Dear L + D,
I recently became aware that you help to answer obscure, yet weighty questions, and I have a doozy for you.   Here you go: Does having a Master’s Degree in Education mean that I have mastered something in particular? I get being called a Jedi Master or Master Electrician, but after I got my Master’s Degree, I didn’t really feel like I had mastered teaching. 
There is a lot of talk these days about MASTERY in general. How does one actually know if they have mastered ANYTHING?

I’ve been thinking about pursuing a leadership role in my school and wonder if I need to get another Masters degree to be a successful leader. I sort of feel like leadership is difficult, ambiguous and requires constant learning, but. I am not sure it is really possible to MASTER leadership.   A couple of the leaders in my school have Master’s Degrees and they clearly haven’t mastered anything...Is this some sort of Freudian slip at the systemic level?  We even have a few Doctors, and between you and me, a couple of them seem to kill creativity faster than us lowly mouth breathers, so I am just feeling totally confused about what all these credentials really mean?
 
Yours Truly,

Master of None


Dear Master of None:  

You are right! That is good news. You haven’t mastered teaching or leadership, and you never will. All of us at L+D have "advanced degrees" and we are FAR from mastery. Turns out, in this age of information, technology has rendered almost all of our old ways of collecting trophies useless. You could try letting people know that the reason you are right is because you said so, but we have tried this, and for some reason, people seem to lack the information necessary to realize how right we are.  

It’s almost like our credibility is no longer tied to our ability to collect these trophies, and that means we may need to find new ways to be special and credible. 

You may want to check out Unmastered …

An intensive summer, ONLINE, cohort based,
leadership and teaching experience
July 15-August 1


This experience will get you no credit….no trophy, in fact, people may just look at you funny when you tell them what you are up to. Have no fear though, this experience will be fun…, in fact we plan on hacking the online learning experience , and you may even find yourself in a pub in Scotland talking to yourself in a Minnesota accent...you know...to become a better leader.  

No joke, this experience is not about credentials, but about the deep connection that binds all educators together. No amount of certificates, badges or diplomas can ever promise mastery of being human. This connection and commitment to the next generation is going to take an army of bold disruptors. Our profession is in a trance, and this trance must be broken. Join us this summer for the first cohort to earn their Unmastered status.   This status renders you master of nothing, therefore, completely open to what might be.

Warmly,

L+D

Apply by April 15 for early bird notification and by May 15 for regular notification. The cost for Unmastered is $500.00 and spots are limited. Click here to learn more.
Do you have a question or dilemma for Dear L+D? Send it to [email protected]
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