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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Schools can't be run like a business

Run it like a business seems to be the cry people outside of education both yell and try to sell. I wonder what business schools should it be run like? Should they be run like a bank or a mortgage company, probably not they have had their fair share of problems recently. What about like a car company or an international oil conglomerate, probably not either right as they have had their problems too. I recently read a statistic that said 20,000-business fail a month, which of those should we run education like? The truth is we can’t run a public school system like a business and even though it sounds good to some, saying it is impractical does a disservice to things that are truly impractical.

No shoes, no shirt, no service right? Well what about no school supplies no service? If I kicked out every kid who didn’t bring a pen or pencil to my class, some days I would have had an extra planning period. If I gave away one pencil or pen I gave away a thousand. And don’t get me talking about paper and books.

Businesses can fire employees that are don’t do their work or who sleep while at work. Schools can’t, if they did they would be getting rid of some of their best workers.

Businesses can fire employees and then get a restraining order against workers who threaten or throw things at the boss. Teachers are required to welcome them back after a brief time out.

Do businesses call disruptive and disrespectful employees parents and ask them to do something to get them under control? I didn’t think so.

As far as I know the winners of popularity contests don’t run most businesses either.

Now are their business strategies the school system can employ? Definitely. How about we don’t put teachers in nearly impossible situations and blame them when they don’t succeed. How about we foster creativity and autonomy and support our teachers when they are faced with other disrespectful and disruptive students.

We could follow our own rules as laid out in the code of conduct instead of ignoring it. We could also maximize our workforce by putting everyone in the classroom. Duval County literally has thousands of certificated employees who don’t work directly with students. Then how about over-time, wouldn’t it be nice for teachers to get paid for the hours they actually worked, though if we did that now schools would truly go broke.

Good businesses also have their best employees be managers instead of promoting friends or people that can pass a test and just because you can pass an Ed leadership class or two does not magically transform you into a leader. Good businesses also have a coherent and realistic plan; unfortunately all we have is a mission statement and it's not very realistic.

The closest business I can think of to teaching is being a bike builder, except teachers are suppose to build the bike while riding it while missing some of the pieces, oh and more often than not it's raining while this is happening as well.

Schools shouldn’t be run like a business they should be run like what a loving parent would do if they had a very sick child. If the parent loved the child there isn’t anything they wouldn’t do, no stone would be left unturned, no bush would go unbeaten and no expense would be spared. They would do whatever in their power they could to help their child get better. They wouldn’t say, lets tackle this illness like a business. If they did they might cut their losses and move on.

9 comments:

  1. You are wrong. You come from a skewed view of a teacher with a union that makes it impossible for you to lose your job. If our schools run like a business maybe are school system wouldn't be the failure it is now.

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  2. I'm wrong? What are you talking about, you obviously don't understand how unions work in Florida, they aren't protecting bad teachers, they don't run the works,m teachers have never had tenure. You should stop listening to right wing talking points. As for the system being a failure, we have serious issues but we're the best thing going at the same time.

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  3. As I said before, your point of view is biased. News flash, a teacher that does something questionable probably won't get fired if the have worked there for 11 years, on the other hand a teacher that has been only teaching for a year or two has a much higher chance of getting fired. Yay for unions? By the way I'm not a "right winger" good job for bringing politics into a discussion on education...

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  4. Sigh... If there is a terrible 11th year teacher why are you blaming the union? Isn't it the admins job to weed out bad teachers? There are procedures in place.

    By the way most shops have last hired first fired poicies, union and non union alike and if there is a great second year teacher lossing their job that is terrible but unions don't set policy, develop curriculum, created budgets or fire people. You don't know what unions actualy do.

    I feel comfortable bringing politics up because the right doesn't like to use facts, they like to use their gut and are hearded like sheep. After reading your comments there is nothing that leads me to beleive you are different...

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  5. Too bad you won't listen to logic, you much rather defend the union that in turn protects your job.... I guess this is the end of this conversation. You, being a teacher, trying to fix the education system is like the blind to leading the blind, someday you might take some responsibility and realize you are part of the issue.
    Have a nice day .

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  6. Listen, I think there are issues lots of them but you are focused on the wrong problem, you are screaming at the dust bunny in the corner and ignoring the elephant in the room. The next logic you lay out will be your first.

    How are unions the problem? Explain to me...
    I can tell you one way they are a problem, it is because they don't protect good teachers not that they are protecting bad teachers that is ridiculous.

    Look if you want write up an article explainging how unions are the probem and I will put it on the blog but be prepared for me to debunk every point you might think you have and I will be merciless...

    Send it to my g-mail....

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  7. But I will put yours on unedited. Here is an oppurtunity to put your money where your mouth is.

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  8. I have my views, you have yours. You don't want to even consider anything I have said thus far so why in hell would I want to write an article explaining my beliefs if you will just refute it? I'm done, have a nice time writing one sided blogs.

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  9. I am giving you a forum to present your view. The blog gets over 700 hits a day and each blog can expect about 150 hits. Write what you have to say and I will put it out there unedited but then in a piece of my own I will refute it because you are absolutley incorrect. I am giving you a chance to put your opinion out there on my one sided blog.

    I don't consider the world is flat and the earth revolves around the sun either.

    Are you going to take this oppurtunity or are you going to slink away saying nobody listens. Practice what you preach friend, put your money where your mouth is...

    ReplyDelete