By a colleague who is taking a class in education, I was recently presented with the question, "What does significant educational change look like?" I immediately smelled a doctor of education in the works.

I tend to harbor a slight distrust for doctors of education. The cause of my apprehension for these folks originates from their lack of common sense and periodic inept ability to successfully mingle with reality. I believe that they may have attended so many college classes that their brains have become overdosed with facts, which they have memorized for tests and have possibly purged their brain's capacity for common sense.

My first reaction was to not engage in playing mind games with a doctor of education. However, I couldn't resist the temptation to play his game and possibly touché him with a bit of consternation. I suppose that I was pitting my common sense against his book learning. In answer to his thought-provoking question, I concocted an explanation.

Last night while I was sitting on my front porch and contemplating the question of what significant educational change looks like, I began to notice parallels between the wind and change. I could not actually see the wind, but only the effects of the wind. Likewise, a person cannot see change, but only its effects. As the wind blew, I noticed the bending branches and the fluttering leaves. Wisps of dirt periodically arose from the road that borders my house. The sound of rustling leaves was another indication that the wind was blowing, yet I was still unable to see the wind.

In the past, there have been such intense winds that I have ventured out into them merely to experience their effects. During a particularly strong wind, I even heard parts of my neighbor's barn crash into my house. I was once very close to a tornado, but I wasn't overly fond of experiencing the effects of the tornado and retreated to a storm cellar. During lighter winds, I have mostly been content to sit on my porch.

I presume that mild educational changes might not move folks from their front porches, but intense changes would sufficiently prod their curiosity, causing them to leave their porches to experience the changes. However, I have plans if tornadic educational changes were to occur, I would immediately retreat to the shelter of retirement.