"Creative Disruption" Could Kill You: So, Book a Physical this Summer!

Educational Deformers seem to love "creative disruption," a principle applied initially to advertising and, later, the larger business world.  Eli Broad, for one, established his Superintendents Academy, offering a fast-track to those who would sell out public education.  Schools closed.  Communities suffered.  Teachers were disembodied.  

Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, favors the same.  He views Hurricane Katrina as the best thing since sliced bread:  New Orleans lost its 128 public schools; the Recovery District is now a blanket charter district.   Many African-American teachers were swept away in the tide of reform.  

We've seen a lot of disruption in NY in the last two years.  When King and Tisch predicted a great drop in the Common-Core test scores for 2013, they were planning a little "creative disruption" of their own.  The cut scores were set to ensure that seventy percent of the state's Common-Core test takers would fail.  They attempted to fabricate a crisis.  Parents, instead of lashing out at the teachers and demanding more reform, realized that the state was to blame.  

We are seeing more "creative disruption" this year with the new teacher evaluation system based on state and local test measure of students and 22 elements of Danielson, demonstrated in three to six observations as well as a pile of artifacts. It appears that teachers rated ineffective based on the Common-Core test scores of their students may get a two-year reprieve; an alternate formula may be used for their assessment.  But for teachers with students who fail other, non-Common-Core, high-stakes measures, there will be no pardon, only the joy of "creative disruption"!  And, students will still suffer the same amount of testing.

With another year of "creative disruption" coming to a close, I cannot recommend highly enough that everyone schedule all those long overdue doctors' appointments, particularly a yearly physical.  Teachers, surely, are not the only ones to suffer this "creative disruption."  With school closings and Common-Core, sometimes convoluted, curriculum and testing, I am sure students as well as parents are subject to a significant increase in stress levels that may increase the risk of sickness.


"Creative disruption" has, doubtless, led to more stress and sickness-related absences and more medical issues than ever before.  Some are crippled by migraines.  Others suffered colds that lingered and then lingered some more.   Some had foot pain and back pain.  Others had brain pain.  With all the stress of these past months, I am afraid there may be many more ailments simmering beneath the surface.  So, book your yearly physical now, for peace of mind, if nothing else.  Take advantage of your healthcare while it remains intact because "creative disruption" can kill you.