When is it right to quit?

I was taking my first vacation in five years.  Within the first 24 hours I was paged 41 times.  As I checked my pager, I wondered, is this what I want to do with the rest of my life?  Even on weekends and holidays the work never stopped. 

Quitting is often seen as a sign of failure, which is why it’s sometimes hard to leave things.  As a young boy, I remember being told that quitters lose and losers quit.  If I left this job, was I a loser?  I would be less than honest if I did not say that crossed my mind. 

Secondly, some costs are easier to quantify than others.  I knew that if I left my job to become a teacher, I would be making a third of my salary.  The opportunity costs of staying were extremely difficult to put a price on.  How do you value time with your family, and happiness?  

Third, there is the factor of how much you have already invested.  I spent 12 years at this company working extremely hard.  I had tremendous loyalty to the business; it had given me so many opportunities.  Did I owe it to the company to continue? 

When I came back from vacation, I went into my boss’s office and told him that I was resigning from my position.  I would give him as much notice as he needed, but that I no longer wanted to stay with the company. 

I do not want this story to make it sound like I am an advocate of quitting.  I truly believe that you need to honor your commitments—for example, if you sign up for a sport, you stay to the end of the season.  After the season, you can make the decision to continue the sport or pursue something else.   

There are times, however, when you need to change course so that you can cultivate your passion.  Leaving my old company allowed me to find my true passion in teaching   

I never regretted it. 

what should we be asking about education

Recently, I was talking with a friend when she mentioned that her daughters do school-related work intensely every weekday afternoon.  It got me wondering, did her daughters just go to a terrific school with amazing teachers or did this love of learning come from the environment at home? Both she and her husband are highly educated, avid readers who model behavior for their children, that provide a culture for excellence

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In the past several decades, we have gone through a period of educational reform.  The question always asked is, “What is wrong with American schools?”  Which usually leads to, “What is wrong with American teachers?”  If I am not going to give teachers the credit for my friend’s children, is it fair to blame teachers when students are failing? 

Now, I understand the research shows the power of a great teacher.  I have witnessed it myself when certain teachers improve student achievement by leaps and bounds.  Remember however, that teachers are with students 180 days a year, seven hours a day.  When you look at it that way, that’s only 22% of the child’s waking hours. 

Geoffrey Canada (more here), changed the question from “Why are our schools failing?” to “Why do my students in Harlem know less than other kids?”  When he switched the question around, he came up with different answers.  He realized that he needed to give parents training, provide meals, and get families connected to health care.  The environment around the school was as important as the actual hours in the school. 

On reflection, two things come to mind.  One is that we must be careful that we are asking the right question when we are trying to solve a problem.  How the question is framed will determine the solution.  Second, are we asking the right question about education? 

Should we be asking why our students do not know as much as others do around the world?  Or should we continue to ask what is wrong with schools in the United States? 

I’d love to hear what you think.