The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

April Unbalance will Bring May Exemplary Ratings

April 04, 2011 by Jeremy Jones

Since April is a month at YES Prep that is inherently unbalanced and since as of last Friday we are, as hard as it is to believe, already in the month of April, this short essay on balance by Mark Buchanan seemed especially appropriate. Big Shout Out to Robert McBurnett, our CFO, for finding it and sending it our way!

I have long believed that “balance” is a mirage that we chase wanting to believe it will satisfy our longings, but it is illusory. Our age has its own cherished myths, and one of the most hypnotic is the myth of balance. I hear it everywhere, from old and young, city dwellers and country folk, carpenters and lawyers, students and homemakers. Everyone seeks balance. Everyone longs for that magical combining of rest and play and work that, once found, will make life simple, elegant, easy: balanced. Where is the perfect middle, they ask, the right proportion of duty and freedom, church and job, neighbors and family, time for others and time for me?  There is none. It is no more to be found than unicorns or perfect churches. There are only seasons, seasons for everything, and seasons are inherently unbalanced. The watchword for seasons isn’t balance. It’s rhythm. And rhythm requires a different approach.  I seek balance when I stand up in a kayak. Staying in the boat depends on it. But I seek rhythm when I paddle the kayak. Getting anywhere depends on it. There’s balance needed, too, but a balance that flows out of the rhythm, and often enough the rhythm forces me to extremes, a steep leaning one way of the other, so as to keep balance. We crave balance, but need rhythm. On the other hand, it could be that I am not all that high on the concept of balance only because I have proven not to be very good at it or maybe I am just all wet.

If you’ve never experienced the month of April at YES Prep or as a teacher in another school district, you are about to experience one of the most unbalanced and challenging months of your life. Even if you have experienced it chances are you’ve forgotten or at least time has taken off the edge. The good news is that May is not much better. The really good news is that June will be even more unbalanced—albeit in a much, much more relaxing way. However, in the midst of all the things that have to get done in the next two months, please keep in mind Mark Buchanan’s words. We should be looking for rhythm—precisely
because in the next two months getting anywhere will depend on it. More importantly our students getting where they deserve to be will depend on it. I believe that our unbalance in the next two months could bring rhythm to the rest of their lives.

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