Suitcases

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again' we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.

~ Jack Kerouac

- - - - -

I am pretty good at packing and moving. I try to keep things organized and boxes marked well. There have been times I have moved and not done a good job at those things, but most of the time I try to do a good job at those things.

That said, there comes a point in every move when you put things where they fit rather than where they belong. I feel like there is some kind of parallel to education there. We sometimes put students where there is room for them rather than where they might thrive. Or we put things in a course because we can teach them but miss the things that probably should be in a course because to include them would make it too complicated or difficult.

Then we end up with education that looks like a suitcase at the end of a move instead of a neatly organized box of materials which make the most of time and space and anyone involved in packing or unpacking them. Then we end up with things like this...

Leslie: What's in this suitcase.

Me: A roasting pan and Christmas decorations, of course.