Fear of the unknown

Why do we create fear before we know there is something to be afraid of? Yesterday I ran up against the fear of what parents might do. I did the best I could to present evidence that we don’t know how parents will react to every teacher having a web site, and the different ways teachers will use the space. Teachers fear was that parents will use the space to compare teachers. I asked: Doesn’t this happen anyway? Isn’t that the nature of the beast? Whether we have a web site or not will not stop parents from comparing teacher to teacher.

Way are we fearful of what we do not know? Why is it so hard for us as educators to admit we don’t have an answer, or we’re not sure how something will turn out. I find it fascinating that we would rather not try something at all rather then try something and fail. We learn more through failure then we do successes. As educators we preach this to our students, but do we practice it? Do we take risks, try new methods, new technology, try teaching in a new and uncomfortable way?

Education should be about more then taking tests, it should be about exploring the world around us, constantly changing and adapting to new situations. Education should be continually beta continually trying new things exploring possibilities and looking at the skills our students will need for the future. I don’t think I’m asking much, I’m just asking us to do what we preach.

Update: I think this picture from gapingvoid says it all.

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