Schools Cannot Do It Alone: Chapter 1

Posted by
A book study: Please participate in the discussion by leaving a comment below.

Part 2 in a series of chapter summaries–book club style–by New Richmond teacher, Scott Herron, who says:

Maybe you’ve heard the now famous “blueberries story” about education. That story comes from this book. So, I have an idea. As I’m reading this, I don’t want to be the only one hearing its message which we ALL should be hearing in this current educational and political climate.

So, here’s what I’m going to do: As I read each chapter I’m going to summarize its main points and important quotes/ideas.  I think once you start reading you’re going to want to hear the rest. As we go through the book, I hope it sparks discussion and, at the very least, makes you feel more understood and appreciated like it has for me. Furthermore, I firmly believe that the message of this book needs to be our central mission as we go forward at the local, state, and federal level as we take the lead in the direction of education and its reform.

You can read the rest of Scott’s proposal here.

PART ONE
FROM CRITIC TO ALLY

CHAPTER 1
RUN IT LIKE A BUSINESS!

by Jamie Vollmer (summarized by Scott Herron)

Long before I became an advocate for public schools, I was a critic, and not shy about it.

At the time, I was managing a manufacturing firm called The Great Midwestern Ice Cream Company. We had become famous when People magazine declared that our Blueberry ice cream was the “Best Ice Cream In America.” I was also the target of frequent requests for donations. So when Dr. Lepley called, I assumed that free ice cream was on the agenda. I was wrong.

Bill explained that the Rountable was to be an independent group of private and public sector leaders formed to make recommendations for improving Iowa’s schools. He insisted that my experience in business would be an asset. I accepted his invitation, and my life would never be the same.

My opinions were largely based upon what I had read and heard in the business press and popular media, where it was taken for granted that our schools were failing.

My opinions were largely based upon what I had read and heard in the business press and popular media, where it was taken for granted that our schools were failing. We were not getting the kind of workers we needed. We were falling behind our international competitors. Our way of life was at risk. Something needed to change.

I shared the view common among my peers that we had a people problem. Unionized teachers and overpaid administrators were the obstacles to progress. They were protected from the competitive pressures of the marketplace. They had no reason to change and no incentive to work hard. To fix the problem, we needed to turn up the heat. We needed to impose accountability measures that rewarded success and punished failure. We needed to raise standards, demand rigor, reject excuses, and introduce competition.

We had all reached the same conclusion: to overcome the obstacles, we had to run schools like a business. . .I delivered the business gospel of school reform, and I received an ovation at every stop.

We had all reached the same conclusion: to overcome the obstacles, we had to run schools like a business.

I helped develop a comprehensive school reform strategy that included higher standards and benchmarked, measurable results. I took a lead role in presenting our plan to the Governor and members of our state legislature.

I got so involved that in January 1990, I left the world of ice cream and became the Iowa Business Roundtable’s first executive director. Now I had a platform from which to pontificate, and I did so with a vengeance. I was vocal, critical, and motivated.

Education groups expressed little interest in my views, but chambers of commerce and business organizations across the state were eager to hear my message. I delivered the business gospel of school reform, and I received an ovation at every stop. My life was good.

In retrospect, I was the perfect double threat: ignorant and arrogant. I knew nothing about teaching or managing a school, but I was sure I had the answers.

In all those months, however, I did not manage to make or inspire a single improvement in Iowa’s schools. My principal accomplishment in the public education arena was the complete alienation of the education establishment. The people who were needed to effect real change viewed me as a menace. Little Captain Kirks inside their heads would yell “Shields! Shields!” whenever I walked into the room.

In retrospect, I was the perfect double threat: ignorant and arrogant. I knew nothing about teaching or managing a school, but I was sure I had the answers.

Twenty years have passed, and much has changed.

I started out convinced that I was right, and my peers and politicians at every level of government supported my views. I was a prisoner of my prejudices.

I would love to say that my transition from critic to ally was speedy, but that would not be true. Human beings rarely abandon their stated position simply because they are presented with a contradictory set of facts. I started out convinced that I was right, and my peers and politicians at every level of government supported my views. I was a prisoner of my prejudices. My transformation took years.

There were, however, a few seminal moments — moments when courageous educators actually listened to my message and took the time out of their grueling schedules to set me straight. They may have been furious with me, but they were never mean or threatening. Patiently and methodically, teachers, administrators, and board members across the country endeavored to show me what it was like to live and work inside their world. They helped me see that my opinions were based on selective memories, misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies.

Patiently . . . [educators] . . . helped me see that my opinions were based on selective memories, misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies.

The first of these transformative encounters occurred on a snowy day in January 1991. When it was over, my conviction that we needed to run our schools like a business was gone.

Click here to read Part 1 in this book study

AMAZON SITE: If you want to get the book, you can go to http://www.amazon.com/Schools-Cannot-Do-Alone-ebook/dp/B0058JZDH8

BOOK WEBSITE: http://www.jamievollmer.com/book.html

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for doing this book study Scott. What Vollmer writes here rings so true for me because I remember thinking many of the same things. I’d worked in industry before I was a teacher too.

    Then I remember, a few years after I began teaching, a person running for our school board said in a debate, “A school should be run like a business,” and I finally understood how arrogant and ignorant this person really was.

    What are the stats on how many businesses fail again? 4 out of 5 or something like that? Is that what he meant? Maybe, as Vollmer illustrates in his blueberry story, he meant we should reject or “fire” kids that just don’t make the cut?

    There is a narrative and underlying assumption that competition always works. That using money as a motivator always works. When will we begin to tell the story of cooperation, autonomy, and purpose as motivators and drivers of innovation and productivity?

    Dan Pink, in his book Drive, makes this abundantly clear. And he uses research!!

    When will we begin to evolve past the Henry Ford-factory-competition-profit model of what works to the Jimmy Wales-Wikipedia-sense of purpose-cooperative model of thinking?

    When will we finally begin to realize that maybe educators might know a thing or two. When will we stop worshiping at the alter of “Business” and change this carrot, stick, and crack whip zero sum winners and losers story?

    • Chris,

      You’ve brought up what might be the BEST comeback and talking point to the “run schools like a business” argument. Romney and other Republican leaders constantly bring up that business owners deserve tax breaks because they take the “risk”. Admitting that businesses are very “risky”, why would we EVER want our public schools that educate ALL of our children to be that “risky”? I LOVE THIS…I’M GOING TO SAY IT A LOT. Thanks.