"James van Pelt - Nor a Lender Be" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pelt James Van)

by their successes. Good teachers, bad teachers, it didn’t matter. They were
paid the same."
"That seems silly," Isaac offered quietly, "Doesn’t it? Why would anyone work
hard?"
"Surprisingly, many of them did anyway. Teaching’s more of an avocation than
a
vocation, wouldn’t you say, William?"
William nodded. He wondered what she was leading to.
She continued, "But the schools weren’t very good, just the same. When public
schools collapsed and the corporations took over, good teachers were bid for.
Bad teachers got better or quit. Generally education improved, and education
became big business."
"Yes," offered William. "But there are still failings–whole groups of kids
who
are under-served."
"Of course," Victoria said. "The corporate model has problems too. Applying
management principles to classrooms hasn’t made them all that much better, at
least not as good as they need to be, despite the different approaches."
Isaac said, "You mean like individualized, home study."
"Yes, everything done at home through computers. No classrooms. No group
contact. Interesting experiment," said Victoria. "An approach the Reinhart
Group
invests heavily in, but getting rid of the schools as structures hasn’t done
it.
No, the problem is that every approach emphasizes curriculum."
Isaac looked puzzled. "Naturally. Curriculum and technique can be duplicated.
It
can be marketed. What else is there?"
"The teacher," said William.
Victoria nodded her approval. "Yes, the teacher. So we went big into teacher
recruitment and training. That’s why Reinhart is the major player in
education.
But it’s time to make the next jump. It’s time to get rid of the corporate
model
that relies on thinking of curriculum as product. The product model is dead."
Isaac said, "But what can replace it?"
"Yes, what?" said William.
"The pro-sports model is our new direction."
William sat on the edge of his desk. He’d read of something along these lines
in
the latest journals.
He said, "It’s elitist, isn’t it? Sell the superstar teacher to the high
bidders? I’m not interested in teaching to a half-dozen rich kids."
"Of course not," she said smoothly. "We know you’ve turned down similar
offers.
No, we’re ready to take the next, logical step. The pro-sport model of
education
is like a pro-sports team. We need a franchise player, though, a Babe Ruth.
Someone who is so much obviously better that success rests on that person’s
shoulder."