Education and the Cult of Efficiency
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Education and the Cult of Efficiency
Raymond Callahan’s lively study exposes the alarming lengths to which school administrators went, particularly in the period from 1910 to 1930, in sacrificing educational goals to the demands of business procedures. He suggests that even today the question still asked is: "How can we operate our schools?" Society has not yet learned to ask: "How can we provide an excellent education for our children?"
Table of Contents
1. The Prelude 1900-1910
The Schools in a Business Society
Setting the Stage for the Efficiency Expert
2. Reform-Conscious America Discovers the Efficiency Expert
The Principles of Scientific Management
The Mechanisms of Scientific Management
Schmidt, Pig Iron, and First-Class Men
3. Criticism and Response in the Early Years of the Efficiency Era
Mounting Criticism of Education 1911-13
The Vulnerability of School Administrators
Administrators Respond to the Demands of Efficiency
4. American Educators Apply the Great Panacea
The Dollar as Educational Criterion
Management and the Worker in Education
5. The Educational Efficiency Experts in Action
Efficiency Measures for the Schools
The School Survey
The Unavailing Dissent
6. The "Factory System" in Education—the Platoon School
The Gary Plan and Scientific Management
The New York Story
A Question of Motive
7. Instruction Follows Accounting
Demonstrating Efficiency through Records and Reports
Educational Cost Accounting
The Education Balance Sheet and Child Accounting
Binding Education in Red Tape
8. A New Profession Takes Form
The Captains of Education
The Study of Educational Administration in the Universities
The Education of the School "Executive"
The Insecurity Down Below
Seeking Security Through Professional "Expertness"
The New Profession—the School Executive
9. Efficiency’s Progeny
Selling the Schools to the Public
The Educational Service Station
Mass Production in Education
The Descent into Trivia
10. An American Tragedy in Education
The Great Diffusion
America Reaps the Whirlwind
A Look Ahead
Index
The Schools in a Business Society
Setting the Stage for the Efficiency Expert
2. Reform-Conscious America Discovers the Efficiency Expert
The Principles of Scientific Management
The Mechanisms of Scientific Management
Schmidt, Pig Iron, and First-Class Men
3. Criticism and Response in the Early Years of the Efficiency Era
Mounting Criticism of Education 1911-13
The Vulnerability of School Administrators
Administrators Respond to the Demands of Efficiency
4. American Educators Apply the Great Panacea
The Dollar as Educational Criterion
Management and the Worker in Education
5. The Educational Efficiency Experts in Action
Efficiency Measures for the Schools
The School Survey
The Unavailing Dissent
6. The "Factory System" in Education—the Platoon School
The Gary Plan and Scientific Management
The New York Story
A Question of Motive
7. Instruction Follows Accounting
Demonstrating Efficiency through Records and Reports
Educational Cost Accounting
The Education Balance Sheet and Child Accounting
Binding Education in Red Tape
8. A New Profession Takes Form
The Captains of Education
The Study of Educational Administration in the Universities
The Education of the School "Executive"
The Insecurity Down Below
Seeking Security Through Professional "Expertness"
The New Profession—the School Executive
9. Efficiency’s Progeny
Selling the Schools to the Public
The Educational Service Station
Mass Production in Education
The Descent into Trivia
10. An American Tragedy in Education
The Great Diffusion
America Reaps the Whirlwind
A Look Ahead
Index