I think I was just in a foul mood yesterday because virtually everything I was reading in the book was ticking me off. I'm beginning to think I understand why Dee sold her copy. If Dee was a teacher, rather than an administrator, I'll bet she was just a little put off by some of what O'Banion is saying.
In Chapter 2, "The Student is First," O'Banion's point of view becomes apparent. He is an administrator -- not a teacher. And quite frankly, he seems to have lost touch with the faculty. His opinions seem blatantly anti-union. He accuses union members of having a "disregard for what students want" (p. 30). He includes, but then discounts, some very legitimate arguments from teachers at Chaffey College in California. Their resistance to a "learner-centered" task force is minimized as being shared only by "pockets" of faculty (p. 31). He claims to know that, "The views [of resistance] are often presented by the most articulate faculty members and are usually applauded by large numbers of faculty. In this way the views of a small group can become the views of 'the faculty.'" (p. 31). How would he know if the views are held only by a small group? Just because a few individuals stand up to speak doesn't mean the others don't agree. In faculty meetings, I've secretly cheered when someone with more guts than me actually iterates what I'm thinking. And usually, this individual is sharing what teachers have talked with each other about at length in classrooms, in hallways, and in the teacher's lounge.
While O'Banion acknowledges that administrators are not criticized as often as faculty members, administration is clearly where his allegiance lies. "Administrative survival is fragile compared to that of faculty; it is a wonder that administrators can muster any courage to lead ..." (32). Granted, it may be completely different at the college level than it is in K-12 education, but my experience is that administrators are no more likely to be let go than faculty. They are just shuffled around.
I enjoyed very much your "foul mood yesterday", it gave your blog somehow a veracity component that many of us tend to forget.
ReplyDeleteAn administrator or a teacher... what a conflictive field, not just for educators but for all the fields affected one way or another by the administrators´s decisions, that will be all but them. Education is now more than ever a transaction, a business in which the company delivers some type of service that will help the student get what he needs, a diploma.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting as a 1st year faculty at a community college, the distance between faculty and administration was a bit of a surprise to me. After 11 years in industry, I guess it is somewhat like upper management and the engineers.
ReplyDeleteI can see distance between the administration and faculty at the college I work at, however, in the long run they do work well as a whole..I think sometimes people general forget their role and take it above and beyond
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