The Rule of 90
Posted by drpezz on August 18, 2008
My rule of 90 is an axiom I believe will be true forever: 90% of the problems are caused by 10% of the people.
This continues to be true in my building as I found out today. I will attend my first department head retreat tomorrow, and on the agenda is whether or not we should keep having finals week. Apparently, a few teachers told kids not to come in on those days, played games, or had parties during the scheduled final time. When I asked how many teachers we’re talking about, I was told 8-10. That’s less than 10% of the teachers!
I don’t understand how a few teachers not doing what they should warrants a discussion about everyone having to stop having a set time for final exams. This reminds me of the attendance lecture we endured. A minority of teachers cause a problem, and instead of the administration taking up the issue with those teachers, a complete system change is proposed.
As a colleague, this angers me because these teachers should uphold their responsibilities. As an employee in the building, I want the evaluators to hold the culprits accountable. I’m even the school’s “union guy” saying this.
I think this is, again, a situation where the easy road is to give everyone a lecture and threaten system change, but the more difficult road, individually helping these teachers improve, is the better path. Maybe I’m missing something. Am I not considering something here? Am I off-base?
Emptynester said
I believe this is called “Somebody sh– in their pants, so we ALL have to wear a diaper.”
Evelyn said
Management is emotionally difficult. One of the ways an inexperienced and untrained manager can sidestep the emotional stress of the one on one conversation about inappropriate behavior, is to have an all hands meeting.
The one on one may be difficult, but it’s effective and private.
The all hands meeting is both ineffective and can be shaming.
Does school management not have any idea of the time and emotional cost of their behavior when they do this? Is there no penalty for this waste?