I love movies. This is one of my favorites.
As an educator, Moneyball brings to life two people who I would like to see rise to power in education – the innovator and person with money who can make it happen. When those two characters finally meet, we will then see our public education system leap forward and away from the archaic, data driven worship that we are currently mired in.
Just a little back story. John Henry, the new owner of the Boston Red Sox, has invited Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s to Fenway Park in Boston, Mass. John Henry wants Bill Beane to be his manager. Along with Peter Brand, Beane has taken a team with a small budget, and built a competitive roster by revolutionizing the way baseball talent was assembled on a roster. Beane did this to the chagrin of the old guard. Some wanted to run him out of town in Oakland at the same time Boston was about to offer millions for his services.
I know you’re taken it in the teeth out there, but the first guy through the wall. But the first guy through the wall, he always gets bloody, always. It’s the threat of not just the way of doing business, but in their minds it’s threatening the game. But really what it’s threatening is their livelihoods, it’s threatening their jobs, it’s threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it’s the government or a way of doing business or whatever it is, the who people are holding the reins, have their hands on the switch. They go bat shit crazy. I mean, anybody who’s not building a team right and rebuilding it using your model, they’re dinosaurs. ~ John Henry
If you choose to go into this profession of education, I hope you do what Billy Beane did. I hope you revolutionize our profession. I hope you make the classroom experience relevant and inspiring again. I hope you challenge those seeking to stifle the learning experience.
Dare to dream of what our classrooms and schools can be. Dare to innovate. Dare to buck the system, and consequently create learning environments which foster in-depth learning which sticks. Think big. Maybe that means building your own school. Maybe that means being “a lone island of creativity” in a sea of vanilla ideas. Wherever you are led, be different. You got one shot at this life. Go make your mark.
And remember, if the establishment hates you…well, then maybe you are on the right path. David stood before Goliath. Somebody has to be the first through the wall.
ProTip: Billy Beane didn’t go to Boston, but John Henry would use their(Burns and Beane) philosophy to end one of sport’s most publicized championship droughts. In 2004, John Henry would help bring Boston its first World Series Championship since 1918.
He would bring them three more after that…
