In a recent Men's Health magazine article, Mike Zimmerman writes " There are no successful cynics. Think about it: Real success, any way society measures it - money, fame, happiness, family - cannot be achieved in the presence of cynicism." (March 2010, p.94). In a time when bad news is at a premium, and it is more difficult than ever to keep a positive outlook, cynicism is a prevailing outlook. Zimmerman is right though, rarely does one ascend to greatness without a fair amount of idealism and a minimal amount of cynicism.
Oscar Wilde wrote, "A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing." That thought could be applied to many things I've read recently regarding education. At the local level, the state level, and the national level, funding of education is a concern. Everyone knows the cost (or can figure it out) of paying our educators their salaries and benefits, however ascertaining their value is a murkier proposition. I see newspaper articles, blog posts, television news stories, and any other number of public forums that involve discussions of the "cost" of education. Those stories recently have most commonly focused on what educators cost school districts and governments in terms of salaries, benefits and retirement. Rarely have they focused on the value of these educators.
I encourage everyone to think of the value of a good teacher, a good administrator, a good school secretary, a good school custodian, a good classroom assistant or school security personnel - these are the people who hold our future in their hands as they work with young people. In fact, they are invaluable...
At North we are fortunate to have an exceptional staff. They are caring, committed and extraordinarily knowledgeable and talented. It's hard for anyone to be cynical around people like that - even teenagers. If we want to cultivate great leaders of tomorrow, who will be creative problem solvers, we can't be cynics. We have to be optimists and idealists even when things are tough. We have to focus on value rather than cost. When something is valuable enough, we must find a way to afford it.
The Principal's Office is a blog created by Tim Bearden, Chief Academic Officer and Upper School Director at Detroit Country Day School, an independent school in Beverly Hills, MI. While content will sometimes be specific to Country Day, the majority of posts are specific in scope to issues concerning teaching and learning in the 21st century.
No comments:
Post a Comment