Not too long ago, a colleague of mine commented to me about a need for balance between work and the rest of one's life. The comment was made that was something like, " Sometimes it just has to be good enough", referring to work. Liking to believe I am the consummate professional, I've never believed that good enough was sufficient. Most times, when I gave it everything I had and then some, I didn't believe it was good enough. Am I simply too hard on myself? Am I simply unrealistic. Perhaps.
My wife, at times has even said, " Mike, It's not like they're paying you six figures."(Disclaimer: This is a comment she has made to me throughout my career so it is not a reflection of my current position.) So I thought this concept of " good enough" and what is " good enough" deserved a closer inspection.
To the attorney who loses the big case after working day and night, did he or she do good enough?
To the surgeon who was selected because he or she was "the best", and then loses the patient on the table; did he or she do good enough?
To the investor, who is entrusted with a couple's life's savings for retirement who loses it all with a bad investment, did he or she do good enough?
I've spent the majority of my career in the public schools before coming to SOAR, and I never believed that there was such a thing as "good enough" Good enough to me, implies settling on less than the very best. As a teacher, I've worked with colleagues who settled for good enough. I thought of some of them as lazy, others incompetent. As an administrator, I've supervised teachers whose good enough wasn't good enough for kids. As a school leader, I coached them, I supported them, and on rare occasions I coached them out. As an advocate of the public schools, and seeing education from both sides of the desk, I don't believe that, as a whole, public education settles for "good enough". In my career as a public educator in North Carolina, I have worked at many schools, in a few different school districts, and throughout my career, the emphasis from the powers that be has always been to promote, encourage, and insist that schools be professional learning communities, committed to continued growing and learning how to do it better all the time, all in the name of the kids.
That being said, even with the best intentions we often fail. No Child Left Behind left plenty of children behind. As diligent as the majority of our public educators are, as rigorous as our school leaders demand educators to be, there are educators that fall through the cracks, and remain in positions of influence over our kids, who don't deserve to be near our kids or called educators. When
less than excellent educators fall through the bureaucratic cracks, the trickle down effect is that kids fall through the cracks. Even with the best educators, working within a bureaucracy, students fail.
I don't claim to be an expert on all the causes of the failings of education in this country, any more than I claim to be an expert on knowing all the right things to do in the classroom. I just go into the classroom everyday with my heart and soul and try to do what is best for your kids. What I do know, is that as an educator, I want for your children no less than I would want for my own children, the very best.
When your tax dollars don't give you a return on your investment in the public schools, those who can turn to the private, and the non- profit sector for an alternative. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Those who expect different results, look for proven alternatives. That's smart.
As I now reflect upon another school year gone by, and one where I was my own hardest critic, and some would say SOAR's hardest critic because I always thought we could do better, we've done a pretty darn good job.
As I watched students present their research and academic presentations and senior speeches to parents and families, and saw students we had worked with all year or all semester step up and put on a show of their talents, gifts and skills worthy of standing ovations for each and every one, I realized how fortunate we all are, to be at this place called SOAR. We truly were, this school year, Success Oriented Achievement Realized. In the end, the acronym proved itself to be a truth which we hold self-evident.
As I met with parents, there were tears, and there were thanks, many for all that "I" did for their child. I immediately told them that I couldn't take the credit. Perhaps I facilitated, and helped out in some small way, leading a student in the right direction, and being there for them. In truth, what students accomplished this semester, this year, was a result of their own efforts, along with the help, support and encouragement of many many SOAR staff, academic staff, base staff, field staff and directors, all who had a hand in doing for their kids, and making their experiences at SOAR, a once in a lifetime experience. I like to think of myself as a small part of a team of highly motivated and dedicated individuals, all who want the absolute best for these kids.
But what is the best? As I get back to the thesis of my writing? What is good enough? Do we just do the best we have with the resources made available to us, and hope for the best results? There was much talk about teaching kids to live minimalistic-ally in the holistic/ expedition -based part of the program which I believe has tremendous value. That, I believe is different, however, from simply accepting decent or good enough when it comes to the education of our children. Don't misunderstand, the expeditions are such a tremendous part of a student's education here at SOAR, I can't begin to comprehend. As I work to make certain that the more traditional academic side of SOAR is equal in quality to the expeditions, I am often faced with "my ideals" on one shoulder, and the "financial reality" that The Academy at SOAR is a growing program on my other shoulder. Being a growing program, one can't and shouldn't expect the "ideal" program overnight. Perfection takes time and it takes patience. While I am patient in many respects, when it comes to wanting nothing but the best for your kids, I am impatient, and perhaps I am unrealistic. Perhaps pretty great is good enough with respect to the academic program, I don't know. I have just never been able to accept pretty great, no matter what I have done in my life.
So by now you are probably expecting a conclusion, or an answer to the question that I posed at the beginning of this writing, "How good is good enough for our kids?" Well I don't have an answer to that because I am pretty hard to satisfy when it comes to this question among others. The best answer I can come up with at this point is " Never". I believe that it will never be "good enough." Hence, as long as they will keep me, I will be here at The Academy at SOAR, working with the rest of the wonderful staff here, to play a small part, to push for my priorities, and to, as I've alluded to in a past speech, : "never accept the status quo" as being good enough for your kids. Does that make me a little difficult to work with? Sometimes. But as I have said many times over the years, I want nothing less for your kids, than I'd want for my own. So for now, I'll be the squeaky wheel, and you know what they say about the squeaky wheel. Here's to never being satisfied...
