Summary

The concept of "potential" is critiqued as an unhelpful and immeasurable term that lacks substance and clear definition, often used in education to describe unrealized abilities.

Abstract

The article "Potential doesn’t exist" argues that the term "potential" is a vague and misleading concept frequently used in educational settings to describe students' latent abilities. It suggests that potential is an unmeasurable and speculative idea that cannot be reliably forecasted or used to set realistic goals. The author reflects on the widespread use of the term throughout their teaching career and questions its utility, given its inherent uncertainty and the lack of concrete evidence to support its existence. Instead, the article proposes focusing on tangible methods of encouragement, motivation, goal-setting, and engagement in learning to help children become the best versions of themselves without relying on the nebulous concept of potential.

Opinions

The author believes that potential is a fallacious concept without real meaning or substance, akin to a "nebulous pile of dust."
Teachers' use of the term "potential" is seen as problematic because it sets an unclear and unattainable goal for students.
The article criticizes the idea that potential can be a predictor of future success or a basis for evaluating current performance.
Encouragement and motivation are deemed more effective and realistic than the concept of potential for fostering growth and achievement in children.
The author emphasizes that no one can accurately predict a child's future abilities, and thus, the focus should be on the process of learning and personal development.

Potential doesn’t exist

It is as nebulous as a pile of dust

Potentiality is possibly the most fallacious concept in the English language.

It is a word without substance or any real meaning. The Oxford Dictionary defines potential as:

noun: Potential

Latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness

1. The possibility of something happening or of someone doing something in the future.

I recall colleagues using the word potential throughout thirty years of teaching young children. It happened when I was going to school when my own offspring were at Primary school and in their early years of High School. And it is still happening, with my grandchildren.

Teachers make statements all the time about students not living up to their potential, or conversely, reaching their potential. Potential is a nebulous goal with no real, measurable substance.

Think about the words and concepts that frame the definition of potential.

1. Latent

Adjective: latent

(of a quality or state) existing but not yet developed or manifest; hidden or concealed.

We are asked to consider a quality or state that will exist in the future but is currently unseeable. It’s future existence is based on no identifiable or measurable proof that it will, at some future time, be able to be seen.

2. Maybe

This does not need a definition. We understand the usefulness of modifiers like maybe when there is no absolute certainty of a particular outcome.

3. The possibility of

This is yet another modifier that refers to the chance only that something may happen or become the case.

Two ridiculous conversations about potential.

Consider this dialog:

Your daughter is not working hard enough to reach her full potential in Math.

Oh really? What is her full potential?

We can’t know that, because potential is latent, it may or may not manifest or develop, and doesn’t promise to be fully realised.

Okay, so what are you trying to tell me?

She’s lazy, and if she doesn’t work harder she won’t learn all the maths that she is required to learn. That I am required to teach her.

Or this one:

You have great potential in soccer, son.

So I’ll be like another Ronaldo?

Ronaldo has his own genes and life story that made him talented and successful. If you practice everyday and work hard at it, you might be the best version of you that you can be. Or not.

But what is the best version of me I can be?

We won’t know that until you get there.

So why are you guessing about what the best me can be if you don’t really know and can’t honestly predict or it?

Oh I don’t know. I was just trying to give you false hope.

Okay dad, thanks. I appreciate that.

Potential is a nebulous pile of dust.

Children do need to be encouraged to be the best version of themselves, but no one can say in all truthfulness, what that best version looks like. There is no doubting that physical and cognitive ability can be determined by genes and environmental forces, however, there is no possible way that those abilities can be accurately extrapolated into the future as potential.

Forget the concept of potential. Encouragement, motivation, goal-setting, and engagement in learning are the most effective things anyone can do, to ensure each child becomes the best possible version of themselves. And they won’t know if they have successfully reached that version until they get there.

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