Why "One Size Fits All" Is a Scam

 

Every single year I receive the same message from one of my Facebook friends: “Hey Trystan! We are looking for more teachers to join our team! Let me know if you are interested in applying.” This message is in reference to a fairly new charter school in my hometown of Idaho Falls (although it is at least four years old because that is how many times I have received this exact message). Last year, I finally replied with, “I am still not looking for a teaching job, but I have a friend who is!” Unfortunately for my friend, that did land her a job at this school.

That might sound cynical, but truly, it is unfortunate. For months and months my friend would call me after school crying about her new job. I know it is common for first year teachers to frequent pity parties, but from my own assumption, it is usually due to an overwhelming amount of planning needed to kick start the career, or issues with classroom management as they learn to deal with rambunctious students. However, for this friend, the tears were almost always caused by some sort of interaction with her administrators.

These interactions started out with administrators telling her she could not have her own desk or hang any decorations on the walls and have since moved to them stepping in and halting her in the middle of her instruction to tell her class to pick up straggling pencils that have inevitably fallen on the floor. Did someone call Miss. Trunchbull?

Almost every day, my friend is given a list of things that she needs to change about her instruction – including that she needs to lean over when she talks to students rather than squatting down next to them in order to retain a stance of dominance. Each time administrators visit her classroom, she is quickly given a list of “improvements” that are needed, and is assured that it is all based on research. While the administrates feel this is what is best for her students, she feels otherwise. In her mind, if she treats her students the same way the administration treats her, she feels that it will create an authoritative environment inconducive to learning.

This is one evidence of the issue with doing things in the name of “research.” While it is very probable that the administrators’ requests are based from research based decisions, they fail to remember other important ideologies – such as basic human decency. My friend, along with many other first-year teachers on her team, do not plan on staying at this school past the year they are contracted to. I wonder what the research would have to say about the effectiveness of teachers who feel attacked and underappreciated. Certainly, the amount of new teachers this school has to train each year due to their high turnover rate has got to slow down productivity, as it has proven to do in other instances. 

While research based practices have their place and provide insightful perspectives that should be taken into consideration, it is also important to remember that there is no such thing as “one size fits all.” This concept is illustrated well by the history of the United States air force’s aircraft design. After multiple issues and setbacks with the aircrafts they were using, they determined that the issue was because of the design of the cockpit itself. Naturally, researchers decided that if they took the average measurements of thousands of pilots, they would inevitably design a cockpit that would be the perfect fit for everyone. However, the findings were exceptionally surprising and revealing. As best stated in the article, No One Size Fits All, “Out of 4,063 pilots, not a single airman fit within the average range on all 10 dimensions.”

It should not be surprising then, that when physical estimations will never perfectly fit an entire group of people; emotional, intellectual, and behavioral practices are sure to also follow the rule that “no one size fits all.” Because each individual, family, student, classroom, and teacher are unique, education should be given the liberty to be adjusted in unique ways. Therefore, I believe the best practice for handling research would be to ensure that teachers are aware of research and evidence based practices (perhaps through professional development policies), but then should be given the liberty to apply the principles to their unique classrooms as they see best fit.