REPLY SD Impact on National Government Policies (SD6126)

[Steve Roderick sroderic mac.com]

Posted by  Steve Roderick <sroderic at mac.com>
As a high school educator who uses system dynamics in the classroom I must
concur that frustration is a primary sentiment when gauging the apparent
penetration, or lack thereof, of systems principles into governmental
policy.  It is difficult to know just how prevalent these ideas are.  My
intuition rests with Jack Homer's assertion that there are many more people
using systems thinking than we might suspect.

A larger question might be, "when policy decisions are made, are those who
use SD and other systems approaches listened to by those who know little of
the field?"  For real penetration there must be a willingness among policy
makers to use alternative approaches to viewing problems.  Reaching a
critical mass of individuals with this willingness takes time, and it is the
"glacial pace" of change in the short term, that for me, brings on most of
the frustration.

If we step back though, and view over the long term, perhaps it is a change
that will occur over a time frame longer than one generation.  We all know
that exponential growth can be quite deceptive at first.  Over the many
years that I have been teaching it is clear that more and more of my
students are being exposed to the fundamental ideas behind systems thinking.
They return from University and relate stories of how what they learned in
high school concerning feedback and stocks and flows has been very useful to
them in college.

I have been teaching for 30 years.  Jay Forrester's Industrial Dynamics was
published only a decade before that.  Students from my first class of high
school seniors are now only 48 years old, just reaching what is likely the
age of governmental policy makers.  Hopefully they will be the first of a
steadily growing cohort of open minded thinkers willing to use these
important ideas.

The concern expressed in the original posting was around penetration of
systems ideas into policy making.  To get there we need to help people think
differently, and early education is our best hope.

Steven Roderick
Biology Teacher
Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School
Sudbury, MA 
Posted by  Steve Roderick <sroderic at mac.com>
posting date  Mon, 01 Jan 2007 11:19:57 -0500