101
Volume:
2021
,
April

Launchpad to Imagination

Submitted By:
Ted Graf, Headwaters School, Austin, TX

The Optimist's Telescope, Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age by Bina Venkataraman
Riverhead Books, August 27, 2019

For a book that is not explicitly focused on education or K-12 schooling, Bina Venkataraman’s The Optimist’s Telescope is a provocative and refreshingly pragmatic read for educators, especially set against the context of the pandemic and its impact on planning and decision-making. Venkataraman’s argument is both direct and familiar – as a culture and society, we gravitate toward instant gratification and have forgotten how to make decisions that live beyond us and serve generations to come. Early in the book she alludes to a visit to a Quaker school, marvels at its counter-cultural environment, and then goes on to say, “We need to cultivate more environments that make it possible for us to think ahead – and especially, I believe, secular space where people without identical belief systems can practice patience together.” Both provocative and refreshing, Venkataraman uses professional poker, real estate development, and the San Antonio Spurs to demonstrate the dangers of quick fixes and the virtues of foresight. Never preachy, she artfully distills these stories and anecdotes at the book’s conclusion and offers some strategies and mindsets that are applicable to schools, corporations, or local governments. As we close this unimaginable school year, we might very well use this book as a summer read and as a launching pad to imagine much differently the next 15 years of K-12 schooling.

Categories
Leadership Practice