Twitter Book Club: Theodore R. Sizer (1984) Horace's Compromise - Part 4: The Structure

Part 4: The Structure

1. Hierarchical Bureaucracy

"Run a school like a factory, and you will get uneven goods." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Disorder terrified the late-nineteenth-century middle-class American, who thought he saw his stable life ruptured ... http://tl.gd/bv9mrrless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"While there are obvious advantages to hierarchical bureaucracy, it has its costs, and these are today paralyzingly... http://tl.gd/bv9p96less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Lets repeat that:

"While there are obvious advantages to hierarchical bureaucracy, it has its costs, and these are today paralyzingly American education. The structure is getting in the way of children's learning." Sizer

RT @anderscj: While there R obvious advantages 2 hierarchical bureaucracy, it has its costs & these R 2day paralyzingly. http://tl.gd/bv9p96less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
pammoran

Interesting RT coming from a school district superintendent. Sorry Pam, I wish I had caught your RT earlier. I'd love to talk with you about this issue sometime.

"Minutes per year is hierarchical bureaucracy finally run totally amok." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Large, complex units need simple ways of describing themselves, so those aspects of schoolkeeping which can be rea... http://tl.gd/bv9s5gless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"None of us would want our marriages judged solely by a squabbles-per-year factor. If families were run by large bu... http://tl.gd/bv9ub7less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Most high school students have several teachers who know a bit about them, but no teacher who sees them whole." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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2. Better Schools

"Good schools will have to resist this appeal of standardization: the particular needs of each student should be th... http://tl.gd/bvtsdbless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I couldn't agree more:

"Good schools will have to resist this appeal of standardization: the particular needs of each student should be the only measure of how a school gets on with its business." Sizer

"Personalization of learning and instruction requires a flexible school structure. A flexible structure implies a s... http://tl.gd/bvtsfhless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

3. A Paralysis of Imagination

"That most self-styled school reformers are not nor have ever been practicing high school teachers or administrator... http://tl.gd/bvttpbless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Sound familiar?

"Eventually, hierarchical bureaucracy will be totally self-validating: virtually all teachers will be semicompetent... http://tl.gd/bvu04jless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Eventually, hierarchical bureaucracy will be totally self-validating: virtually all teachers will be semicompetent, and thus nothing but top-down control will be tolerable. America is now well on the way to this state of affairs." Sizer

I've seen schools where this is true today.

Twitter Book Club: Theodore R. Sizer (1984) Horace's Compromise - Part 3. The Teachers

Part 3. The Teachers

1. Three Teachers

"A teacher with judgement, while keeping the end in view, varies the means." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"[There is] no Pill for Good Pedagogical Judgement that can be packaged and distributed by school authorities." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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@anderscj damn. That would've solved a lot of problemsless than a minute ago via Echofon Favorite Retweet ReplyDermot Casey
dermotcasey

@dermotcasey no kidding. Unfortunately many in gov't still thinks such a pill exists.less than a minute ago via Twitterrific Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj or that computers will do the job of the pillless than a minute ago via Echofon Favorite Retweet ReplyDermot Casey
dermotcasey

"Learning is a complex, effortful, and often painful process. It can be exasperating too and also full of wonder of... http://tl.gd/brbid5less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"The key worker in a school is the student. The only important product is his or her learning." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I only agree in part with this statement. I still object to the qualification of a student as a worker and what they do in school as "their work." School isn't a place for kids to go to work, it is a place for them to learn.

"Did you teach a good class today? is a miscast question, because it emphasizes the teacher. One rarely asks how yo... http://tl.gd/brblh7less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"The trick of the teacher and student is to get sustained attention on those questions which are of greatest common importance." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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2. Agreement

"The agreement between teacher and students to exhibit a facade of orderly purposefulness is a Conspiracy for the L... http://tl.gd/bs02e7less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

@anderscj the essence of the "Compromise" ...less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Replypammoran
pammoran

@pammoran @anderscj Sizer's experience was Phillips, Harvard, Brown, and as an officer in the army. Too much like an ivory tower for me.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyDan McGuire
sabier

"Any person who sees, at least to some extent, why he or she is asked to do something is ahead of the individual wh... http://tl.gd/bs0b4qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"A school that relies on threat for its motivation eventually provokes unrelenting, hostile reactions by students." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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4. Conditions

"There is little joy in accurate regurgitation." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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I love that statement!

"Public address systems are the most malevolent intruder into the thinking taking place in public school classrooms... http://tl.gd/bsmragless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"If success is part of motivation, ownership is its companion. People remember those things which they claim as the... http://tl.gd/bsnpqrless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Most middle- and upper-income Americans would be both shocked by and afraid of some of the places where the young ... http://tl.gd/bsp4n1less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

I had this experience recently visiting a school in north Minneapolis. It was the day after school was out so granted the building was somewhat more messy than it likely normally was. That said, I was shocked by a number of things. First, all flooring had been ripped up, you could see the glue in many places that held it down. It must have been left this way for quite a few years because of how it was worn according to how students would naturally have walked down those halls. Second, there were display cases outside of classrooms that obviously had not been updated in years as evidenced by layers of thick dust and the broken glass from fallen picture frames left untouched. Third, everything was battleship grey--everything. Fourth, walls and rails that had been painted displayed the kind of worn texture only something extremely well used receives, the kind of wear that allows you to see through the layers to the bone. To say this school was unattractive is an understatement. If anything the space resembled a prison. As I walked the halls of this middle school I kept thinking to myself, "Would such a place be tolerated in the wealthier suburbs?" Of course not.

"Virtually all learning comes down to incentives. I learn what I want to learn. I want to learn what I value or am ... http://tl.gd/bsqj0eless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

5. Teachers

"Improving American secondary education absolutely depends on improving the conditions of work and the respect for ... http://tl.gd/btb6ldless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

"Improving American secondary education absolutely depends on improving the conditions of work http://t.co/5Dvtr1m via @anderscjless than a minute ago via Tweet Button Favorite Retweet ReplyThomas A. Goodwin
tagoodwin

"Teaching often lacks a sense of ownership, a sense among the teachers working together that the school is theirs, ... http://tl.gd/btbe24less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
anderscj

Exactly why I support teacher professional partnerships.

"Hired hands own nothing, are told what to do, and have little stake in their enterprises. Teachers are often treat... http://tl.gd/btbesgless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"Other professions reward exceptional competence by promotions. Virtually the only promotion for a teacher is to ge... http://tl.gd/btbj0qless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"There is very lite quality control in higher education, and it is difficult for many college students to know just... http://tl.gd/btbmknless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"One is helped to be a good teacher much as one is helped to be a good writer, by coaching." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"One learns to teach by coaching; one needs to be teaching in order to be coached. The best coaches are usually fin... http://tl.gd/btbq47less than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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6. Trust

"The system is organized with an eye on the incompetent rather than the competent. All are shackled, to 'protect' s... http://tl.gd/bu0j6aless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"if we want excellent schools, we must give more power to the teachers and principals." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"students for their own good will need to be told less and asked to teach themselves more; much of current class ti... http://tl.gd/bu0p6gless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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"For good or ill, unions are the result of bad conditions, not the cause." Sizerless than a minute ago via Twittelator Favorite Retweet Replyanderscj
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