Paul Thomas
"How test scores are used as a political prop"
Washington Post
March 21, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ironic_extremes_lauding_and_bashing_teachers/2011/03/17/ABlCnql_blog.html?wprss=rss_educationTopic: Politics of Education
Another article about how to improve education. No really different message from my other blog posts except the quote from it below that I questioned.
Key Points: “Teachers and students working in low-stakes environments that honor their autonomy are likely to thrive academically and personally…”
Seriously? My experience with human nature tells me otherwise on how to motivate people. People to me are like electrons…seeking the path of least resistance. If the stakes are not high, and no one is holding you accountable except yourself, the chances that the students and teachers will strive to really improve are minimal.
I’m trying to understand the argument presented in this article but life is high stakes, and full autonomy to teach what you want is a bit naïve. To me, we are like chef’s in an expensive restaurant. The customer(the person paying the bill/taxpayers) comes in and orders a steak. If we prepare chicken, because we think that is a healthier choice, what happens? To serve up whatever we deem necessary, autonomously, without even consulting the customer…or even the restaurant manager (principal in our case), will do nothing but upset people. Chances are, the customer will withhold payment.
Now, to stick with the analogy. If we, as the chefs, go out and recommend the chicken and give all the reasons why it is better, we stand a chance of convincing the customer to change their mind. In the end though, we provide a service and if the customer is not satisfied, there will be trouble.
Hiding behind the “Chef’s union” won’t work either because like GM and Chrysler workers in the automobile world have found, it is ultimately about satisfying the customer. If you produce what you think is a great car, “the volt”, and no one wants one, the whole company will struggle and in turn, all the union workers too.
Relevance: Understanding who ultimately is the education customer is key to customer satisfaction. Problem is, the customer appears to be bi-polar. Hopefully, we can convince them to choose the chicken.
Thanks! No doubt, the self actualization at the top of Mazlo's higherarchy of needs is the goal and I do agree that you don't need incentives to want to get there. There is one statement in the video that stuck out to me though, and that was the part about paying people enough to take money out of the equation. Makes sense, because then the bottom of Mazlo's chart, security, food, shelter, etc, are no longer worries. The question I have is, how much money does it take to get money out of the forefront?
ReplyDeleteIt's a great point though, I have been paid large bonuses for work I would have gladly done for free. I've also worked in places where profit was the only focus and motivator...and that really was not optimal. In fact, I found myself only performing to the minimum required when the boss made micromanagement his style.
The thing is, we hear a lot about how little teachers make. What is enough? Who should decide? And are teachers being taken advantage of because they will go above and beyond for minimum pay? Possibly so, because many of us are not in it for big profit anyhow, but maybe that's the wrong thinking if we really do want to address teacher pay in a real way.
We'd still have pro baseball if we capped all the salaries at $40k right? But what would that do to baseball. Interesting question to think about...