Performance Rewards and Power
Performance Rewards are a part of U.S. culture in a very pervasive way:
An employee presents a topic on how to improve the business; receives a $500 check.
A street cleaner is first done more than anyone else in his crew; receives a lunch paid by the boss.
A coworker catches another employee at theft; receives a $100 reward for the act.
These rewards give power.
Not to the employee, but to the person who gives them. They are the supplier, the person who controls that action.
To get the reward one must do what the boss asks. To achieve the recognition one must "perform", the root word of the idea.
The problem isn't the reward, or the power. It's when people do not recognize it for what it is.
Then abuses occur.
As educators, teachers give up their independence to work for a administration. They perform for them. It is not a hugely collaborative situation. There are rewards of all sorts for good performance.
Unions often fight such rewards, for a variety of reasons that one may or may not agree with. One of them is the recognition of the power it gives the reward giver over the reward receiver.
The problem is when such a reward is given by the wrong group.
You've lost power over it. Despite the fact that you, the public, have public education, you have very little control because you've given it up in a variety of ways:
A single student has the following agencies above them in the educational system:
Any aides in the classroom;
Teachers
Educational Specialists in the school (reading, math, special education, gifted & talented, etc.)
Librarian
Secretary (rarely, but in forty years, I've seen it before)
Special teachers (art, P.E., music, etc.)
Principal and vice principal (or assistant principal)
Businesses
Charities
Fund-raising organizations
District administration
City government
Educational Organizations
County educational administration
County government
State educational administration
State government
Federal educational administration
Federal government
International educational organizations
Stunned, yet?
Does your business have this many people involved in running your business and affecting your customer?
Some of these may not be clear. Let's clarify:
Any aides in the classroom; (Clear)
Teachers (Clear)
Educational Specialists in the school (reading, math, special education, gifted & talented, etc.) (Your child can be pulled by these specialists if they ever, in any of their years of schooling, don't perform at level)
Librarian (Rewards are constantly given at this level for reading, reports, science fair projects, etc.)
Secretary (rarely, but in forty years, I've seen it before) (This is the person who will likely deal with your child for delivering attendance, doing morning reports to the school over the intercom, etc.)
Special teachers (art, P.E., music, etc.) (Clear)
Principal and vice principal (or assistant principal) (Clear)
Businesses (Rewards with their logos, coupons for their businesses, advertising that your children do for them)
Charities (This one will be a topic all itself at some future date - your children are constantly being asked to raise money for charities and the social pressure your children are being subjected to to do so is extensive)
Fund-raising organizations (These raise money for your school and are designed to sell a cheap product for large amounts using children to encourage your purchases. Huge amounts are earned just because parents take on the product and can't sell it).
District administration (Clear)
City government (This level controls your district administration in education and every political issue of the city affects your schools and thus your kids)
Educational Organizations (These set standards and goals, send out ideas, strategies, methodologies, etc. that schools then choose or are forced to adapt to and use due to some level of pressure.
County educational administration (Yes, there is county supervision of this, whether a trust, a co-op, or individuals assigned to track education in the county. Their findings are used and applied to change your child's education.)
County government (Clear)
State educational administration (Clear)
State government (Clear)
Federal educational administration (Clear)
Federal government (Clear)
International educational organizations (Do not underestimate the effect these organizations have. More on this in a future post.)
Your child has a geometrically diminishing chance of getting an education that is:
Controlled (Power increases with the number of participants, but control goes down, as any member of a tug-o-war team will tell you, particularly when they all have different goals);
Range (Like an amoeba with a set volume, education, though it grows, is constantly being pulled in different directions and to accommodate it pulls back in other areas, constantly having to re-evaluate it's structure, contents, organization. Being told to add technology, but then having to remove things in other areas unless they can also add more time to the day. Adding more time to the day, but then having to pull money to pay for it from other areas. Getting more money, but then owing more to the agency supplying the money in terms of intellectual control - "Do as we ask or we pull the funding.");
Accuracy (They all have slightly different definitions, adding in their own filters of what they consider essential, combined with teachers editing the curriculum to match their own goals, until compromise has made a mockery by the level of appeasement and power struggles each aspect of education goes through before being applied to your child);
Balance (The only thing missing from the obstacle course a truly effective research-based educational innovation has to go through is a tilt-o-whirl deliberately designed to make your child completely dizzy. There is little balance.)
Now, do not misunderstand. ALL these agencies are trying to increase their control, extend their range, become more accurate, and improve the balance of their agenda. What I call, "C.R.A.B.". These are almost all very well-intentioned people.
This is about power. And every level gives out rewards trying to increase their ability to get their agenda in place.
And you have one or more children and one vote.
You gave up control little by little every time you thought, "Gee, it's nice for the (fill in the blank) group/organization/government to reward our kids that way."
You made yourself a little more dependent on them.
Now, if someone doesn't cooperate, the funding, the reward, the option disappears.
Try refusing the Federal government's agenda (they have no control over your educational programs. That's a Constitutional issue.
Yet, refuse to follow their directives and your district food program, a gift of the Federal government, is suddenly threatened with being cut off because you won't run a program teaching the children their most recent agenda.
You gave up this power. Your children answer for it, daily and teachers, the real educators of your children, constantly have to deal with the stress of meeting the expectations of all these levels of control.
And these teachers work directly, face-to-face, with your children.
Are you nervous, yet?
Performance Rewards are a part of U.S. culture in a very pervasive way:
An employee presents a topic on how to improve the business; receives a $500 check.
A street cleaner is first done more than anyone else in his crew; receives a lunch paid by the boss.
A coworker catches another employee at theft; receives a $100 reward for the act.
These rewards give power.
Not to the employee, but to the person who gives them. They are the supplier, the person who controls that action.
To get the reward one must do what the boss asks. To achieve the recognition one must "perform", the root word of the idea.
The problem isn't the reward, or the power. It's when people do not recognize it for what it is.
Then abuses occur.
As educators, teachers give up their independence to work for a administration. They perform for them. It is not a hugely collaborative situation. There are rewards of all sorts for good performance.
Unions often fight such rewards, for a variety of reasons that one may or may not agree with. One of them is the recognition of the power it gives the reward giver over the reward receiver.
The problem is when such a reward is given by the wrong group.
You've lost power over it. Despite the fact that you, the public, have public education, you have very little control because you've given it up in a variety of ways:
A single student has the following agencies above them in the educational system:
Any aides in the classroom;
Teachers
Educational Specialists in the school (reading, math, special education, gifted & talented, etc.)
Librarian
Secretary (rarely, but in forty years, I've seen it before)
Special teachers (art, P.E., music, etc.)
Principal and vice principal (or assistant principal)
Businesses
Charities
Fund-raising organizations
District administration
City government
Educational Organizations
County educational administration
County government
State educational administration
State government
Federal educational administration
Federal government
International educational organizations
Stunned, yet?
Does your business have this many people involved in running your business and affecting your customer?
Some of these may not be clear. Let's clarify:
Any aides in the classroom; (Clear)
Teachers (Clear)
Educational Specialists in the school (reading, math, special education, gifted & talented, etc.) (Your child can be pulled by these specialists if they ever, in any of their years of schooling, don't perform at level)
Librarian (Rewards are constantly given at this level for reading, reports, science fair projects, etc.)
Secretary (rarely, but in forty years, I've seen it before) (This is the person who will likely deal with your child for delivering attendance, doing morning reports to the school over the intercom, etc.)
Special teachers (art, P.E., music, etc.) (Clear)
Principal and vice principal (or assistant principal) (Clear)
Businesses (Rewards with their logos, coupons for their businesses, advertising that your children do for them)
Charities (This one will be a topic all itself at some future date - your children are constantly being asked to raise money for charities and the social pressure your children are being subjected to to do so is extensive)
Fund-raising organizations (These raise money for your school and are designed to sell a cheap product for large amounts using children to encourage your purchases. Huge amounts are earned just because parents take on the product and can't sell it).
District administration (Clear)
City government (This level controls your district administration in education and every political issue of the city affects your schools and thus your kids)
Educational Organizations (These set standards and goals, send out ideas, strategies, methodologies, etc. that schools then choose or are forced to adapt to and use due to some level of pressure.
County educational administration (Yes, there is county supervision of this, whether a trust, a co-op, or individuals assigned to track education in the county. Their findings are used and applied to change your child's education.)
County government (Clear)
State educational administration (Clear)
State government (Clear)
Federal educational administration (Clear)
Federal government (Clear)
International educational organizations (Do not underestimate the effect these organizations have. More on this in a future post.)
Your child has a geometrically diminishing chance of getting an education that is:
Controlled (Power increases with the number of participants, but control goes down, as any member of a tug-o-war team will tell you, particularly when they all have different goals);
Range (Like an amoeba with a set volume, education, though it grows, is constantly being pulled in different directions and to accommodate it pulls back in other areas, constantly having to re-evaluate it's structure, contents, organization. Being told to add technology, but then having to remove things in other areas unless they can also add more time to the day. Adding more time to the day, but then having to pull money to pay for it from other areas. Getting more money, but then owing more to the agency supplying the money in terms of intellectual control - "Do as we ask or we pull the funding.");
Accuracy (They all have slightly different definitions, adding in their own filters of what they consider essential, combined with teachers editing the curriculum to match their own goals, until compromise has made a mockery by the level of appeasement and power struggles each aspect of education goes through before being applied to your child);
Balance (The only thing missing from the obstacle course a truly effective research-based educational innovation has to go through is a tilt-o-whirl deliberately designed to make your child completely dizzy. There is little balance.)
Now, do not misunderstand. ALL these agencies are trying to increase their control, extend their range, become more accurate, and improve the balance of their agenda. What I call, "C.R.A.B.". These are almost all very well-intentioned people.
This is about power. And every level gives out rewards trying to increase their ability to get their agenda in place.
And you have one or more children and one vote.
You gave up control little by little every time you thought, "Gee, it's nice for the (fill in the blank) group/organization/government to reward our kids that way."
You made yourself a little more dependent on them.
Now, if someone doesn't cooperate, the funding, the reward, the option disappears.
Try refusing the Federal government's agenda (they have no control over your educational programs. That's a Constitutional issue.
Yet, refuse to follow their directives and your district food program, a gift of the Federal government, is suddenly threatened with being cut off because you won't run a program teaching the children their most recent agenda.
You gave up this power. Your children answer for it, daily and teachers, the real educators of your children, constantly have to deal with the stress of meeting the expectations of all these levels of control.
And these teachers work directly, face-to-face, with your children.
Are you nervous, yet?
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