Schools as Learning Organizations LO14145

Scott Ott (SOTT@nkcsd.k12.mo.us)
Tue, 01 Jul 1997 09:50:46 -0500

Don Ledingham wrote on Sunday about schools as learning organizations, in
connection with Senge's work. I work in public relations in a school
system and have marveled at the forces which discourage learning within
school systems.

One thought that returns frequently is this: "How can a school
district have people on the payroll who are there mainly because their
lack of education prevents them from getting better paying, more
interesting work?" This is not to say that a food s ervice worker cannot
love his/her work, nor that we don't have some highly-educated bus
drivers. We do. But it simply acknowledges that there are many people
working to support the education system who have not succeeded in that
system. I am not blaming t he victim; the worker whose learning growth has
been stunted.
We have two classes of people within schools systems. [I am not here
picking on any particular school system.] Within school district pay
structures, we reward teachers who get additional education, but that same
privilege is not offered to bus drivers, custodians, cooks, maintenance
people. If a teacher with a master's degree plus 30 hours gets more pay
than one with a bachelor's degree. Then a bus driver working on a master's
degree certainly deserves more pay than one who is not. Or is higher
education only useful and valuable if you are going to explicitly 'teach'
others? In which case, schools are for teachers to teach future teachers
to teach. And we do reward those who excel at the 'teacher traits' ...
note-taking, compliance, following directions, doing homework, repeating
received information.
I think the great question in public education is not "How do we get
the kids to learn?" but rather, "How do we create an atmosphere in which
teachers and administrators can learn?" Perhaps if we accomplished
something close to a 'learning organization' in our school systems, the
kids would learn from our example.

Grace & Peace,

Scott Ott, Public Relations Specialist
sott@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
The North Kansas City School District
http://www.nkcsd.k12.mo.us
"Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind."

-- 


Scott Ott <SOTT@nkcsd.k12.mo.us>


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