Frightening: Arne Duncan Say Principals Must Act Like CEOs

Ran across this article this morning . . . in which the author complains that pushing principals to be like CEOs will single handedly destroy education. Hey buddy, we’re already there.

More telling is the vitriol for CEOs. Are all CEOs bad? Really? I missed that. Indeed, anyone familiar with local businesses has met plenty of very, very good CEOs. CEOs who care passionately about their companies, their people and their communities. The defeatist mentality of all-business-people-are-bad is exactly what gets us into debates that reduce to screaming matches. There’s no reasonable conversation possible if you believe the other side is pure evil. Article follows…

Arne Duncan doesn’t want principals to be like teachers, like role models, or like leaders, but demands they become CEOs. With recent fears of schools being turned into businesses that focus more on numbers (money, test scores) so much more than teaching (curricula, quality teachers), this is the cherry on top. This isn’t just a suggestion for a change in mentality, Arne Duncan wants so much more: “We have to treat them as [CEOs], and we have to train them as such.”

So are we going to let these new CEOs play quick and fast with our kids’ education, give the principals bonuses no matter how the ‘company’ performs, and then bail them out with money for new reforms when their plan fails? Treating principals like CEOs seems crazy. Who are the share-holders of this corporation? The government, one can only presume. This sort of approach is likely to only lead to a more efficient production line like education of children programmed how to answer test questions, teachers programmed to teach the test, leading to a ‘product’ unable to compete internationally. Children aren’t products, and demanding principal become more like CEOs is frightening.

Photo credit: Stop the Clocks