(A series of 6 short posts, where I think out loud about where I’ve been, where I am, and where I want to be.)
When I repeatedly expressed my concern about the lack of provision for the needs of individual children during the years I spent teaching in schools, I increasingly met with the response, ‘It is what it is’. The phrase appears to mean a whole lot of different things to a whole lot of different people.
The varied definitions on Quora are a case in point. Carol Cotton’s interpretation feels like a good fit for a busy school leader with a heavy load of responsibilities, who is looking for a polite – but effective – way of saying:
“…don’t waste your time (or mine) trying to “go deep” into analysis of something or figure out how to change or get around it. It is what it is, get over it, and don’t bend my ear with yer belly achin’ about it.”
Carol Cotton, Quora
Nancy Erdmann’s translation reminds me of staff in schools, who have found the phrase to be a helpful coping mechanism. They need to survive in a system they know is broken. They’re desperately trying to preserve some head space and energy for their lives outside of school. A sense of resignation to decisions seemingly beyond their control allows them to switch off when they need to.
“It is what it is,” essentially means “That’s life. You can’t change this situation, problem or reality. No sense talking about it or getting too stressed out. You have to make peace with reality and keep going.”
Nancy Erdmann, Quora
Taylor Maness, however, argues that the saying can lead to a toxic and harmful state of mind:
‘This phrase is worrying because it is far more than an autopilot response people use; it is a complete mentality. The basic meaning behind these words is that we are unable to change our circumstances. All situations are concrete and any attempts we make to fix them would be pointless.
This is an incredibly destructive mindset to have. We have a basic need to feel a sense of control over what happens in our lives, and deprivation of this need could lead to heightened anxiety and even depression…’
Taylor Maness, ‘Why “it is what it is” is a toxic saying’
As the teacher recruitment and retention crisis deepens, how many teachers have met the undercurrent’s pull with a pervading powerlessness? How many have found their sense of agency suffocating in a toxic ‘it-is-what-it-is’ culture?
But the focus of this series of blog posts isn’t the needs of teachers…
Read with Julia 
C’ est comme ça’ is ringing in my ears – a daily French expression that resigns everyone to the inevitability of accepting the drab imperfections of everyday life..