The litmus test for a good school is its culture—its caring, energy, mutual trust, and commitment to a common mission. Good cultures require teachers to feel ownership of the classroom and principals to enforce standards and values, while red tape and entitlements undermine the authority and human spirit that are essential. Fixing K–12 education requires stripping away bureaucratic and union controls and empowering educators to build good school cultures.
Key Takeaways
- Many school reforms fail because success is dependent not on better systems but on the energy, emotions, and authority of individual educators.
- Building a good school culture should be the main goal of education policy. This requires giving educators and communities the agency to do things in their own ways.
- Red tape and union controls corrode school cultures by supplanting energy and mutual commitment with rote compliance and entitlement.
The Human Authority Needed for Good Schools by Hoover Institution
