John Lehman

EDT646

Assignment 7

3-28-06

Education Coping With 7 Rules

While reading chapter 10 of Friedman’s book, I often found myself relating these rules back to my school and district. I would have done so even if the assignment would have been different. I do this because I see the school and district as a business. I am sure this is partly to do with that fact that I have a business mind and a business degree that I earned before entering education, but more so because I see the amount of competition that goes on in education today. I have been in education for 13 years, which may seem like a long time, and in some ways it is. However, 13 years really is not much time at all. In that short time of teaching, I have witnessed the emphasis being placed on the current MEAP, the MEAP expansion, the birth of charter schools, the birth of schools of choice, the creation of 7 magnet schools in my district, and the demand for competition. These are all normal occurrences in the business sector, but were not the norm in education until quite recently.

With these recent trends, education has had to reinvent themselves in many ways. They must also learn to adapt to changes and compete for their “market share”, namely the students. So as the world has become flattened out as Friedman describes in his book, education is also going through many transformations as well. The seven rules that Friedman lists for businesses trying to cope with competing in the flat world, also can apply to education. I see signs that many of these rules are already being applied in some fashion. I think that it is almost a guarantee that these trends will continue and even grow. In the following paragraphs, I will outline some of the trends I see in education and how further changes will likely occur based on increased competition and expectations.

Friedman’s 1^st rule, Digging inside yourself and not building walls, is something I see occurring in education already. The concept of charter schools and schools of choice is a major cause and/or example of this rule depending on how you look at it. Some may say that the creation of charter schools and schools of choice created competition in the education market and in turn is causing the public schools to make changes and offer choices. However, others may say there was a need for more choices, and the result was the creation of specialized schools. Either way you look at it; there is an increase in choice for students and their parents to make with regards to education. That alone will cause, and is causing public schools to offer more choices. My district had one magnet school when I hired in 13 years ago, now they have nearly 10 schools that offer a specialized program to offer choices for families. Some of this had to do with meeting AYP, but a lot of it had to do with the competition from charter schools and other specialized educational opportunities being offered around this area. Friedman states that if companies won’t do something, then someone else will. This is true for education as well. If schools won’t offer choices that families want, someone else (charter schools) will. Businesses and schools not willing to adapt and make changes will be left out and ultimately falter.

I see rules number 2 and 3 being somewhat similar in education. The ideas of the small acting bigger and the big acting smaller both rely on collaboration and teaming up. School districts do this somewhat now, but there needs to be a greater willingness to do such a thing. In my district, there was not a great willingness to be included in the schools of choice for the county of Kalamazoo, because we felt that we would be on the losing end. Instead of looking for ways to be different and complete, we put up walls. My district is now beginning to see that competition is the key, especially with the Kalamazoo Promise. Schools need to be willing to collaborate with others in order to expand and “act” bigger. When this occurs, then schools can offer more choices, which will allow them to start acting smaller. Another example of rule number 3, The big shall act small, is the idea of individualized plans and differentiation of instruction. These techniques tailor instruction to meet individual needs. This allows large schools and classes to emphasize the importance on the individual and not the group. As technology grows in schools, rule number 3 will become more and more important and will be even more widely used than it is today. Independent computerized courses and activities will allow more flexibility to differentiate instruction for individuals and zero in on what each child needs. This will truly make our customer feel self-directed and important, as Friedman states in this chapter.

Rule number 4, The best companies are the best collaborators, can certainly be utilized in education. Unfortunately, this has only occurred in moderation up to now. Districts and institutions have only collaborated on a few very specialized programs and ideas up to now. With further collaborations and a greater willingness to work together, more programs can be offered to students and families. There would even be opportunities for an increase in specialization, because certain schools/districts would be able to focus on certain programs and/or tasks. The end result would be very similar to my ideas with rules 2 and 3; more choices could be offered, with fewer resources being required. Public schools have always acted and operated as individual institutions, doing basically the same thing. If districts are willing to become more specialized and collaborate with each other, then the winners will be our clients which are the students and families. Those districts doing a better job with collaborating, will be the ones with more clients!

The 5^th rule in chapter 10 of Friedman’s book, The best companies staying healthy, shows us the importance of self monitoring and being willing to change. This has been a long-time problem for schools and will likely continue to be a struggle for education. Educational institutions have been slow to change and like the status quo. Unions, curriculum developers, and long time traditional standards all play a role in the prevention of quick change. All successful institutions need to critically evaluate themselves on a regular basis in order to identify and monitor their niche. The term “chest” X-rays was given because they are used in the medical field to look inside the area of people that is not very easily accessible, but extremely important. Friedman expressed the importance of being open with your clients, hence the term selling your X-rays. This is important because just like with X-rays, problems can be caught early while there is still time to fix them. It is also important to be open with your clients because you need to showcase your niche. You can’t very well sell something that nobody knows about.

The next rule, The best companies outsource to win, deals with a subject that schools have experienced. Unfortunately, they have not outsourced to win, but rather to save money. A variety of jobs including grounds, custodians, food service, and even secretarial positions have been outsourced in schools in an effort to save money. I understand that the money saved helps prevent other cuts that impact the students’ learning, however, the cuts are not initially made in order to expand spending in other areas. Friedman stated in this rule, that outsourcing to win involved analyzing and identifying areas that could be outsourced in an effort to save money that could be invested for growth in other areas. The outsourcing in school districts have occurred for one reason only, to trim the bottom line. The cuts made prevent other cuts from happening, but it doesn’t increase spending in other areas. In order for schools to survive in a “flatter” world, they are going to need to identify the areas that can be trimmed in an effort to generate resources for investment in other areas supporting their niche.

The last rule in Friedman’s chapter, Outsourcing is also for idealists, is an area that schools have not widely done up until now. I think this rule is designed for strong, well-developed companies that are consistently applying the other rules and would like to socially be responsible. The example Friedman gave seemed to give me the impression that the company worked hard to try to set up the scanning company in Cambodia. I don’t think that many companies and institutions, especially educational ones, would have the resources to dedicate to this cause like Hockenstein and his group did. On the other hand, I do think that school districts and other educational institutions can try to be more socially responsible when they are looking to award outsourcing bids. It just is not going to be at the same level that was given in the book as an example.

When looking at all of the rules and trying to decide which are more important than others, a few stick out as rather important for education. Rules one (1), five (5), and six (6) all seemed to make an impression with me. They all dealt with areas that seemed the most realistic for schools to deal with. The following list provides my rank order of importance for the seven rules listed by Friedman.

1. Rule #1: When the world goes flat and you are feeling flattened, reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don’t try to build walls.

2. Rule #6: The best companies outsource to win, not to shrink. They outsource to innovate faster and more cheaply in order to grow larger, gain market share, and hire more and different specialists, not to save money by firing more people.

3. Rule #5: In a flat world, the best companies stay healthy by getting regular chest X-rays and then selling the results to their clients.

4. Rule #4: The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done through collaborations within and between companies, for a very simple reason of specializing.

5. Rule #2: And the small shall act big… One way small companies flourish in the flat world is by learning to act really big by being quick to take advantage of all the new tools for collaboration to reach farther, faster, wider, and deeper.

6. Rule #3: And the big shall act small… One way that big companies learn to flourish in the flat world is by learning how to act really small by enabling their customers to act really big.

7. Rule #7: Outsourcing isn’t just for Benedict Arnolds. It’s also for idealists.

I feel that rule #1 is the most important because for too long in education, when the world around us became flattened, we put up walls. This trend must stop in order for us to survive. We have to be willing to recognize competition and adapt in order to be competitive and successful. I also thought rule #6 was important. I feel it is important for all institutions, businesses and education alike, to trim excess in areas that are not needed and apply it to the areas where growth can benefit the institution. Too often, outsourcing is used to cut costs and the bottom line, but not as a way of generating resources. Rule #5 was the last rule that I felt was most important. I think that it is very important to continuously look with in, in order to see your strengths and weaknesses. Institutions should also do the same. Whatever your niche is, even in education, should be developed and maintained. Constantly monitoring your niche will ensure that your resources will be devoted appropriately.

Rules 2, 3, and 4, I was indifferent on. They were important, but not as important as rules 1, 5, and 6. I feel that collaboration is important within business and also in education. Much can be said for working together and combining your resources. This allows for more specialization and ultimately better products and services. All three of these rules seemed to deal with different aspects of collaboration and the benefits of it. That is why they were placed in the middle of the rank order. The bottom rule was number 7. I felt this rule was the least important because educational institutions don’t have a lot of time and resources to outsource based on being socially responsible. Companies that have resources and money can look to be socially responsible and look for the “right” thing to do. However, resources and money within education is very limited. Schools can however, look for the more socially appropriate outsourcing bids to award when trying to cut costs. Other than that, it is not to most feasible rule for education in my mind.