"Education is no guarantee of decency, prudence, or wisdom."

Prior to delving into planning and developing an innovative mindset. It’s important to establish what is innovation or to be innovative really means. At times I struggle with this term, as discussed in Smith’s (2011) paper, ‘innovation was traditionally seen as the domain of the individual, more managerial approaches have led institutions to ‘coordinate innovation and strategic planning’. The definition of innovation, however, is not clear cut and understandings of how innovations spread and innovative practices should be supported differ. (Smith, 427) As a result, there could be a divide between the two - the institution vs. the individual - if what innovation really means in their context isn’t clarified. 

In addition to this, it is important to contextualize what innovation means in education. ‘Education is no guarantee of decency, prudence, or wisdom. More of the same kind of education will only compound our problems. This is not an argument for ignorance, but rather a statement that the worth of education must now be measured against the standards of decency and human survival. It is not education that will save us, but education of a certain kind.’ (Orr, 1996) With this in mind as a class we devised our own criterion based on scholarly articles on innovation. From these articles, we arrived to 9 criterion which would need to be addressed over the duration of our course. Below you will find a document of my initial thoughts on where I stand in each criterion. I personally think that innovation is not something that is achieved, but it’s an ongoing quality one works on inwardly and outwardly...personally and professionally. 

Before closing off on this post for today, there is a section of David Orr’s essay on ‘What is Education for?”, which is worth sharing and keeping in mind our impact as educators. As Elie Wiesel pointed out at the 1990 Global Forum in Moscow: 

“That the designers and perpetrators of the Holocaust were the heirs of Kant and Goethe. In most respects the Germans were the best educated people on Earth, but their education did not serve as an adequate barrier to barbarity.
​What was wrong with their education?
In Wiesel’s words: "It emphasized theories instead of values, concepts rather than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of questions, ideology and efficiency rather than conscience." (Orr, 1996)

References:

Smith, K. (2011). Cultivating innovative learning and teaching cultures: a question of garden design. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(4), 427—438.
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Orr, D. What is education for? Six myths about the foundations of modern education, and six new principles to replace them. Retrieved from: https://www.context.org/iclib/ic27/​