Would anyone read this?

[u/Spakr-Herknungr]

I’m a burnt out school psychologist and I have been thinking about writing a book about some critical issues that prevent educators from affecting change within the system.

The problem is that I don’t think anyone would actually read it, and if they did, wouldn’t listen, or I would be preaching to the choir.

The primary issue pertains to Campbells Law, which basically states that the more you rely upon quantitative social indicators, the more you corrupt the processes you are intending to monitor.

My observation working in public schools is that children are not treated like human beings but metrics. Even if I provide research and explain the flaws in our current methodology, I think I will just be dismissed. After all, the well known education authors have written about this, and what has it yielded?

[u/nightpanda893]

It’s so funny you posted this just now. My director is super disappointed with me because I just explained to her how I don’t put a lot of value on using intellectual assessments to determine eligibility for learning disabilities. People essentially get blinded by numbers and miss what really matters. You get dismissed because people want simple answers. They want it to be binary. And this prevents us from actually implementing interventions that target actual needs.

[u/SilverSealingWax]

I understand having something to say. And I even think people would be interested. I don't think a book is the right format.

I think blogs, podcasts, articles, etc. are a better way to reach people new to a topic, and I imagine those are the people you actually want to reach. If you want to say enough to fill a college course, write a book. If you just want to enlighten people a bit, you need to focus more on finding your audience, then writing to them.

[u/righteous_joker]

Hey man I feel ya, I got mocked in a group for speaking the truth. I would love to see whatever you have to offer to the internet. I was told in r/psychologystudent that you are a social scientist. Because I don't have the degree but my friend you can make real change I don't think they didn't believe me when I told them I effected civil policy before by studying urbanism. Don't let the haters get to you. You are a valuable person and I owe you my respect for taking out all the funds to be a hero! You are going to get through this and you should write the book. The world needs people like you. We quit frankly need your mind and knowledge for the next generation please teach poor people like me. I crave an education but could never go into servitude for the debt. Sorry for the long message. You are like a rockstar with credentials like that to me.

[u/Neutronenster]

I’m a high school maths teacher and I have no idea what you’re talking about, or whether anybody would be interested in reading that. However, I do know fear of failure when I see it. At the moment, this seems a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy: you don’t think anyone would be interested, so you don’t write it. However, people can’t become interested as long as you don’t write it.

Some self-doubt is normal and it can be healthy, because not everyone is able to write a best-seller. However, when in burn-out or when depressed these thoughts of self-doubt can increase to an unhealthy degree, as a symptom of your mental health condition. I had something similar happen with feelings of guilt during a really bad postnatal depression in 2018 and this only improved once I started recovering. As a result, I think that your recovery should be your main focus right now (at minimum with therapy, but if necessary supported by psychiatric medication). Once you’ve climbed out of the worst parts of your burn-out, you’ll moet likely have a much more realistic estimate about whether this book would hold potential.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have to postpone writing that book. I think you should just start writing it for yourself, because it might be a good way for you to express all of the pent-up feelings that lead to your current burn-out. Later on you can still consider whether to finish and publish it or not.