A rant on Drucker

The Economist has a long and balanced article on Peter Drucker titled Trusting the teacher in the grey-flannel suit . I work in management, specifically educational administration, and think that the application of management by objectives to teaching and learning has lead to the present mediocrity in North American and is the real answer to the questions "Why can't Johnny read?"
He wrote many books; The Essential Drucker provides an introduction.
The rant: Management by objections has lead to outcomes based education, in which education is viewed as a product doled out in measurable units that will give students measurable skills. Such skills need to be observable, or they don't exist. These observable, measurable skills are finite and are all that counts about education. Looked at another way, if you can't mark it you shouldn't teach it. Or, looked at from the point of view of the student: if it's not for marks, I'm not doing it or learning it.
Such a philosophy places an upward limit on learning. Or, more precisely, it places a disincentive on learning for its own sake, for the joy of exploring an idea to its fullest. Intellectual curiosity is not rewarded in outcomes based learning. It gets in the way of the lesson plan.
Outcomes based education leads to classes where students spend all their energy copying the powerpoint instead of considering the ideas being put forth. Remember the points for the test and success will follow.
Dumbing down is now the preferred method of instruction in most elementary, secondary, and undergraduate programs. Soon it will be possible for people of average intelligence to attain degrees from "good" schools.

Technorati Tags: management