School is not like chess.
It's a bad analogy.
It's a bad analogy because if we equate school to chess, we will be led to believe that the role of school leadership is to merely manipulate the pieces in the game. In chess, it makes sense to move your pawns around like pawns.
But education's stakeholders are not pawns.
Students are not pawns.
Teachers are not pawns.
Parents are not pawns.
Change by decree is wrong regardless of the quality of the change, and leadership is sometimes about following the rules only so you can change them. But the rules in chess haven't changed forever, and if we resign ourselves to making school like chess, we might forget that the rules of school are mortal and can be changed.
It's a bad analogy.
It's a bad analogy because if we equate school to chess, we will be led to believe that the role of school leadership is to merely manipulate the pieces in the game. In chess, it makes sense to move your pawns around like pawns.
But education's stakeholders are not pawns.
Students are not pawns.
Teachers are not pawns.
Parents are not pawns.
Change by decree is wrong regardless of the quality of the change, and leadership is sometimes about following the rules only so you can change them. But the rules in chess haven't changed forever, and if we resign ourselves to making school like chess, we might forget that the rules of school are mortal and can be changed.
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