The Change In My Pocket

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
- Woodrow Wilson

I love quotes. Now that I am thinking about it, I just realized that I have taken the time with my friends to create and debate about top ten lists of favorite movies and favorite songs, but have never taken the time to develop a list of top ten favorite quotes. I just added an item to my “to do” list – but I need some time to find the quotes and then rank order them.

The quote above is what is on my mind right now. I don’t think it is as profound as some others that I like, but it is perhaps the truest of statements and was said by a man who knew how difficult it was to change something, or anything for that matter. Change is so difficult and so complex that one could fill a classroom with books from the floor to the ceiling, and wall to wall with books on the topic. There are books about change theories, change processes, change experiences, how to change an organization, and even books about how to change relationships. There are different schools of thought on change, such as change from within an organization, and others on the archaic “top down” approach which is pretty much rejected throughout the education system.

Any student in an educational administration program today reads about, discusses, and writes about the complexity of change. The reason for this is quite simple. Change brings struggles, particularly in organizations such as schools. The education system is “systemized” – in structure it has been the same for a very long time and attempts to alter structures that have existed for any length of time brings about personal feelings of anxiety, fear, and in some cases anger.

In education we have to accept the challenges that accompany change. For those involved in the change process the challenge of change often equates to a modicum of personal struggle. For those who have an understanding of history in our country and in the world, it is understood that struggles associated with change have made the world a better place. Just one hundred years ago Frederick Douglass commented about this. I am not sure if President Wilson ever made the acquaintance of Frederick Douglass but when Douglass was in his seventies, Wilson was in his thirties – so it is possible. That is a just a side thought.

“Without struggle, there is no progress.”
- Frederick Douglass