Educated for Magnificence Not Schooled to Order
From Order to Magnificence: Redefining Education's Purpose Beyond Control
As I reflect on a book I read years ago, Schooled to Order by David Nasaw, I am reminded that education has never existed outside the influence of politics. Governments establish policies, allocate resources, define standards, and shape the vision of what schools are expected to accomplish. Whether we agree with those decisions or not, politics and education remain inextricably linked.
The book argued that schools have often served society’s need for order, stability, and social control. As a young educator, I found that argument provocative. As a veteran educator with more than three decades of experience, I find it impossible to dismiss.
Throughout my career, one of the greatest obstacles to meaningful educational reform has not been a lack of research, innovation, or dedicated educators. It has been the tendency for educational decisions to become entangled with political ideologies, election cycles, misinformation, and competing agendas. Politicians inevitably influence education because education shapes future citizens. The question is not whether politics belongs in education. The question is whether politics serves education or whether education becomes subordinate to politics.
I have witnessed reforms implemented not because they were supported by evidence, but because they were politically expedient. I have seen educators blamed for societal failures they did not create and then expected to solve problems that extend far beyond the classroom. I have seen communities divided by narratives that generate more heat than progress.
I understand why order became such an important educational objective.
On the Day I Graduated from Medgar Evers College
On the day I graduated from Medgar Evers College, as I excitedly made my way to collect my diploma, an older woman I had never seen before approached me. She appeared to have overheard staff congratulating me on becoming a teacher. She quickened her pace to catch me and, with tears beginning to form in her eyes, asked, “You going to be a teacher?”
Before I could answer, she continued:
“If you don’t teach them anything, teach them to listen. Because when the cops say stop and they don’t stop, they will get shot down.”
I stood there, puzzled by the intensity of the moment. Then I smiled and promised her I would.
For years, I carried that conversation with me.
I believed in order. I maintained discipline in my classrooms. I established high expectations. I taught responsibility, accountability, and respect. I still do.
But over time, I began to understand something deeper.
The problem was never order itself.
The problem was when order became the destination rather than the foundation.
- Order without purpose becomes control.
- Order without identity becomes conformity.
- Order without opportunity becomes oppression.
- Order without hope becomes despair.
Today, whether we are discussing school violence in Trinidad and Tobago or other parts of the Caribbean, student shootings in the United States, declining trust in institutions, or growing social fragmentation, we are confronting challenges that cannot be solved by order alone.
The MAGNIFICENCE™ Framework
That realization became one of the catalysts for the development of The MAGNIFICENCE™ Framework.
And why wouldn’t it?
After decades spent teaching, leading, mentoring, developing policy, analyzing educational data, and working alongside families across multiple countries, I am convinced that human development must remain at the center of educational transformation.
The framework does not reject order. It recognizes that order is necessary for learning, safety, and community.
The future of education cannot simply be about producing orderly students. It must be about developing magnificent human beings.
Order may create stability.
But magnificence creates possibility.
