Chapter 2: Change

Going through 2020-2021, education was faced with an amazing opportunity. Some embraced the new mode of delivery while others opposed it, like they were asked to give up a limb. Coming out of 2021 and for the next couple of years was the sweet spot where education, specifically post-secondary and adult education, could change for the better. There was no bad consequence to taking risks, and with the advent of Micro-Credentials students were being heard. They wanted short, affordable courses that they could stack and create their own learning path that suited their needs, not what the curriculum developers decided was to be taught. Most people can’t afford to take 1, 2 or 4 years off of work, even six months. Programs saw a decline in enrollment. People were shifting their priorities.

Did the educational institutions accommodate?

When people/companies/institutions face a drastic change in direction, most will freeze, and end up doing nothing. If they have the resources, they can weather the storm, but most don’t.

This is a feeling of being lost.

They don’t know what to do, so they do nothing.

In the book Ordinary Men, author Christopher R. Browning documents how a group of ordinary men became one of the deadliest death squads in World War 2. When humans are faced with a decision where they don’t know what is the right answer, our tendency is to do nothing and end up following the pack as that is the safest, most comfortable decision. Our minds always want what is most comfortable. It doesn’t like change, and the institutions that educate us resonate that better than anything else.

What would happen if you suddenly woke up in the middle of a forest? So thick that you couldn’t even see the sun. What would you do? For most, we stand still, look for clues on where we are and wait for the answers, but there are no answers.

What if you picked a direction and started walking?

Eventually, you will start to get feedback on where you are and get a better picture of the situation. You will eventually find downhill terrain that leads to a stream. Follow the direction of the flow, and you find that it leads to a river. Follow the river until you happen upon a bridge. Follow the road to a town and figure out where you are.

You are not going to be able to do anything without doing something.

Our large educational institutions faced drastic change, and very few took that as an opportunity.

Most of them stood still.

Most institutions adopted Micro-credentials, and the opportunity for change was to have them fit into the same mould as previous programming. Give them a standard duration and delivery method. This is something I have never understood for most programming and I will always question: Why does it take four years for someone to be a teacher/artist/business person, etc.? Doctors and lawyers have so much information that they need to understand it makes sense that it takes so long for their education. This is a comfortable box to put education into. It makes it easy to assign resources and to price it out. Fill it fluff for most of the program, and you have a standard program.

So when faced with the change, the institutions put Micro-credentials in the box. The department determined that they needed to be set hours and that they would be priced at standard tuition. Easy. Comfortable. New and exciting programming that really only had a new name. Nothing was new.

This is where I started to see the true nature of the leadership of the institution.

I guess I could be classified as a disruptor. Someone who has an immense amount of curiosity that I ask a lot of questions. Not to cause shit, but to get clarity and understanding. It started right at the beginning of my journey at this institution. I would ask about why it took so long to create a new course, and why I had to go through a verbose process to get a one-day course on the schedule. I come from a work life that if something needs to get done, do it.

If you make a mistake, fix it.

If it’s a big mistake, take responsibility.

Learn.

Move on.

I had my eyes opened to systemic red tape bullshit. A way for people to ensure their position was important was to throw up barriers so the people doing the work couldn’t move forward. They don’t generate revenue. They waste my time with senseless meetings to show off what “make work” project they are working on. I’ve always had an issue with people in certain positions who call themselves leaders. A leader is not a title, it’s earned. You can’t call yourself a leader, it’s like giving yourself a nickname. I find these people to be interesting. They are fragile. Filled with fear and use their “position” to instill fear in others to keep them in line. Their fear is about change. They are comfortable in their title and don’t want anything to change that so the barriers keep coming.

A true leader works to remove the barriers so everyone can be successful.

“I need you to be a leader on this project.” I was told this multiple times by the director and each time, I had to focus on not getting sick.

You hired me to do a job.

I have proven that I do the job.

Stop the book of the week bullshit technique.

Looking back, there is one event that I believe started the process of my “dismissal.” I must quote that because you won’t believe how it rolled out. There was a meeting where my director was letting us see a sneak peek of what is called an education framework. This is a make-work project that outlines the processes and philosophies of how the institution delivers education. Every school has this and every one of them is basically the same. So an all-staff meeting was called, and our leader presented the education framework, which is the same thing I’ve seen at every school/institution I have worked at, but there was a problem. This institution talks a lot about its commitment to Indigenization and Reconciliation. The sad reality is that most of it is lip service from the leadership level. The true work is happening at the worker level. We build relationships and work together to find the solutions the community needs. This is where my inner disruptor came out.

“Why is there no Indigenous representation on the committee?”

The question was deflected with a statement that makes me so angry I will not give it any energy or my words.

“Have you consulted with the Indigenous communities?”

The answer was no.

I was given a special project that involved working directly with the Indigenous communities in my region to deliver a program. I had to build relationships, where I had none. I had to navigate broken relationships, where others created the damage. I had to learn the culture and build the trust. This takes time. This was a project that had to be done quickly because the stats of Indigenous students looked good on a spreadsheet. When the project wasn’t proceeding as fast as the leaders thought it should, a special meeting was called to discuss how to proceed. This meeting consisted of five white college leaders and myself, where a decision was made on how to communicate to the Indigenous communities to make sure the institution didn’t trigger anything. Six white people, all settlers, made the decision on what was best for the Indigenous community. It makes me a bit ill to think about this meeting.

“What is the purpose of having this meeting without anyone from the Indigenous Community? Don’t you all think that they can tell us the best way to communicate and proceed?”

The project was taken away from me.