2) Fighting fires, focused mainly on problems.
3) Fearing for their (professional or organizational) life/purpose. Very reactive (in rigid patterns) and uncreative. Tunnel vision. (May become a control freak.)

What is the system?

A school system will also have modes. In the "happy mode", the school is well-perceived by the community and the employees. Problems that arise can be dealt with creatively and appropriately. Input to the system is fairly simple: money and students, and the system is adaptable to changes in the input. The employees are creative. The community is kept happy. Obviously, school systems today are not in "happy mode."

As the inputs to the system change, problems may increase. At some point, a shift in perception occurs, and a teacher may go into fire-fighting mode. Perhaps it's discipline in the classroom, lack of textbooks, too much paperwork, or whatever--the point is that some parts of the school are now playing catch-up to problems, and operating at reduced creativity and optimism. This puts an increased load on the rest of the system. Eventually the administrators start to get into a fire-fighting mode. They start to focus on single problems rather than on how to improve the overall picture. From this point on, the "flattening" effect takes hold. Any increased pressure to improve will simply translate as "Things are Worse."

So far, we've just been talking about what happens inside the school system. But as things deteriorate, the community starts to get involved. Letters to the editor... new laws... vouchers... now, there is a new input from the environment: money, students, and PRESSURE. But remember that at this point in the configuration space, the whole school is in fire-fighting mode. The turning point approaches. Within the school, the limited, fearful attention of the teachers and admins turns from the students to the new biggest threat: pressure from outside.

At this point, the important system is not administration-teachers-students. It is government-media-administration. The rest of the school is dragged around by the administration's attempts to solve the problem. The media has been reporting test scores--so it becomes vital to improve the test scores. The media has been reporting violence. Now posession of a nail file becomes grounds for suspension. The vicious cycle is powerful--especially with the media such a big player.

What happens when everyone in school feels their survival threatened? I suspect that situation is not stable. But there's a similar system called "Juvenile Hall" that is quite stable (even while hurting systems around it). Will our schools escape the problem by becoming prisons?

Solutions are left as an exercise for the reader.

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