Time to stop doing the same thing
ONE wonders what parents receiving the latest missive from the Education Committee about the continued impasse over post-16 provision might have thought about its contents.
Sadness: ‘We are no further ahead in our efforts to secure the funding needed.’
Frustration: ‘The States have again affirmed their approval of the plans.’
Exasperation: ‘Deputies were clear during the lengthy debate that they were keen to work with us to find a solution to the funding conundrum.’
Relief: ‘[Our staff’s] focus is your child’s education and they are – we all are – determined to give the best of ourselves for the children we support every day.’
They may be relieved, or concerned, to see that ESC intends to go back to the States ‘at the earliest opportunity’ to seek ‘some form of resolution’ to the impasse.
Apart from shaking a magic money tree, or being able to change minds apparently set firm with the same arguments about the same project, what options are open to ESC?
Funding, with various options explored and rejected, appears to be further away than ever. So is there scope to look again at the project, re-examine its scale, and cost, and try to find a different way forward? Can this project be done more cheaply?
Otherwise, what could that approach possibly be? The famous quote about the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results, often misattributed to Albert Einstein, comes to mind.