In my years of teaching, I've learned that rules are made to be broken....for everyone. This works from the lowest levels of education in the classrooms all the way to the very top of schools...you know the people who decide how the money gets spent??
In classrooms, we've smartened up. We have "expectations" and "procedures". Because we've learned if kids break "rules" we have to follow up with some predesigned consequence that we're likely to need to enforce all alone without administrative support. Still many teachers still post their "rules" and their "consequences" in the classroom. This is CRAZY!!! Here's what I say! DON'T DO IT!!!
Think about it from a kid's perspective. Consequence #1 says "Write name on board". Whatever a kid is going to do is DEFINITELY worth that consequence. I'm entirely likely to break the rule at least once. If Consequence #2 is miss recess, I might do that on purpose too. What if I'm always the last to get picked to a team? Is recess that fun for me? Likely, no. AND I'm likely to act out just enough to lose recess. I think, kids look at your consequences and weigh them with their actions. Is it worth it? If it is to them, they are DEFINITELY going to break your rule.
I think administrators do the same thing. Case in point, Detroit Public Schools. As long as no one is looking, let's just go on an administrative vacation, right?!? It's all throughout America's business system. Enron, a big chunk of the banks, the auto industry...what did the banks say? Well, if we didn't give them their bonuses no one is motivated to do their job. WHAT??!!?? Whatever happened to work ethic? How about, you already make SIX figures, isn't that enough to motivate you??!!??
Oh, that's right. NO. 'Cuz your teachers thought it was a good idea to externally motivate you with rewards and a bunch of crap instead of work ethic and so now you need it in your grown up life too. NICE. Need some light, summer reading? Try Punished by Rewards, by Alfie Kohn, or Drive, by Dan Pink. We have to hold kids accountable, and teach them internal motivation so that they don't grow up to be crooked administrators and politicians. Lord knows, we don't need any more of those in our country.
In Michigan, we have these public school academies; Charter schools as they are most often referred to. I don't understand these things...and I work in them. For example, these schools are PUBLIC schools and their only funds are per pupil funding and grants. If I'm not mistaking, ALL of this money comes from the government, right? Some of these schools are actually for profit. I can't do this math. How do you take tax payer dollars to pay for your school and then keep some for yourself? No wonder our schools are failing and our taxes are high. (there is room for a debate here, I'm just saying...)
In Detroit, besides having a liar for a previous mayor, we have cheaters in the school system. Taking vacations, driving company cars, and stealing from the children...when the budget is in a deficit. I've stopped counting how many federal indictments there have been in Detroit at this point. How does someone (who balances a budget) justify keeping their company car when the school operates at a deficit? I just don't understand it?? Don't people usually balance those things by making cuts? I'm pretty sure that's what responsible citizens do...and sometimes the government tries to.
We all have rules to follow. You know, relationship rules, speed limits, rules for banking, getting loans, rules at work, internet "rules", paying taxes, and the list could go on and on....but the bottom line is still this: If we don't follow the rules, we will pay the price. It may not be right now. We may even think we are getting away with it...and we are...for a hot second. But we aren't going to get away with it forever. Eventually, the IRS is going to catch up with us.
It is our responsibility to know what morals and ethics we can tolerate in our life. How worried are we about the security of our job? Is our workplace putting us at risk as an accomplice? The more we find out, are our fears minimized or maximized? Of course, some leaders like to think they are controlling things, and likely they are. But not in a way that they expect. They are manipulators. There are people who know they've done right and there is no good excuse to be rid of you. Unfortunately, they want to be rid of you, and so they make your life miserable so you will just go away. Generally this is an effective strategy. A good worker will leave.
Fear will change the way everyone acts and reacts. Fear will make you do things you used to loathe when others did them. Fear changes people for worse. Fear will bite you in the ass. I wish that I could live completely fearless, but alas it doesn't work like that. Anyone who knows they work hard and do right have fear. Honesty is NOT always the best policy...in these cases.
Someone recently told me, good ideas are only good when they come at the right time. I don't really believe that, but clearly some people do. If Edison would've thought that, we'd never have had a light bulb. Candles were good enough, right? They lit up the room, and were relatively cheap. Why would you change something that works? Oh. Right. 'Cuz maybe not everyone is satisfied with good enough.
Rules are meant to be broken. Every great inventor and innovator knows this best. But it's how much we break them that defines our future. Some people end up in jail. Some end up with a new job/invention. Some schools/businesses shut down. And there are a million places in between.
Take this one thing with you. I don't know how, or when, but if you break rules, you will ALWAYS get caught. Some consequences are more severe than others. I hope, for your sake, it wasn't too serious a rule.
Trench teacher...out.
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