While we’re thinking about educational reform, and lookingto countries that have high-achieving students, perhaps we should take a stepback and determine whether these ideas will work in America. Clotaire Rapailleprovides an interesting inspection of the things that make us tick as a nationin his book, The Culture Code. Slice through the author’s braggadocio and you’llfind some worthwhile information to help us understand our motivations.
Rapaille has studied and defined “culture codes” fordifferent aspects of American life. I’ve wondered about some of these issuesbefore, mainly because I feel out of step with them. I’m not a mall shopper,for instance, but I understand that shopping is about “reconnecting with life,”Rapaille’s code for U.S. shoppers. Au contraire, the French code for shoppingis “learning your culture.” I’ve never attended a business after hours orcocktail party where the culture code for work was not apparent. It’s “who youare.” The author says our code for quality is “it works,” i.e. it’s good enough.For perfection the code is “death,” signifying that perfection is unattainable.It’s an interesting, playful read. You can skim the book and come away with adifferent focus on our culture.
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Now, how about education? We seem to be lodged between arock and a hard place: the factory school of old with its production goals,internal competition and same size fits all mass production vs. the entrepreneurial,customer is always right, decision-making at the level of service andindividualistic programs. What elements are worth continuing as we go forward?What elements not mentioned here will guide us to a first-class educationalsystem for K-12? Rapaille has not coded education. Who or what do you think weare?
