"I Knew I Was Going To Have To Stop Smoking Weed" or What Schools Must To Do Improve

Now that I have everyone's attention.

There is a great documentary on Netflix called "Night School". It was filmed here in Indianapolis, where the state of Indiana has a program which allows adults to get high school diploma as opposed to a GED. This movie follows three students in their quest to achieve this goal. One woman in her mid-twenties was homeless although she worked full time in the fast food industry. Another woman was in her mid-fifties and had never known success. The third was a young man who was a single parent to his six year old daughter. As their stories unfolded two things had to happen for them to succeed.  First they had to believe that they deserved success. The second thing is that they had to believe that they could do it. How important these teachers are to these students in their unending encouragement can not be understated.

For the young man that pivoting point was when his brother, the only person he had ever seen achieve any kind of success was his brother, the drug dealer. When this brother is shot from his hospital bed he tells him, "Some day you are going to have to look in the mirror and ask yourself what defines me as a good man?" It is from that point he begins to apply himself.

As it turns out he is kind of a math wiz. When he shows his aunt a geometry paper he aced she is amazed and ask him how he knows to do this. He replies, "You know the first time I saw geometry, I knew I was going to have to stop smoking weed".

For me I was struck by his honesty and humility, after I stopped laughing it occurred to me that this was exactly what is needed to improve schools, honesty and humility.

Daily I see schools continuing to do what they have always done. Staffing to fill hole vs. staffing to build strong educational teams. Boards with antiquated policies when it comes to hiring. Efforts to recruit having more focus than efforts to retain. Superintendents playing musical principals hoping that person in a different building will result in a different result. Teachers taking the first job offered and failing to show up the first day of school. HR departments doing what they've always done with no metric or acknowledgement if what they are doing is working.

"Night School" should be required viewing for every educator in the US. At the end of it be prepared to have a tear in your eye as that they all earn their diploma with the young man graduating as valedictorian.