For a moment, let's imagine. See the two of us facing each other. I ask you to describe your hand. Pause yourself long enough to identify the position of your hand before you begin to describe. Palm down? Palm up and facing you? Palm up and facing me? In what position do we both have the same perspective, the same view? None of the mentioned positions!

Now, ask what is the ideal position for us to take so that we will have essentially the same view, the same perspective. First, we must be facing the same direction. With one of us standing behind the other, blockage obscures a common view. Therefore, some side-by-side perspective gives us the most common view. We will most likely see the same details with the greatest amount of agreement.

Now, leave the world of the imagination. Switch back to your reality. Identify an issue that concerns you and others in your world. For example, consider the issue of educational reform, an issue with current arguments being put forth in multitudes. Everyone has a conclusion. Everyone has a solution. The cacophony achieves nothing. Ask yourself, "What is the perspective being used?"

To answer the question, list all of the things that you believe concern interested parties about educational reform. Take the top 10 that you have heard voiced repeatedly, probably over several decades. (1) Bad teachers, (2) Testing, (3) Leadership, (4) Money/Funding, (5) Dress codes, (6) Basic skills, (7) Gangs, (8) Non-native speakers, (9) Parental involvement, (10) Irresponsibility. Ask yourself again, "What is the perspective?" Consider that the perspective is one of who or what is to blame for the problems in education.

How does having this perspective change anything? Complaining about these blame areas empowers us emotionally but accomplishes almost nothing related to change. To begin to re-set the perspective, question what is missing from the list of 10 concerns. The obvious one is learning. What would happen if everyone decided to examine education reform from a learning point-of-view?

For starters, reformers would need to identify the learners being addressed. Now a whole new set of questions emerges. What do we want them to learn? What level of competence must they demonstrate? Within what time-frame must they achieve the defined competence? How many times must the learners demonstrate a competence to guarantee that the desired learning has occurred. What happens to the learners who have not achieved competence? What happens to learners who have excelled significantly beyond competence within the specific time-frame?

With these questions in hand, what are the points-of-pain inside the education arena? What sacred practices and procedures would be challenged? What ways of doing business would have to change? If learning is truly the perspective to be taken, seat-time as a measurement of learning must go. Time-to-degree or to-achievement needs considerable re-thinking. Learner, not teacher, is the focus of the responsibility. Both written and unwritten rules for doing business need to be questioned if we are to actually change the education environment into a learning environment. Yes, a dramatic change in perspective!

In the end, look at all issues that concern you. Question your personal perspective. Question the perspectives held by others. Then, decide where you want to place your energy, your thinking, and maybe even your future. Question your way toward productivity and innovation, not toward argument.