No Magic Bullet

I was watching one of my all-time favorite shows the other day, Seinfeld, when a classic episode came on. The episode centered around former Major League Baseball player and former New York Mets star Keith Hernandez. In the episode, Kramer and Newman accuse Hernandez of spitting on them after a baseball game. Consequently, Jerry parodied the famous scene from the movie "JFK" where Kevin Costner's character explains the "Magic Bullet Theory." In true Seinfeldian style, he ends his monologue with phrase, "Now that is one magic loogie!"

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but from what I have gleaned from the facts and what experts say, the "Magic Bullet Theory" has been debunked and it has been scientifically proven that Kennedy indeed was killed by a lone gunman.

Now, I bring this topic up not to get into a historical debate on the Kennedy assassination, but to share the idea that there is no magic bullet in education. One can hardly imagine the number of mass mailings and emails I receive on a daily basis claiming that some program, some book, or some manipulative will provide instant results to increase student achievement. I'm here to tell you today that those programs do not work. If they did, schools would simply invest in those programs and all the troubles in school today would be gone.

Student success is based on smart, hard-working teachers, working with smart, hard-working parents, working with hard-working students. WISD is very mindful on what we spend tax payer money, and any programs we purchase are meant to help teachers and students who are working hard...not meant to be a substitute for hard work. I'm as big an advocate for technology in the classroom as you'll find, but I realize that it is the "magic" that teachers do--their daily interactions with students, their caring smiles, their willingness to go above and beyond with students--that makes WISD a success.

So, if you get a chance, thank a teacher for the "magic" they perform everyday but know that there is a lot of hard work behind that magic.