Of course there are. But not everyone anticipating problems or asking clarifying questions is one of them. Over the years I’ve learned to make it clear that I am not one of them–that my inquires are generally sincere–but there are still people that react to any questioning as being reactionary and not a team player. Most often this happens when the person implementing the program is unclear, themselves, on the details of the program. And in education, at least, this happens a lot. Generally, the process is:
- Interesting, exciting new innovation is developed.
- People put in charge of implementing it don’t really understand it, only that it’s exciting and innovative and other people who clearly do know what they are talking about are enthusiastic.
- Program is poorly presented and implemented. Key details are dropped because they are resource-intensive and the person in charge doesn’t understand that they are key details.
- People ask questions because the program as presented doesn’t make sense.
- Implementer gets angry because they’ve seen the program implemented properly, they KNOW it works, and therefore people asking questions are just passive-aggressive reactionaries.
- Program fails because people don’t support it.
- Program is dismissed as inherently flawed and impossible and everyone tacitly agrees never to refer to it again.