I have been trying for days to distill my thoughts about changes in higher education into a single, coherent post. I haven’t gotten there yet. This is not that post.

What I want to say is this: when things get really confused, uncertain and fluxy, we often tend to protect ourselves with mental shortcuts in a effort to simplify. We call these shortcuts magic bullets. Resist this urge. Difficult problems are complex and deserve complex, nuanced solutions. Long-term, systemic problems are never solved overnight. Finding the quick fix cannot be the goal.

Lay off the search for magic bullets.

Magic bullets distract us.

Magic bullets drain resources.

Magic bullets confuse the very people who are busy trying to build the long overdue solutions.