Here is an article written for business people.
It is called “8 Surefire Ways to Demotivate Your Employees.”
It appears on the website of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Read it and think how these principles apply to the corporate education reform movement.
Corporate reformers seem to practice every one of these rules and they are accomplishing their goal.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Number 7 is often so true at the district level! I wonder how many other teachers out there have approached administrators to offer creative ideas only to get a pat on the head and be sent on their way?
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yup!
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I sure that all of these are included in Broad’s manual on how to destroy Public Education.
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Wow!
Seems like the Broad/Bush/Chiefs for Change play book.
Thanks to your efforts, and the work of many activists and Bloggers, word is getting out about the privatization movement.
Be on the lookout for a massive, well funded, multifaceted PR campaign to redefine the reform movement.
People like Gates and Broad care most about their image and are directing efforts to construct a new narrative.
Forewarned is forearmed.
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Reblogged this on The Indignant Teacher and commented:
The irony here is in the fact that the educational system has been re-vamped to function as a business, yet EVERY ONE of these principles businesses should AVOID is exactly every one of the principles that actually drives the policymakers policies. & the insanity becomes even more insane…when will it end?
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Wow. My administrators went 6 for 8 last year in an attempt to intimidate me. Technically they didn’t micromanage(#8) because of #3, (no follow up), and I was spared the public criticism, other than everyone being baffled as to why I rec’d a negative reivew a month after receiveing a glowing one, and was subsequently being transfered.
Administration got very frustrated with me because apparently I asked “tough” questions about the negative review, which they had no answers for. I reasoned, “if you wrote the review, you should be able to justify these conclusions.” Then they assigned me a series of menial tasks to agree to complete (including being subject to multiple unannounced walkthroughs per day) or “risk being placed on an improvement plan”. But there was no follow through. No one checked those tasks I completed and I never had a walkthrough. I was transfered anyway.
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Along with 36 years teaching I did some stints with retail big box. And at that time (70s, 80s) it was rabidly following the principles outlined here. Mind you, they also coped with shrinkage (the “associates”, confronted with this style of management, were stealing things), constant paranoia about unions and high turnover of experienced staff. Apparently the above didn’t affect profits enough to convince them to change anything.
The “retailization” of education may produce profits, but it won’t produce a good education or good teachers. And that’s the point, I suppose. Profits above all else.
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Funny, this came up on John Merrow’s site today, too. Here’s an edited version of what I wrote there:
Yes, this is in keeping with the management style implemented by Rhee, Duncan, Broad et al, taken from the draconian CEO corporate playbook and which is so demeaning to educators. They are implementing McGregor’s Theory X management approach, which is top-down and based on a fundamental belief that workers are lazy, don’t want to work and need authoritarian leaders to dangle carrots and threaten with sticks, to make them tow the line.
A more appropriate approach, especially with competent professionals, is McGregor’s Theory Y, which is a belief that workers enjoy their work, are intrinsically motivated and want more responsibility. Managers implementing this model recognize worker competencies and value their creativity, give them more autonomy and involve workers in leadership and decision-making capacities.
Even more ideal is Ouchi’s Theory Z –especially if districts want educators to develop loyalty to their schools and stay there throughout their careers:
http://management.atwork-network.com/2007/08/14/management-and-motivation-mcgregors-theory-x-and-y-ouchis-theory-z/
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School boards, however, are looking for the cheapest way possible to fill the vacancies on their payrolls. While I teach in a wealthy district, the members of the school board have made it crystal clear to our union that ‘teachers are all the same – you’re all replaceable,’ making no distinction with regard for experience, education, etc. I suppose a body in a classroom is a body in a classroom, right?
At the same time, they bill themselves as ” … having a tradition of excellence … staffed by highly qualified teachers ….”
I’d say I was confused, but sadly, I’m not.
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