The College Development Network in Scotland hosted a “Festival of Dangerous Ideas” on education a couple of weeks ago (see also the festival blog here). As per their website, the goal of the festival was to:
“to re-establish the importance of dangerous ideas as agents of change in education – to shift the axis of what is possible!”
Great idea, great initiative! But, concerning the message being delivered, what are the real “dangerous ideas” in education today? Are the ideas that are intended to produce change the dangerous ones? I would suggest that the truly dangerous ideas are the ones that hold us back – the ones that reinforce the status quo in times of increasingly rapid change. Are we helping ourselves if we promote what we feel is the appropriate way forward as “dangerous”?
I know, I’m being a bit nitpicky but this just got me thinking…
