In speeches, I often draw comparisons between our country’s turn-of-the-century investments in public education and dam construction. Both systems were created to respond to industrialization and urban expansion. Both face challenges.
The high costs of major repairs to the nation’s aging dams, combined with increased awareness of their environmental downsides, has public officials seeking and finding alternatives. In the United States and around the world, integrating science, technology and community engagement into dam development projects has made it possible to minimize harmful impacts such as reduced biodiversity, while maximizing such benefits as ecosystem restoration and adaptive management strategies.
Each dam project is unique. Communities must consider local context, ecological sensitivity and societal needs to select solutions that will achieve a desired balance between the dam’s economic and technological benefits and its potential environmental consequences.
Equally broad solutions have been proposed for improving public education, with virtually every school district adopting at least some of those remedies. But neither the intent nor the impacts of those solutions seem as clear or as permanent for schools as they are for dams.
I wondered if using the approach to achieving balance between the benefits and impacts of dams on their ecosystems as a model could provide insights for creating more balanced learning ecosystems. I turned to AI to help me further develop my thinking. My first question: “What is the environmental impact of dams?” generated the usual list of negatives, including impact to sensitive species and increased seismic activity.
My second question, “How can the impact and benefits of dams be balanced?” generated some useful solutions, including improvements in design and operations (e.g., constructing fish ladders); staging sediment and environmental flow releases to support downstream systems; and direct investments in ecosystem restoration and community compensation.
That second Bing query also pointed me to an October 2020 New York Times article, Environmentalists and Dam Operators, at War for Years, Start Making Peace, which chronicled the unusual agreement reached between hydraulic dam operators and environmentalists.
Compromising to yield better educational outcomes
For more than 50 years, environmentalists have called for a moratorium on new dam building and the shutdown or tighter regulation of ineffective dams. A group of environmentalists and industry representatives issued a Joint Statement of Collaboration that became the basis for legislation introduced in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Forty members of Congress signed a letter to President Biden resulting in $3 billion being allocated in the 2022 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to support the proverbial both-and solutions that could advance the renewable energy and storage benefits of hydropower while also enhancing the environmental and economic benefits of healthy rivers.
The 2020 statement was the result of two years of quiet negotiations in which both sides compromised. Reading some of the core agreements and documents that came out of the dialogue led me to my third AI question: “Please explore the analogy of public schools as large dams that impact diverse learning ecosystems.” Here’s Bing AI’s full, unedited response:
Reservoir Creation:
- Just as dams create reservoirs by blocking rivers, public schools serve as reservoirs of knowledge and education. They collect students from various backgrounds, abilities, and interests.
Positive Aspects:
- Hydropower Generation: Dams generate hydropower. Similarly, public schools empower students by providing education, skills, and opportunities.
- Flood Control: Dams prevent floods. Public schools offer stability and structure, preventing educational chaos.
Negative Impacts:
- Ecosystem Disruption: Dams alter ecosystems. Public schools can inadvertently disrupt diverse learning ecosystems by imposing standardized curricula, rigid schedules, and uniform assessments.
- Loss of Biodiversity: Just as dams affect fish migration, schools may hinder students’ individual learning paths. The focus on standardized testing can suppress creativity and diverse talents.
Mitigation Strategies:
- Fish Ladders for Learning: Schools should create “learning ladders” to accommodate diverse learning styles. Personalized education plans, flexible schedules, and project-based learning can be the equivalent of fish ladders.
- Environmental Flow Releases: Schools should allow “educational flow releases.” These include field trips, guest speakers, and interdisciplinary projects that expose students to a variety of subjects and experiences.
Community Engagement:
- Involve parents, teachers, and students in decision-making. Their input ensures that the school ecosystem remains vibrant and adaptable.
Adaptive Management:
- Like dam operators adjust water flow, educators should adapt teaching methods. Recognize that each student is unique and requires tailored support.
Remember, just as dams must balance energy production with environmental needs, schools must balance standardized education with nurturing diverse talents. Let’s build educational ecosystems that thrive like healthy rivers.
I was pretty impressed with these AI-generated insights. So, I asked one final question: “Dam operators and environmentalists sat down to forge a joint statement of collaboration. Who would public education system leaders sit down with?” Bing AI’s answer (with short explanations for each): “teachers and school staff, parents and families, community leaders, business and industry representatives, university researchers, and academics.”
And therein lies the problem. The K-12 education value network — the people who have or believe they should have a say in how schooling is done — is hugely complex. Each stakeholder group wants something slightly different from schools. But the real problem is that most of the focus is on changing schools to improve individual student outcomes. That’s the equivalent of arguing for major dam revitalization to address the extinction of a single species of fish.
The focus needs to be on changing schools to improve the learning ecosystem that inadvertently has been starved. Doing this means that we need to have an image of what is and what, figuratively speaking, could be on the other side of school that is as clear and measurable as the images of what is and could be on the other side of the dam. It also means that we have to think of our commitment to public education not as a commitment to schools as we know them, but to the renewal of our most important resource — our young people.
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Karen Pittman is a partner at KP Catalysts and the founder and former CEO of Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit that helps communities make sure all young people are “ready by 21 for college, work and life.”
