DDP 690. Conrad Wesley Snyder, Jr. "Strange Loops in Education: Problems for Planning and Progress." March 1999. 20 pp.

Why does it appear that no matter what we do in education, we seem to face the same problems continually? The education agenda has expanded dramatically over the years as societies entrust more and more responsibilities to vast and complicated curricula. There are many different interest groups in a society that is concerned about education. They promote different educational priorities, and greater consultation does not result in clarity of intents but rather in compromises and complexities. In responding to diverse goals and highly interrelated problems, the development mechanisms of an education system operate largely independently, culminating in a closed-door classroom where a teacher and students determine the relative influences of intents and actions. A shifting schooling context tangles the hierarchy of interests and emphases. There is no final arbiter of what constitutes the essential features or outputs of education, and even if this could be remedied, there is a low correlation between intents and technologies, where well-intentioned actions may lead to unintended consequences. The result is a development domain riddled with strange loops. There’s a sense of infinite problems that re-emerge as foci shift. Escape from strange loops requires the establishment of a hierarchy that enables clear judgments and suggests directions or guidelines for action. Education is unlikely to fully untangle its intents and processes. This paper suggests that the criterion of “quality-of-life” may serve as an overall goal for the judgment of program appropriateness and adequacy. The loosely-coupled technologies would be guided by a well-informed, strategic thinking, evolutionary planning management that fosters dialogue, coordinated action, and continual monitoring and evaluation. Unfortunately, we are likely to continue to face strange loops as our efforts fall short in this complex endeavor. We need new development strategies that (1) increase our understanding of the educational process and its reform, (2) recognize the complexities of the domain, and (3) are based on better analyses and utilization of systemic and programmatic information. There is no permanent fix for strange loops. Only a well-managed learning environment will enrich the conceptual and thinking talents of our children. Otherwise, they are on their own, and schooling may or may not contribute to the fulfillment of their talent. We need to manage better the way we manage our schooling. Strange loops are pervasive.

JEL Classification: I20

Keywords: EMIS, educational planning, educational reform, educational development

Wes Snyder is a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in measurement, evaluation, and techniques of experimental research. He has served in psychology departments at Temple University and the University of Queensland and educational research groups at Florida State University, Ohio University, and the University of Montana. From 1996-1998, he was the HIID field leader for the Basic Education Support (BES) Project in Namibia, and served as Advisory Editor of Comparative Education Review, the journal of the Comparative and International Education Society. He is currently Faculty Associate at the Harvard Institute for International Development and director of two projects in Ghana.