Would it help public schools to think of themselves as innovative businesses? Lots of people have tried to apply competition, the profit motive, and shareholder value to improving schools, with only minor success.
Peter Senge, America’s favorite corporate change agent says what he’s trying to do with schools is more than send in the management consultants. He’s applying his famed Fifth Discipline to public education – indoctrinating teachers and principals with systems thinking and organizational learning. He starts from the premise that the drive to learn may be stronger than the sex drive. Schools that teach must also be learning organizations, which surprisingly they are not.
The math teacher, to be successful, must work with the English teacher, though often they don’t. How would you ask an organization guru to redesign the school you care about? The Fifth Discipline meets the schoolhouse, this hour on the Connection.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Peter Senge, Author of “Schools that Learn”