In practical terms, for example, we don't have to experience every fool on the road in order to become defensive drivers. So, the Consumer Reports of my youth tested twenty cars to determine which got the best gas mileage, but all the cars had bias tires, carburetors, eight cylinders, and a curb weight in access of 3,500 pounds. Twenty miles per gallon was as good as it got. It wasn't until the oil embargo of the '70's that Hondas and Toyotas, with highway mileage of close to 40 mpg, started looking good to Americans. Senge talks about a metanoia , a shift in thinking.
Education badly needs a metanoia.
There is a homey, if not pithy, aphorism that has long been in vogue in America and, I suspect, there are translations as far flung as Borneo. I've always hated that expression, and prayed for evil to befall those who use it. If we are not changing, we are slipping backward. If it ain't broke don't fix it keeps bias tires from becoming radial ties. It keeps watches of gears and pendula from becoming quartz watches.