Change in education - IT and snake oil - Shift happens

• "Live with it" "Embrace it" This is often the mantra of educationa evangalists and deparetment hacks seeking to convinec more senior staff to put their effort into making the latest silly half baked idea work.
  These same proselytizers suddenly blanch at other changes that they do not want to accept such as :
• the community is voting with its feet for privatized (user pays) education - Shift happens. You can't deny it or legislate against it. Live with it. Embrace it.
  the community and the national government want student progress reports expressed as a single index (A-F) in relation to objective benchmarks - Shift happens. You can't deny it or legislate against it. Live with it. Embrace it.
• most school communities want their schools to exclude students who damage the opportunity or safety of other students. Schools who don't do this (esp. government schools) are not attractive to parents with choices - Shift happens. You can't deny it or legislate against it. Live with it. Embrace it.

I could go on......

Most experienced educators are very selective about embracing "change". The changes that they embrace are usually those that fit their personal values and their career aspirations.
The current line management of educational structures has created an atmosphere where to "talk the talk" is essential to getting promotion. Thus, the hegemony of ideas from the "authorities' has come to mean the employer.

IT is an obvious case where there is more money, and therefore more "snake oil" than most areas of the curriculum. To retain some intellectual credibility and autonomy, it is wise to ensure that the benefits of "change" are evaluated in an objective sense rather than accepted as articles of faith in the vision of the current politician.
All proposed changes need to be evaluated. Few changes are improvements.