Business and political leaders have been tampering with education for a long time now. That has proven bad not just for education but for our country as well. What is most in need of reform these days is not education but political and business practice. As the quote from the American Education Research Association indicates, it’s time for educators to step up and start working to reform political and business practice through education. To some this call to duty may sound not just impractical but naive and even foolish. It isn’t; it is necessary and doable.
Why Reform the Reformers?
Citizen’s trust in political and business leaders is very low. A recent Pew Research Center study says that only 24% of Americans trust the government to do what is right always or most of the time. A poll by CNN put the figure at 13%, leading CNN Polling Director Keating Holland to say: "The number who trust the government all or most of the time has sunk so low that it is hard to remember that there was ever a time when Americans routinely trusted the government.”
Confidence in business leaders isn’t much better. A recent study on public trust in business leaders indicated: “Only one in four General Public respondents trust business leaders to correct issues and even fewer – one in five – to tell the truth and make ethical and moral decisions.”
The sad fact is that most citizens simply don’t believe political and business leaders are capable of rising above their own self-interest to do what is moral, ethical and in the best interest of their communities and their country.
Trust is the tie that binds an organization, a community or a society together and when that tie begins to fray, the body it is supposed to hold together is in danger of falling apart. That is the danger we face today. The ties that once held us together in common cause as a people have begun to fray and the leaders that we have traditionally depended upon to keep them strong have demonstrated that they are incapable of doing that.
“A time like this, Martin Luther King Jr. once said of another time “demands great souls with pure hearts and ready hands. Leaders whom the lust of office does not kill. Leaders whom the spoils of life cannot buy… dedicated courageous and intelligent leaders.” That is true today as well.
Where will such leaders be found? Answer: our schools.
Why Educators?
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela
To begin with, those who work in schools aren’t driven by a lust for monetary gain or power. If they were, they would be on Wall Street or in politics. By far, the majority of teachers, principals and superintendents and others who work in schools are moral, ethical individuals motivated by a desire to help others, especially children, realize their potential to become good human beings, good family members and good citizens and even good leaders who will contribute to making their communities, country and world a better place in which all can live.
Americans trust teachers. A 2014 poll conducted by Gallup and Phi Delta Kappa revealed that “a majority of Americans (77 percent) continue to trust and have confidence in their public school teachers. Further, about six of 10 American public school parents agree that their child’s school supports higher levels of well-being, with over half saying their child’s school encourages their child to build strong relationships with friends and family members.”
So, if we hope to restore the ties that bind us as communities and as a nation, we must seek out leaders we trust and they must be willing to step forward and lead in a time of crisis.
How Educators Can Help Reform the Corporate World
In his book Tyranny of the Bottom Line: Why Corporations Make Good People Do Bad Things, Ralph Estes describes what invariably happens when young people enter the corporate world:
They start out, by and large, like you and me. Some come from
Brahmin families; many do not. Typically in college they major
in business or later get an MBA; here their indoctrination into
the bottom line mentality begins. Once they enter the corporate
world, they are exposed to role models who further bequeath the
corporate mentality. Before they know it, they have become full-
fledged members of the corporate culture, following the dictates
of the bottom line even when it doesn’t feel right. While they are
operating in the corporate world, they suppress their personal
morality. (p.74)
“We can’t simply tell corporations to be responsible. And we can’t effectively legislate responsible behavior.” Change, says Estes, must come at the source, the mechanism by which the corporation is operated—the bottom line. And what is the bottom line for corporations? Quarterly monetary profits. Estes suggests that rather than remaining tethered to tyranny of a single bottom line, corporations' success should be measured with multiple assessments: their treatment of their employees and suppliers, their contributions to the community, their protection of the environment, their concern for customer satisfaction as well as monetary profits.
Well, what can educators do about changing this bottom line mentality? Glance up again at where Estes says young people get their first indoctrination into the mentality of the bottom line: college, in MBA programs. College professors can change this mentality and encourage future business leaders to think and act differently so that they don’t become victims of the tyranny of the bottom line.
Even before young people get to college, educators can influence their thinking about immoral and unethical business practice. In a quote that echoes Estes point that we can’t effectively legislate corporations acting responsibly C.S. Lewis tells us what the solution to that problem is:
You cannot make men good by law: and without
good men you cannot have a good society. That
is why we must go on to think of the second
thing: of morality inside the individual.
[C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity, p. 72]
All good educators understand this and that is why they commit to teaching students social skills and moral and ethical behavior: no cheating, no bullying, respect one another, learn to cooperate, work with and support one another.
Finally, leaders in education have long valued and used multiple assessments as the means of measuring students’ progress. That is why they resist politicians and business leader’s efforts to tie student and teacher achievement to a single bottom line benchmark —standardized testing. As authorities on multiple assessments, leaders in education could teach future business leaders to measure success in business with more than one “bottom line” assessment.
How Leaders in Education Can Help Reform Politics
How might leaders in education reform our soiled and dysfunctional political system? Let’s begin by considering an observation by Abraham Lincoln: “The philosophy of the classroom of one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.” The philosophy of good classroom and good schools as promoted by effective educational leaders includes things like this: don’t cheat, don’t take things that aren’t yours, listen to one another, be respectful, learn to cooperate, watch out for one another, value the idea of We, not just Me, and my party.
Good classrooms and good schools also teach students to analyze ideas, to think critically so that they can distinguish between fact and fiction, lies and truth, fantasy and reality, prejudice (their own and other’s); skills much needed by citizens and their leaders today. Good schools teach students to think creatively, to value both… and thinking, rather than get locked into either…or thinking. And good schools teach students the value of trust, how to inspire it and why it is essential for the building and preservation of an organization, a society, a nation and a peaceful world.
The Time Has Come for Educators to Lead
As Martin Luther King Jr reminds us, “A time like this demands great souls with pure hearts and ready hands.” It’s time for educators with great souls and pure hearts to assume the leadership in reforming our school yes, but also through them our political and business practice.
And never underestimate the power of education to profoundly change the philosophy of a nation. Here is the rest of that Nelson Mandela quote I cited above:
The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation. Our previous system emphasized the physical and other differences of South Africans with devastating effects. We are steadily but surely introducing education that enables our children to exploit their similarities and common goals, while appreciating the strength in their diversity.