Ok, so I’m going to be just a tad iconoclastic in this post… so a warning for any precious of heart.

I had the pleasure of coming across a wonderful young singer by the name of Davy Simony when in Melbourne for work . One song he sings is Little Boxes; his own version of Malvina Reynold’s 1962 original.

Here are the lyrics:

Little Boxes
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there’s doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

So I wonder, what has changed?
To what extent are we still chasing shiny things in education?
What little boxes are we creating or sustaining? 
How do we create “little boxes” through the labels we use? Is Design Thinking the next “little box”? Or maybe it is “gaming”?
Are these just “little boxes” we are putting our learners into?
Why does it have to be any of these? For what purpose are you using these methodologies or technologies?

What are the underpinning or deep pedagogies and strategies that underpin any of these “new” approaches? Isn’t that what counts?
Surely if we are able to identify the deeper levers that underpin these practices, we will be able to replicate them in other situations – irrespective of a shiny new title.
Is this not a form of consumerism that is evident here where we buy-into the next-best-thing, chase rainbows and hop from one shiny thing to the next like magpies?

So my question to you is, to what extent are you replicating a cookie-cutter approach to educating our youth?   What are the little-boxes you are trying to fit them into, or the new shiny-things you are currently chasing?