School Daze
In response to the economic crisis, at least 33 states have proposed cutting or already have cut funding for K-12 education—a dangerous trend symbolized by teachers in Florida who’ve taken to wearing Band-Aids. In this edition of Drucker Apps, you’ll find management lessons for teachers, administrators, parents, and everybody else who cares about the long-term health of their community. These insights—at once timely and timeless—are based on the ideas and ideals of the late Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management.
How effective education goes hand-in-hand with good management
“Schools are much too important not to be held accountable—for thinking through what their results should be, as well as for their performance in attaining these results…there are only schools that perform and schools that do not perform.”— Peter F. Drucker, Post-Capitalist Society
- What should we hold schools accountable for? Read more here.
- Can schools be managed well? Read more here.
- Watch Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, discuss how TFA has used Drucker-like management principles to achieve great success.
Education as the key to bridging social inequality
“The economically rational thing for a young black in postwar America was not to stay in school and learn; it was to leave school as early as possible and get one of the plentiful mass-production jobs. As a result, the fall of the industrial worker has hit America’s blacks disproportionally hard.”— Peter F. Drucker, “The Age of Social Transformation,” The Atlantic Monthly
- How have changes in the economy reinforced the importance of an educated workforce? Read more here.
- Why the overall economic status of blacks measures 56% that of whites. Read Rick Wartzman’s BusinessWeek column here.
Teaching must evolve
“The last change in teaching was 550 years ago in the 15th century when the printed book came in. We are still teaching in exactly the same way.”— Peter F. Drucker, in conversation with Bruce Rosenstein
- Teaching is in need of a revolution. Watch Peter Drucker discuss educational challenges for the 21st century.
For the full interview transcript (in two parts), click here.
Is there no such thing as a bad student?
“The fourth-grade teacher whom I still remember once said many years later that…the job of the teacher is to find the strengths of the student and put them to work, rather than to look at the student as somebody whose deficiencies have to be repaired.”— Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Nonprofit Organization
- What is the job of a teacher? Read more here.
- Do we often miss giftedness in the classroom? Watch creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson explain how two guys named Paul and George were overlooked by their school music teacher.
For Robinson’s full presentation, including his on-stage chat with Drucker Institute Executive Director Rick Wartzman, click here.