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The Times has an interesting look at how many people under 35 without much experience in the education sector are now employed under Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein, in a move to introduce new blood and new ideas into the system. You, too, can get hooked up with a job trying to reform the biggest school system in the country if your dad (or mom) went to school with Chancellor Klein (hello, old boy network) or worked with him or if you worked at McKinsey. Jeremy Lack, a former McKinsey consultant, explains that while many aren't steeped in the NYC school system lore of their predecessors, "Our skill set would be to talk to many different people, aggregate many different thoughts, do some sort of cost-benefit analysis, tee up for decision making. It's part of the crucial process of how a decision is made." God, Gothamist loves and hates consultant rhetoric.
There are a few other great quotes in the article:
- Veterans more accustomed to interoffice mail were suddenly confronted with hotshots who seemed to have been designing PowerPoint displays since birth and were inseparable from their wireless messaging devices.Well, clearly, Gothamist relates to the clueless young people who are inseparable from their wireless messaging devices, so we say this to the educrats: Help a kid out! It's been so hard to implement positive, lasting change in the school system...maybe some new eyes, albeit naive ones, are okay.
- "They are so committed and they are so rah-rah-rah, and they are so completely clueless," said Jill Chaifetz, the executive director of Advocates for Children, a group that monitors the school system.
Additionally, the Times reports that Chicago has eased its social promotion policy; the Chicago plan was the one that Mayor Bloomberg modeled his plan on.
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Be careful not to get downsized!
(oops, did I say that out loud?!)
The old board was run by bureaucrats and political hacks, not educators. The new board is run by consultants and political hacks, not educators.
See any similarities?
I'd say that the main differences are that consultants tend to cost a lot more than bureaucrats, and bring with them a dramatic increase in the meeting-to-doing ratio.
They do dress better, though, and stay abreast of the buzz-of-the-moment.
They're hiring the ex consultants full time, so I wouldn't expect a big raise in salary costs.
Might as well have some new blood--things aren't going well.
It's expected that the old guard would bitch about the new people--how effective has the old guard been? They have reason to be scared--they're probably part of the problem.