Hedgehogs and Armadillos

The Hedgehog Principle (according to Jim Collins' work Good to Great), means you just stick to the main thing... you do one thing and you do it well.

If there is one principle that public education in America has ignored it is this. That is, unless, you consider a smorgasborg to be one thing. I guess a hallmark of American culture is that we want it all, and our schools are a reflection of that.

Hedgehogs roll up into a ball when trouble comes. They focus on survival and longevity. "Back to Basics" is what that was called twenty years ago. If "basics" are "reading writing and 'rithmetic" then this is a failed strategy. But if basics are something more along the lines of Howard Gardner's five ways of thinking: disciplined, synthesizing, creating, respectful and ethical (Five Minds for the Future) then we might be on the right track.

In considering the hedgehog, I remembered Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories" which included the story of the tortoise and the hedgehog who outwitted the jaguar and as they spent more and more time together took on the other's characteristics until they became armadillos...Both the hedgehog and the tortoise had weaknesses that could be exploited: when dropped in water the hedgehog would recoil and when scooped out with a paw the tortoise could be ripped from his shell. The armadillo has the focus of the hedgehog and the armour of the tortoise.... maybe in education we should begin talking about the "Armadillo Principle." We should stick to the main thing-- and make sure we have the armour to withstand the outside attacks that cause us to loose our focus.