Work. What is work? Well there are some precise definitions but a good "working" definition is: force through a distance. There are some clear implications most important being that no work is done unless force is applied and that force moves that upon which it is applied. Forward ideally.
This definition is more that just an abstraction, "concept" to educators, it is applicable in the real world, to educators themselves.
Parents want their kids in school. They know that two forty five minute sessions, four days a week, falls far short of an "adequate education" as mandated in the State Constitution. Teachers, fearful of a return to the classroom, disagree claiming they are doing more work now than they did when in the schoolhouse.
This is where the unbreakable laws of physics and the clear definition of work comes in handy.
Teachers may well be putting in more hours. There may be actual brain strain as they learn that learning is hard and there is a lot for them to learn. But it is equally undeniable that less education is being delivered to our children measured by time, or sooner or later by results on nationally normed tests.
So what is going on?
Well, teachers are NOT doing more work but they ARE expending more effort. One way to look at this by way of efficiency: more effort overwhelmed by less progress yielding less actual work. In the extreme it is like pushing against a wall--lots of effort and energy but the wall doesn't budge and no work takes place. A more disturbing perspective relates to what work, no matter how minimal, is being done. Is it the right work? Is the educational ball being moved in the right direction? Is it enough work or are our students, particularly given DeKalb's performance on its best day, falling further and further behind their peers throughout the state and the country?
Maybe it is time to acknowledge this isn't working and no amount of effort is likely to change that.
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