Warren Bennis’ 1989 book, On Becoming a Leader, was revised and expanded for a 2003 edition (the links provided are now for the 2009 edition). In this classic, Bennis outlines some of the key characteristics that are common to leaders in all fields. He draws these conclusions from many interviews and biographies of past and present leaders, such as former presidents, business CEOs and college presidents. In explaining these concepts, Bennis often turns to the U.S. school system to point out how it is not conducive to producing future leaders as it has a tendency to train rather than to educate. His overall message is that it is vital for a leader to have a vision that can be clearly articulated to followers. That vision may need to evolve over time as it needs to fit in the context of the lives of the followers.
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When we apply NCLB to a football league, the ridiculous scenarios that it sets up are revealed. If we would not put with these conditions for our sports teams, why we do allow them for our children? Is it too late to call an audible? [...] While education may be dear to President Bush’s heart some questions still linger about this legislation. 1) Why does NCLB not fund schools to make necessary changes to personnel and curriculum? 2) Why are schools that show improvement still punished? 3) Why are “failing” schools closed and re-opened by private schools using public funds? 4) Why are there no consistent guidelines from between states, or even between districts on how to measure progress? 5) Why does the law equate testing with teaching? … this law was designed to punish our schools, not to improve them. [...] |
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Head Start Falls Further Behind
In an Op/Ed in the New York Times published a week ago, contributors Douglas J. Besharov and Douglas M. Call go on the offensive against the Head Start program and what they see as a lack of progress. Without providing a clear argument as to what is causing the failings of the program they criticize [...]