Christensen (co-author of Disrupting Class) uses the following two statements attributed to Albert Einstein to emphasize the need for a new perspective:
- “The significant problems we have a cannot be solved with the same level of thinking we were using when we created them.”
- Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.
If we don’t change our level of thinking to encompass the systemic problems within which our schools are embedded and if we persist in believing that the problems of our schools can be solved by only improving, we will never succeed (Disrupting Class, p. 156).
On a similar note in a conversation with Susan Ives editor of Land & People, Yvon Chouinard founder of Patagonia warns:
I always say that there’s no difference between a pessimist who says, “Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,” and an optimist who says, “Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn our fine anyway.” Either way nothing happens.
