Progress: Part Two

In case you missed it, last week I introduced a puzzle (2 min read).

The puzzle is based on a question:

How do we accept the reality of progress?

In Part One, I concluded that the first step to solving this puzzle is to accept that true progress is boring.

I'd like to keep exploring the puzzle today, by looking at another source that shapes our understanding of progress.

School.

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Take a moment to think about the school model of progress.

It's fairly linear, isn't it?

We go from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12, ideally from one step to the next.

The idea of being held back a grade, or possibly even failing a grade, is in direct contrast to the school model of progress.

Most of us are in school for a long time. Let's say an average of 18 years, if you include some post-secondary schooling as well.

That's 18 years of living within a single model of progress.

Sidenote: I absolutely love school and I have only recently realized how much it has influenced my understanding of progress.

After living within it for so many years, it's easy to imagine how the school model of progress can become our default model.

I think the next step to accepting the reality of progress (solving our puzzle), is to understand that the school model, isn't the only model.

In fact, it may not even be a good model.

Real progress involves going backwards. School doesn't like that.

Real progress involves plateaus. School moves too fast for that.

Real progress isn't like school.