I read CORNER OFFICE: CATHLEEN BLACK by Adam Bryant in the New York Times this morning.
“I am direct and I’m decisive. I think being decisive for an executive is important. It doesn’t mean that if it’s not my idea, then it’s a bad idea. But I believe that most people want clarity from their boss or their manager, and they want decisiveness.
“So we don’t need to debate something endlessly. Maybe we can talk about it more than once, maybe more than twice, if it’s something really important. But, let’s make a decision and move on.”
I have noticed a certain controlling tone in the words chosen by Cathie Black. Maybe that’s her reality. It’s not mine.
Here in Brooklyn, children are assigned to middle schools in much the same way that medical students are matched with hospitals around the country for their residencies. The students rank their choices. The schools rank the students. When there is a match the student goes to the middle school he or she was hoping for. When there isn’t a match, or when 5000 students put down a particular school as their first choice and that school only has room for 100 incoming 6th graders. Well then, 4900 families are disappointed.
To win a seat in a charter school is a child takes a number and plays the lottery.
A game of chance.
Ten-year-old 5th graders do not learn about diligence, goal setting, hard work and fair play. They learn about odds and chance, winning and loosing. They learn about playing a numbers game and they are gambling with their educational lives. Playing craps.
Crap.