The Politics of Virtue: A New Compact for Leadership in Schools.
1995; Academic Development Institute; Volume: 5; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1059-308X
Autores Tópico(s)Education Discipline and Inequality
ResumoMargeret Mead once remarked: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Her thought suggests that perhaps there is something to the 1,000 points of light theory of change. Is it possible to rally enough small groups of thoughtful and committed “citizens” to create the kind of schools we want? I think so, if we are willing to change the way politics is thought about in schools. Rarely does a day go by without the media telling us still another story of divisions, hostilities, factions, and other symptoms of disconnectedness in schools. Teachers disagreeing over methods; parents bickering with teachers over discipline problems; board members squabbling over curriculum issues; administrators complaining about encroachments on their prerogatives; everyone disagreeing on sex education; and students, feeling pretty much left out of it all, making it difcult for everyone in the school by tediously trading their compliance and good will for things that they want. This mixture of issues and this mixture of “stakeholders,” all competing for advantage, resembles a game of bartering where self-interest is the motivator, and where individual actors engage in the hard play of the politics of division. The purpose of this game is to win more for yourself than you have to give back in return. Graham Allison (1969) summarizes the game of politics of division as follows:
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