Dr. Nick Sutton is the proud superintendent of schools for Addison District #4 in the Chicago suburbs. This is his 7th year as a district superintendent and has also served as a district leader in urban and rural settings. In addition, he is the author of two books – “Make Professional Development Matter!” and “The Post-Covid School. Grace Under Pressure.”
We as educators work in a career field that I believe mirrors so many natural human tendencies. Take for example, the urge to feel like we are doing a great job. While I can certainly acknowledge everyone wants to feel like they are making a positive contribution to the world professionally and personally, I think this inherent urge is more poignant in the field of public education. We are navigating impacts on students’ lives, so with that the stakes are so high. It’s just different. While I understand the stress of working in a field in which there are financial and sales-related goals, our world of education is just unique. We are aiming to positively impact the futures of students.
Another way I feel like public education connects uniquely to the idiosyncrasies of being a human being is that we seek comfort and a place of resolve. As a school district superintendent, I certainly do sometimes crave the insane deadlines, never-ending volume of work, and unplanned challenges for a variety of reasons. However, I also like reaching that point of accomplishing what seemed impossible because it is a fantastic feeling. Interestingly, I find myself working through these types of feelings frequently within my personal life, as well. As I drive home from work on many evenings, I work through my internal to-do list with this goal of reaching a point where everything seems finished. That there is somehow a magical place where there is nothing left to do. What is ironic about this statement is seeing this objective in the above-written form also seems absurd, however, I have no doubt I will continue falling into the same borderline subconscious dialogue of wanting to find a pathway towards this impossible finish line of completion.
I spend far too many of my weekends convincing myself that if I finish all my household chores and tasks that I’ll reach a place in which I feel like everything is done and that I can then fully relax. In other words, if I just accomplish enough that I can somehow believe I have arrived at a non-existent place of completion in my own mind. It’s taken me a long time professionally and personally to realize the fallacy of this tendency, and while it may seem like understanding none of us are ever really at a finish line in any way in life should make me anxious, it has instead brought me to an odd place of peace.
Take for example, consider any aspect of anyone’s life personally. This could be considering your current state of physical fitness, financial stability or even just the general “to-do” list of items to clean around your home. There is always more that can be done. There is always growth that can be had. There is always a continued opportunity for more.
Needless to say, I am the first to admit and acknowledge that perhaps not everyone is like me. Perhaps they are able to compartmentalize the endless endeavors and tasks life presents themselves different than I. However, I know I slowly realized that unless I found a place of personal peace with accepting so many aspects of life are impossible to ever be finished, it would be my only real way of finding comfort, solace, and reassurance in a lot of ways.
While we probably all find odd connections in our minds with all life’s concepts and topics that we find circulating in our own heads, I find myself finding this internal realization correlating to what I currently see happening with public education. I see this internal dialogue connecting to the recent explosion of the impending impact artificial intelligence will have on our field.
First and foremost, I am not an expert by any means with artificial intelligence. Instead, I am someone that is seeing an only growing similarity to an experience I saw before as an educational leader. I have been privileged to work in this field for about 20 years, with about 15 of those years in various leadership positions. With my place of experience, I am a part of the group of educators that witnessed, firsthand, the transition of schools supplying each child a personal computer device. I remember seeing this futuristic concept evolve from only taking place at certain, forward-thinking schools to becoming an unspoken norm at any and all settings where students learn. I can also confirm that I watched fellow educators embrace this wild new concept of a computer device for each child in a remarkably similar way as I am seeing now with artificial intelligence. This would include excitement and acceptance to anxiety and avoidance for utilizing and seeing the impact this new approach would have.
Now please know that any educator that was apprehensive about utilizing one-to-one device programs at a school, or believing that artificial intelligence is anything but a good thing – I am not criticizing. Instead, I am trying to help other educators to realize two main points I see. First, there’s always going to be something new and we’re never going to be finished. In other words, the teacher that thinks their lesson plan that they have been using year in year out that works just fine and always will….if artificial intelligence isn’t a catalyst to reconsider the need to always evolve, then I wonder what would elicit this sense of urgency for the benefit of kids. Second, I think accepting that there will always be something new in the field of education is important, and this can either be a bad or good thing to put it simplistically. Personally, I choose good and I invite you to follow my lead. None of us will ever reach a pinnacled place in our craft, and this is also a guaranteed pathway for continued and never-ending growth – which isn’t that also a necessary variable for a good life?
If there is one thing I have learned in public education, it is that there isn’t a silver bullet approach that solves all issues and challenges, and rest assured that while I am realizing and seeing that artificial intelligence is going to dramatically impact schools and instruction, I do not think this is the magic solution we have all been seeking as educators. Instead, it just demonstrates that just like society never stops evolving, public education is no different.
I have no doubt that I will keep trying new approaches and ideas until I retire on how best to help students reach their potential. And while I fully realize now that I’ll never be perfect at this thing called public education, what I can realize is that maybe that is the actual solution we’ve all been looking for. Maybe the ultimate key is the acceptance that even if artificial intelligence is able to do so many things for us in a perfect way, it is still better to be that imperfect human being always trying and working towards doing better.