Schools are Unusual Organizations

Schools are unusual organizations.

  • They are political. Especially in those areas where schools are funded by the public, bureaucrats and the governments that direct them exert string influences on what happens within them.
  • They are hierarchical. In an extension of the political nature of schools, schools are operated by administrators who are more powerful than others; and who are influenced by a political, social, and pedagogical beliefs and decisions.
  • They are pedagogical. The beliefs, decisions, and actions taken by teachers and other educators determines the experience for students.
  • They are technological. Technologies are recursive and modular systems designed by humans for specific purposes, and at the center of educational systems are learners and the biological and psychological realities of their brains.