Or educationese, if you please. I am currently mired in the Slough of Despond (you can google it) while wrestling with the often impenetrable language of my new adopted profession. I am trying to submit evidence of my vast competency to the agency that has licensed me for the moment (I hope). Every time that I do this, or read a treatise on the latest thought in education, I come face to face with the jargon that often substitutes for clear statement of purpose and goals.
Every businesss has its interior language for its initiates. The law was certainly no different. But it seems to me that education has a particular obligation to express itself in terms that can be understood. We are constantly trying to increase involvement of parents and community members. We cannot hope to do it unless we can explain what we are attempting to do in a way that they can understand. But, nearly every time I open a book or read an article, I see the same mumbo-jumbo.
The legal community has embarked on a plain English campaign for the past thirty years. I will not try to suggest with a straight face that it has always succeeded. I do know that it is presented as a standard to which we as attorneys should aspire. I have not seen any evidence of a similar movement in education. Maybe I have just not been around enough.
In happier news, I am currently studying a new classroom management technique called CHAMPS. That book is a model of clarity, and is very helpfully written. Maybe we could get those guys to propose some language adjustments for the rest of the education establishment...
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