Field Notes: Education is about People

If you're like me, at the end of a busy day usually my mind is spinning going back over all the conversations and action items from the day. Frequently I'm struck at how many bright, funny, creative and motivated people I've had the pleasure of interacting with in just that one working day. And then I think about how really my whole career in education's been like that -- filled with amazing people! Do you feel fortunate like I do, to be surrounded by great people?

I'll take it one further. I've often thought, through my life in education, that no industry (second only to healthcare) is more focused on, and has more fundamental impact on, the quality of a person's life, than does education. Or lack thereof. Those of us employed in education, everything we do impacts the real life of a real student. That's a humbling thought. As easy as it is to get discouraged about all the complications and bureaucracy around us, it's also easy to take for granted this amazing gift we're all given to have a chance to really help learners. Whether you're standing in front of a classroom teaching, whether you're producing educational content, whether you're drafting next year's school budget, or whether like me you're sitting at a computer writing code, still day by day minute by minute, your work is changing lives.

If you're like me, you're old enough to have possibly forgotten what it's like to be a student. Remember the nervous anticipation of walking those hallways, trying to figure out what major to choose, trying to shape your own identity, make acquaintances and understand all the new faces around you, all the energy it takes just to study year after year, and certainly, how to pay for it all -- these are real daily human journeys that students of all ages are living out. And it's our job and opportunity to try to make their human journeys better.

If you're like me, ever since Covid times I've watched plenty of YouTube. There's a vast quantity of stuff on YouTube! It's amazing what you can learn on there! One thing I've enjoyed is Philosophy videos . . . you know, to this day, all the knowledge the human race has accumulated, all the great technology and science we have, still our greatest thinkers are baffled by the same puzzles that baffled philosophers back to ancient Greek times. We still do not understand those basic questions of life -- why is the world here? what can we know and how can we know it? why and how are human minds and thought even possible and what does it mean to be a human against the backdrop of the unthinkable vastness of space?

In other words - our lives are still always a mystery. In other words - humans are always unique and special and every one of us and every moment is teeming with wonder and opportunity. In this age of information and the internet, it's easy for us to think of "Education" and "Students" in mass-terms: we think about populations of students, demographics and cohorts and a scale of thousands or millions of students. But in its essence education is never about thousands or even hundreds or even dozens of students - it's always and inevitably about One Student. It's only ever about One Person's Life, and our work as educators is either advancing that One Person's Life, or putting obstacles in their footsteps.

It's always true but easy to forget, in our busy days and the hundreds of people we interact with, at any point in time all we have is the one person in front of us, the one voice we are speaking or listening to, no matter how much multi-tasking we may do, at any point we are only ever doing one thing and the only moment we can shape is the one that is happening now right in front of us.

For all those of us in the education industry, let's keep doing what we do, helping to advance one student's experience and goals in this world, and in that one person's journey, together we change the world.