Education Perspectives

Bureaucracy in Schools

The article in the newspaper about GM Corp. initiating cultural change is significant.  It tells me that US corporations finally "get it"!  The old top-down, heirarchical slow-moving american corporate culture is breaking down and being replaced by a customer-centered culture where plausible risk-taking is embraced.  This is the change we need in order to survive globally.  Yet, the American school system seems to lag significantly behind this trend.

I'm part of the school bureaucracy, and here are the areas that frustrate me:

• Due to the bureaucratic rules and laws concocted by non-educators, school administrators and teachers are forced into a CYA (cover your ass) mentality.  For example, one mis-step with regard to a student with special needs could result in a giant law suit.  This effectively aligns the focus away from what is best for the student. 
• The inordinate amount of regulation aimed at public schools creates a "follow the rules" mentality.  Risk-taking is frowned upon.  When the rules take center-stage, innovation goes out the window. 
• In many states, especially Pennsylvania, teacher unions have too much power and political influence.  It is nearly impossible for a school district to furlough a teacher for poor classroom performance.  The grievance and arbitration process is set up to protect bad teachers.  I've seen it first-hand.....arbitrators rarely rule against a teacher, even in extreme cases.  As a result, school administrators and teachers spend large amounts of effort negotiating contracts, fighting grievances and dealing with legal issues.  The focus is not on students.

More bureaucracy, more regulation, more laws.  The only thing not happening is more education.  We need to take a subtractive approach to public education.  Sometimes, more is just more!  After 34 years in education, I get frustrated.  Then I see educators who make a difference despite having the cards stacked against them.  In this I take hope.

To every educator out there trying to make a difference in the lives of students, keep plugging!

"I Love you More than my Dog"

I recently read a book that compelled some thoughts about how our educational system could soar!  The book is “I Love You More Than my Dog; Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad” by Jeanne Bliss.

Based on her experiences in what she calls “beloved companies”, Jeanne outlines the culture of very successful companies, and she explores how decisions made by those companies build a culture of customer loyalty.  She explores the human side of business in a way that drills to the core of every organization; an approach that truly values people; an approach where employees and customers have value; an approach devoid of bureaucracy.

I’d like to take Jeanne’s 5 decisions and talk about parallels to education.

Decision 1 – “Beloved companies decide to believe…they believe their employees and their customers.  And they practice this by suspending cynicism.”  Imagine what might happen if schools were free to decide to believe in their teachers and their students!  What if schools could place the stringent rules in the background and actually believe in and support teachers?  What if teachers were encouraged to believe in their students?  I submit that our current system of education discourages that culture. Although many teachers do embrace that idea, the system hinders and discourages a fertile learning culture.

Decision 2 – “Beloved companies decide with clarity and purpose…(they) take the time to be clear about what their unique promise is for their customers lives.”  All schools have a mission statement, but how many public schools actually decide to create an experience for their students?  How many decisions in a school system are about policy, procedure, rules and expectations; and how many decisions directly address creating an engaging culture for student learning?  Having worked in a school for over 30 years, I can tell you that the decision scale is tipped toward bureaucracy.

Decision 3 – “Beloved companies decide to be real…(they) shed their fancy packaging and break down barriers between big company, little customer.”  Good teachers know how to create a collaborative classroom, and good teachers know that in order to connect with their students, the need to operate at a student level.  Good teachers know how to be friendly with their students while maintaining a good teacher/student decorum.  Yet the system emphasizes rules and encourages teachers to create a “big teacher/little student” environment.  Imagine if teachers could be free to work within a culture where collaboration is encouraged!

Decision 4 – “Beloved companies decide to be there…for customers in ways that are important to them…(they) gladly do the hard work.”  Many teachers work hard and are there for students, being sure students understand, not just memorize.  But the system promotes strict union rules which can create an atmosphere where such teachers might be ridiculed and admonished because they go the extra mile for students.  And teacher unions are NOT to blame!  The system creates a culture which places the bureaucracy ahead of the student, and it is the bureaucracy that creates the need for union rules.

Decision 5 – “Beloved companies decide to say sorry…(they) accept accountability when the chips are down.” The American school system equates accountability to test scores!  Test scores drive funding and stigmatize schools. This system has very little regard for what students are actually learning and understanding.  When we are reminded of the sad state of American schools, we make more rules and enforce more “accountability”.  It is time to scrap or completely revise No Child Left Behind; NCLB does not work!  It creates more focus on test scores and less focus on learning.  Stop and think about how a student might feel when the newspaper publishes school rankings, and their school ranks last! 

Check out Matt May’s blog article about schools in Finland.  Best schools in the world, yet they have the least amount of rules.  Finland takes a human approach to learning, and it works!

Jeanne Bliss’s book compelled some thoughts, and it is worthwhile reading for anyone.  Sure, the ideas make sense for companies and schools.  But really, Jeanne’s book succinctly relates the GOLDEN RULE.  It puts people first.  And that message is universal!

Unbelievable!! Bureaucratic Mindset

You might know how much I despise bureaucracy.  My views about bureaucracy in schools are reflected in a prior post.  But the following email memo made me want to go out in the hall and yell obscenities!   Here it is;

From:  Dr. XXXXXXXXX, Director, Bureau Learning Support 
RE:    URGENT!  Extension to XXXXXXX Application Deadline 

Due to much heavier than normal web traffic in the Electronic Grant system, and because of the complexity of the Student application itself, the ability for many of you to complete your applications online has been difficult. The Department of Education is keenly aware of the hardship that this has created for you as you have worked on your Student application over the last several weeks. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience, and wish to share with you some information that may help you as you move forward with completing your application.
 
In reviewing the above systems issues, we have determined that the peak usage occurs between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm.  If possible, you may want to consider working on the application during non-peak times.
 
It is essential that we work together in addressing the needs of your schools and students.  To that point, we are extending the due date of the Student application by one week until July 18. 
 
If you have specific questions that you need to address, please feel free to email us at XXX.XX@education.comor contact your District Support Advisor.

What indeed can I say!

1. It is their site, their application and their responsibility to get it right.  So they admit that the original work lacked planning and is overly complex.
2. The bureaucrat apologizes for the heartache caused by their inadequacy.  The product stinks, and he is sorry.  Happily, he tells us they have a solution. 
3. He tells us that the problem on the site occurs during working hours.  His solution is to ask people to use the application after working hours!?  Imagine that?
4. Here is the best part...He preaches about teamwork and student needs.
5. Then he explains that the user now has another week to work within the application that still isn't fixed.
6. Finally, the user is told to contact their local support person.  In other words "screw off, handle it yourself!"

I truly can't blame the person who wrote this memo.  That person is part of a system that is layered in a bureaucracy which chokes the life out of the intended mission. 

But this illustrates how deeply entrenched the bureaucratic ideas have become.  How can we expect creativity and innovation to happen in schools that are shackled by such thinking.  Yet in come cases, it does.  Because the core activity in schools remains the teacher-student, one-on-one interaction.  Some teachers haven't let the bureaucracy kill their passion to teach!

"Rubber Room" for Teachers

I ran across an article in our local newspaper about NYC teachers who are accused of wrong-doing being paid to do nothing.  They are relegated to a "rubber room" during school hours, and retain full salary and benefits.  This is done so the teachers can maintain their right to "due process".

I'm sure the AP article emphasizes the extreme cases, but check out some of the reasons that teachers are not teaching.  Reasons range from pushing a student engaged in a fight to a teacher using abusive language with a student who cut her with scissors.  And again, officials "blame the union rules", not the system which allows such a ridiculous situation to exist!  This reflects the systemic nature of the problems in our educational system.

From a broader societal standpoint, this story reflects the zealotry we've become accustomed to, and the litigious extremes many Americans now seem to embrace.   Plainly stated, we have become extremely over-sensitive!  Political correctness is taking precedence over common sense.  As a result, too many times our rights overshadow the responsibilities associated with those rights.  Is this what the founding fathers intended when they penned the Declaration of Independence?

The educational system is a reflection of our society.  Our society has gone to an extreme, and the key to changing that is common sense and balance.  Sometimes a "trip to the wood shed" (as Dale Carnegie calls it) is necessary.  And not every situation we encounter needs to be adjudicated in the legal system.  Finally, Larry Winget has a point......Take Responsibility!!!!

Education American Style

As a school administrator, what frustrates me most about the system is bureaucracy!  I love the Jack Welch quote "Bureaucracy frustrates people, distorts their priorities, limits their dreams, and turns the face of the entire enterprise inward".  That came from a GE annual report in about 2001.  And Jack nailed it; bureaucracy has a way of putting itself ahead of the customer.

Schools are a product of the government bureaucracy that created them.  Within that system, people are promoted through a hierarchy of power that tends to insulate them from the student.  And many of these people assimilate to what we as Americans expect of powerful people.  The funny thing about it is that it really isn't their fault.  Because a hierarchy is nothing more than a power structure that can promote ego over mission.  It fosters rule-making rather than collaboration.

We cannot talk about educational reform until we tackle that bureaucracy.  The system itself is broken!  Until we find a system that allows qualified teachers to do their jobs with less interference from the bureaucracy, we will lag behind.  That's a topic for another day!

Check out a blog article (based on an article in the Wall Street Journal) Matt May wrote entitled "Elegance in Education".  I understand that the utilitarian culture of Finland enables these educational methods.  I also understand that the system is a product of the society.  Again, another day.  As Matt explains, what isn't there is what makes Finnish kids smarter.