Who is the audience for TSVOTEP?

Just as I left the discussion at the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement — feeling that parents and grandparents might not be my audience; I recently left a leadership conference for North Carolina school administrators — feeling that state department officials, superintendents and central office personnel are not my audience. This occurred to me as I listened to presentations about achieving the mandates of local, state and federal policymakers. Because I had once been an educational administrator, I understood that they are expected to enforce mandates, not challenge them. If they did, they would be fired.

Every time a state department official said they lost a battle with the US Department of Education over what was best for North Carolina, he/she was admitting that state department administrators have no choice but to obey federal rules, even when they believe those rules are not best for North Carolina. It follows that local officials must obey state rules, even when the rules are not best for their schools. Obedience of this type is required by Rule #1 of bureaucratic hierarchy, which states, “Above all else, preserve the hierarchy.” (This rule is described in chapter 2 of TSVOTEP.) So I now understand why a lack of interest is palpable, when I mention my book’s ideas to educational administrators and policymakers. (The same is true for education professors, but their lack of interest has a different cause.)

On the other hand, teachers, principals, and parents react positively to my message. They say things like:

(1) Yes — public education is going in the wrong direction.
(2) Your explanations helped me see things in a new light.

Then they say something like, “But I can’t do anything about it until you convince administrators and policymakers to adopt the alternative model.”

Teachers, principals, and parents see their experiences in TSVOTEP; but they fail to see that well-intentioned administrators and policymakers can’t do anything about the direction of public education, even when they believe it is going in the wrong direction. The higher a person’s rank in the bureaucratic hierarchy, the more they are bound by Rule #1 and maintaining the status quo.

When state department officials at the workshop mentioned their experiences with the US Department of Education, the stories were delivered with a sense of resignation that was shared by all. I shuddered to think they were not delivered with a sense of indignation.

So, now I realize the fate of public education lies in the hands of teachers, principals and parents. Many of them are currently engaged in shielding students from the effects of state and federal mandates. Their next step is to adopt the alternative model described in chapters 3-8 of TSVOTEP. If they wait for administrators and policy makers to lead education in a new direction, they will wait forever.

In summary, some believe the book is too academic for non-educators. It does not matter that parents and grandparents are intimately concerned with the education of their own children. They believe lay people will not read a philosophical treatise on education because it describes the technical workings of public education and includes citations. This may be true for some, but other parents and grandparents are the philosophers needed to drive public education down a path that is more educational than political.

Second, it is clear that local and state administrators are not the book’s audience. People in these roles stand in the way of a rich, meaningful definition of “educated.”  Their definition focuses on high standardized test scores because they believe their purpose is to hold teachers and principals accountable for higher scores.

Public school teachers, principals, and parents are the main audiences for TSVOTEP. People associated with independent, parochial, and charter schools are a secondary audience.

TSVOTEP describes situations that ring true to these groups. Public school teachers, especially, appreciate the alternative model because it acknowledges their crucial role in the education of our young people. When they join with parents, theirs is the most important work, whether they realize it or not.

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