Reformers® love their label but people with other views seem
to need some help with
labels
I propose Post-Reformer®
to umbrella all views…and even include Reformers.
Post-Reformers believe problems can have multiple
antecedents and multiple solutions. Post reformers place a primacy on
collaboration towards a goal utilizing (not just respecting)
everyone’s backgrounds and talents. Because Post-Reformers are broad (no pun
intended) coalitions, they will contradict each other at times. To the
Post-Reformer contradictions are relished.
A large part of the disconnect Post-Reformers experience
when first meeting a Reformer is that each is operating in a different era and think with different
philosophies. Reformers lust for technocratic bell curves and value added
models remind me of phrenology and eugenics from the 1900s. There often is
value in a passion for data, legalese, working-papers, and astoturfing. The
challenge for the Post-Reformer is to dig deeply for these nuggets of
value.
Here are a few ways the Post-Reformer can bring a Reformer
on board. A Post-Reformer should
never reject a Reformer, they to belong under the umbrella and should always be
respected. Ask a Reformer to bring
their legalese to help you draft Board Resolutions or their astroturfing skills
to engage parents. Reformers need
to feel ‘new’ and current while staying in the comforts of their old
philosophy, often using email. Despite
the Reformer’s need to feel new facebook and blogs are not yet for Reformers.
Reformers need rules and a clear vision of a miniature utopia that they hope will
scale to the whole world, focusing on making the miniature world is another
great place to engage Reformers.
The real challenge is
when the Reformer meets the Post-Reformer. Because Reformers spend so
much time building walls to define themselves, Post-Reformers should be
patient as they explore these new ways of dealing with people.
Post-Reformers have different views and do not speak a single set of ideas. For
Reformers to accept Post-Reformers, they need to accept that conflicting ideas
can still make sense and are worth listening too, or at least don't dismiss
Post-Reformers for having conflicting ideas. Reformers will need to
accept that not everything is a dichotomy nor is every disagreement worth a
"for us or against us" mentality Reformers will need to accept that
people can and will work toward a common goal and that laws and contracts are
not a means to making people do things.
Post-Post-Reformers educate children regardless of policy
and don't care about wonk ideas. A
good pseudonym for the Post-Post-Reformer is “Teacher.”
