February 1962 — VOL. 43, NO. 2 —
Leadership in
Education
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No one may be able to forecast
the developments in Canadian education, but there is evidence
at conferences and meetings that we are convinced of the need
to adjust ourselves to new ideas. Every community faces practical
problems involving shortage of school accommodation, shortage
of teachers, and shortage of money. In addition, there are
pressures for changes in the subjects we teach and in methods
of teaching. We are becoming increasingly aware of the need,
if we are to fulfil our boast of equality of education, for
special attention to backward and handicapped and brilliant
children.
The effectiveness of any school depends upon getting the
proper answers to several questions: what is the job to be
done? what resources can be made available? what co—operation
can be achieved between those who plan, those who support,
and those who control the school?
On another level of thought, there is one question: how
are we, in a country that is well off materially and has no
longer to struggle with the elemental effort to live, to find
a focus in education that will lend form, purpose and order
to our lives?
We need leaders who will help us to find the answers. This
leadership is not a monopoly of ministers of education, chairmen
of school boards and presiding officers of this and that organization.
It is a function also of superintendents, principals, teachers
and ratepayers.
Merely being elected to office or being posted to a job
does not make a man a good leader. He is not simply a person
who walks in front of people who know where they are going.
Success in leadership depends upon vision of what should be,
and the ability to get others to follow toward that goal.
There are open questions in education, just as there are
open ends in science. Many of these problems are not the result
of our failure in years past, but of the scientific, mechanical
and social successes which have come upon us recently. We
have to abandon the easy thought that we could be satisfied
to educate a few people exceedingly well and all our people
somewhat less well. The times in which we live call upon us
to give maximum development to every individual at every level.
Education and society
No nation can expect to be ignorant and free, but ignorance
means something different from what it did a few years ago.
Matters which in years gone by seemed to be the business of
only a few persons are now recognized by an increasing number
of Canadians as being their business also.
This is so because, after retreating for centuries, despotism
is on the march again. Harsh, obscure and powerful forces
are at work under the surface. Intelligent citizenship does
not consist in having a simple faith in democracy. It calls
for a thorough knowledge of political principles and institutions,
of history and economics. It requires ability to read, to
understand, and to test the logic of arguments far more complicated
than any that have hitherto been addressed to the public at
large.
Thirteen years ago George Orwell published his terrifying
novel 1984. In it the Party of the Big Brother invented
the means of enslaving men's minds. It began by obliterating
history, setting all men adrift in a world where past experience
became meaningless. Then it attacked language, debasing speech
until it could no longer be the vehicle of independent thought.
It reached its peak when it assailed logic and mathematics,
bringing its victims not only to say, but actually to believe,
that two plus two equals five.
It is false to believe that in a world of revolution we
must be revolutionary in education. When so much is dissolving
around us we need to cling firmly to such higher standards
as we can preserve. We may criticize and reform, but without
such standards we have nothing against which to judge the
merit of our response to new situations.
We are equally in error if we lay the blame for our crisis
in education, particularly our science education at the moment,
on propaganda, scientists, the nuclear bomb, or some foreign
country. The crisis is caused by mankind's breath—taking
breakthrough into a new technological era. Look around in
Canada: we are well up in the ranks of those experimenting
with nuclear energy; we are participating, in a small way,
in the exploration of outer space; our medical scientists
are among world leaders in their studies of brain functioning
and in work on the living cell. These point to changes in
our lives so startling as to test to the utmost our adaptive
capacities and our stability.
Education is constructive
We cannot build greatness in education by talking about
the need of education for survival. We must appeal to higher
motives than fear. We should hold fast this ideal: that in
our homes, our schools, our universities and in their social
environment, our children shall be educated to live with others,
to attain their highest individual success and happiness,
and to prepare themselves for citizenship in a world society.
We cannot be content with the trappings of life, for civilization
is higher than telephones and electric lights, automobiles
and television sets. The inventions of man have revolutionized
the conditions of life and have become, even for people in
far off lands who do not yet benefit by them, the false symbols
of civilization: as du Noüy calls them in Human Destiny:
the pagan idols of modern times.
Under these circumstances there is the greatest possible
need for people who will lead us in the education path we
should tread.
Among the organizations working year in and year out in
leadership is the Canadian Education Association, organized
in 1891. During these seventy—one years the Association
has sponsored interprovincial co—operation in education;
given leadership in every area of education, practical and
ideal; brought together professional people for studies in
leadership; and through its publication Canadian Education
(now Canadian Education and Research Digest)
informed and stimulated the thought of all Canadians interested
in the subject.
Another illustration of forward looking is the Canadian
Conference on Education, sponsored by sixty national organizations.
The first Conference was conceived in 1956 by the Canadian
Teachers' Federation and others in order to give wider public
understanding of Canada's educational needs and problems,
to assure an exchange of ideas between the public and those
responsible for the direction and encouragement of education.
Why go to school?
The test of our system of education is whether it has helped
children to become fully developed human beings. We are failing
in our purpose if children merely go to school to walk the
treadmill of vocational preparation.
The late Canon Cody once defined education in this way:
"The process by which persons grow and are enabled to live
significantly." And Prince Philip put it in these words: "...
training the intellect, actively developing character, and
providing a practical preparation for life."
Education is not a process of filling up pupils' heads with
facts and formulae. Upon graduating from any educational institution
a youth should know three vital truths: where he is; where
he is going; and what he had best do under these circumstances.
The most precious gift education has given him is the ability
to solve new problems by using the accumulated intellectual
power of the race.
If, then, we are not to become a nation of docile minds
giving carbon copy opinions we need to provide a broad, liberal
education. Spurning the thought of the eternal verities as
essentials of education, the last Kaiser declared: "Our business
is to educate young Germans, not young Greeks and Romans."
He spoke the language of nationalistic despotism, not that
of liberal democracy.
Some people believe, even today after world—wide examples
of the scourge of such thinking, that a liberal education
is unrealistic in what has become a technological race for
survival. But there is evident a reaction against preoccupation
with techniques divorced from humanizing influences. As Léon
Lortie, Director of Extension of the University of Montreal,
said to the National Conference of Canadian Universities in
1956: "Along with other Canadian institutions of higher learning,
the French speaking universities are expressing the opinion
that we do not only need scientists, engineers and economists
but well educated people who, whatever may be their language
or their religion, will be excellent Canadian citizens."
The liberal subjects are not chunks of frozen fact; they
are the powerful tools and engines by which a man discovers
and handles facts. They sharpen his perceptions, cultivate
his powers of analysis, and teach him to foster the habit
of holding a valuable point of view. We need to make liberal
education not merely something we have a right to and are
ready to defend against despots, but something we give freely
to our young people.
This is not to say that science should be ignored. It would
be absurd to argue that a man could be considered liberally
educated today without some comprehension of the role of science
in our lives.
We have to live at the level of our times, but we need to
know the steps by which we arrived at this level. We need
to know about the whole of life, including something of where
we are going.
Education of the liberal sort is opposed to dogmatism, to
assurance, to closed—mindedness, to smugness, to intolerance
of others' opinions. It attempts to develop the ability to
use the scientific method of enquiry so that students may
learn to weigh issues and arrive at logical conclusions on
the basis of sound and reliable evidence.
Need for leadership
Everyone in Canada has a practical stake in the leadership
given to our education. We need to create in groups of people
a sense of mutual endeavour, carefully directed toward the
aim we have. The function of leadership is to bring out the
best efforts in these groups, and to unite their efforts in
a common purpose.
Certain principles of leadership apply to all sorts of leaders
- individuals and groups, professional and lay, official and
voluntary. These include, but are not made up exclusively
of, intelligence, initiative, courage, and knowledge about
human nature. The personality of the leader does not consist
in the possession of a number of independent qualities, but
in the fusion of desirable traits in face of a social situation.
The leader is called upon to work earnestly. His preparation
must be suitable to the greatness of the enterprise and the
hopes of his followers. Much of the bumbling waste of time
that blots the history of our co—operative efforts can
be laid to people who thought they could negotiate complex
problems without doing their homework first.
Leaders are careful to involve key people in their work.
When people share in analyzing a problem they are more likely
to initiate or support action than if they have been merely
told about it. They like to be heard and recognized. They
become suspicious of the proposals of anyone who seems to
claim a monopoly of inspiration and wisdom.
The leader must be adaptable, willing to discard some of
his ideas in favour of commendable new suggestions. He will
be aware of the value of compromise. Only after he has failed
to win by persuasion should he resort to enticing or coercing,
and only then in the case of vital issues.
Who are leaders?
The heart of the educational system is the teacher. Our
ideals for our children can be realized only if we have well—informed,
well—taught, enthusiastic and dedicated teachers.
Members of the profession, conscious of their social responsibility,
can be leaders of the highest importance toward a better educated
Canada. If a pupil's mind catches fire it is almost invariably
a teacher who sets the spark.
Society has a grave responsibility to teachers. It owes
them prestige, suitable payment as non—competitors in
a competitive economy, good working conditions as to environment
and equipment, protected integrity, and the opportunity to
reach higher satisfaction by constantly broadening their horizons.
The teaching profession needs dedicated men and women to
whom pay is not an overriding consideration, but, said the
Rockefeller Report on Education three years ago: "until we
pay teachers at least as well as the middle echelon of executives
we cannot expect the profession to attract its full share
of the available range of talents."
It goes without saying that the principal is a leader of
paramount importance within a school system. He can exercise
powerful influence among pupils, teachers and parents, based
on their common interest. If he has a vision of greatness,
a glimpse of the ideal, he is in strategic position to communicate
it in such a way as to inspire teachers to do their best.
The community, through its appointed representatives, should
see to it that the school principal is not so loaded with
management work and teaching duties that his contribution
in leading teachers and pupils becomes dwarfed.
Skill in leadership is looked upon as one of the most important
ingredients of administrative success, and the office of school
superintendent is a keystone in the local leadership arch.
The superintendent or inspector who has the ideal of improving
instruction will not be content merely to audit or review
the functioning of the schools. He will help principals and
teachers to uncover weaknesses and assist them to build strengths.
While showing strong initiative in guiding the activities
of the school groups, he will establish such relationships
among his subordinates and between himself and his subordinates
as to make them sharers in responsibility and accomplishment.
Every community should, by displaying constructive interest
in education, persuade its best available citizens to take
office as trustees. To serve as school trustee is to make
a substantial social contribution, because on the school board
rests the obligation to provide what is necessary in the way
of education.
The community will be especially proud of leadership by
trustees whose current policies reflect unusual foresight
and vigilance It is a compliment indeed when ratepayers say:
"Our school trustees saw this situation coming, and when it
arrived we were ready for it."
Moving out from the school, past professional teachers and
official boards, we reach the parents, and find that they,
too, are leaders in education. They teach language, manners,
food habits, self—control, religion, work habits, cleanliness,
and a host of other things basic to living. They can block
or impede the school, but if they give constructive leadership
they can facilitate and support the school.
Parents must not abdicate their own responsibilities so
as to rely upon outside agencies to discover qualities which
can best be developed at home. They need to motivate their
children to use all their potential capacity to learn, and
to guide them toward making the best use of their talent.
A child will not strive for excellence unless his parents
believe that excellence is desirable.
Group leadership
We have in Canada many associations devoted to the improvement
of our educational processes. Parents are acting wisely when
they ally themselves with a group of likeable people all passionately
concerned in this joint enterprise.
The Home and School movement has made a significant contribution
to education by constantly striving to develop parental interest
in improving educational opportunities for their children.
In many cases it has been instrumental in achieving noteworthy
advances in school curriculum and facilities.
A Home and School Association is not designed to take the
running of the school out of the hands of the trustees and
the principal. On the other hand, warns Dr. S. R. Laycock
in The Parents' Responsibility, it should not degenerate
into a ladies aid to provide luxuries or needed supplies through
the running of whist drives and dances. Its purpose is to
co—operate with the school authorities so as to assist
in the raising of pupils to be mentally healthy and well—rounded
citizens.
The Association must be continually studying if it is to
be of service to the school. Group discussion is a useful
tool in planning a course of action, but let it be discussion
of how to do things now and not heady talk about a distant
Utopia. As Dr. Samuel Johnson said: "While you are considering
which of two things you should teach your child first, another
boy has learned them both."
The Home and School Association is not a platform from which
educators acquaint parents with policies, but an assembly
for the exchange of ideas having as their purpose the provision
of the best education that parents and teachers can imagine.
Other groups with major interest in education include the
I. O. D. E., which has offered scholarships in post—graduate
studies since 1919; the National Council of Women, which has
as one educational aim to support the better training of teachers
and provision of remuneration commensurate with the importance
of their services; and the Federated Women's Institutes, speaking
for the rural women in Canada, which has since its inception
in 1897 been concerned with all levels of education.
It is evident, then, that we are conscious of the need for
widespread leadership in education. The progress of civilization
is made up of details in which every person is involved. Leadership
stems from the people, and expresses itself through a lively,
pressing, urgent public demand for excellence.
Public interest like this needs something to sustain it.
Information must be broadcast fully and freely so that the
people can discuss facts and determine policies in an enlightened
way.
In 1959, a survey was undertaken in a major Canadian city
to determine the extent of knowledge about the school system
possessed by citizens. The scores ranged from zero to 71 per
cent, with an average of 38 per cent. Said the thesis written
by E. R. Coffin: "The survey showed conclusively that the
public is ill—informed with respect to school matters."
The schools have everything to gain by being frank and helpful
in catering to the desire of the community for information.
This does not mean publicity, which is merely telling people
about things - perhaps how good you are, or how good your
plans and actions are. Nothing could be more dangerous in
leadership, whether in education or business, than to think
of this sort of thing as public relations.
What is to be sought is understanding, which gives and receives.
It provides the information on which proposals and acts may
be judged, and it invites the judgment.
On looking forward
There is no philosophy of education with a lifetime guarantee.
Education cannot be standardized this year, no matter how
hard we try, and left to run itself like an automatic machine.
In the course of the next half century - the lifetime of children
now in our schools - there can be little question that the
spread of technology and the waves of political change will
alter the aspect of the world. There could be nothing more
disastrous than that we should educate our children for a
way of life that does not exist,
As Thornton Wilder put it, our young people are being prepared
for a world in which "every good and excellent thing ...
stands moment by moment on the razor—edge of danger and
must be fought for."
This puts us all in positions of leadership. There is not
an hour in the education of our young people that is not trembling
with destinies, and we are the leaders in preparing for those
destinies.
We must define our purpose clearly, and it should not be
a paltry compromise with expediency. It should not give in
to the panic of immediacy.
How are we to judge the effectiveness of our leadership?
Only by seeing clearly the gap between what is and what might
be. There is a philosophy which gives us the standard of value
by which to judge. It is a very simple one, to which Sir Richard
Livingstone has given the name: "The Philosophy of the First—rate."
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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