Scientific management in public schools

By observing school systems in the United States today, it is clear to see that education is a very structured system.  Teacher’s specializing in one subject stay in their classrooms during the day and different classes come throughout the day to learn from them.  The amount of time dedicated to each subject is the same and bells ring to indicate when a class period is over and when it begins.  Even lunch is organized so that the same number of students is eating and rotates until everyone has eaten and spent the same amount of time in their class.  Administrators patrol halls and lunchrooms while groups of students move to and from class and lunch.  For those of us who experienced the public school system, this was normal and there was never really a reason to question it.

Looking at the public school system from an outside perspective, it can be argued that schools are run like factories.  The principal of scientific management, which began in the 19^th century, is the idea that any system can be broken down and analyzed so that inefficiencies are identified and removed.  The goal is to make the process as productive as possible and to eliminate any excess time or energy spent on unproductive activity.  Most people would say that this theory makes sense and that maximizing efficiency is a beneficial result.  Considering this idea was created by Frederick Taylor, an engineer, it is easy to understand how this theory was applicable to factories and industrial applications.  It was its application to education by John Franklin Bobbitt that has sparked some controversy concerning its limitations to be effective.

Early American schools consisted of the classic one-room schoolhouse where children of varying age and intellectual ability would be taught by one teacher.  This system worked while population density in the US was relatively low from today’s perspective.  However, immigration and exponential growth of population changed public education such that much bigger facilities were needed for schools and the number of children at each school reached the thousands in many areas.  Today, most high schools in suburban and urban areas have at least a thousand students and even as many as several thousand (depending on the area).

I was home-schooled for my elementary and middle school education and then enrolled in a public school for high school.  Coming into a school of 2500 in Northern Virginia, I was originally overwhelmed with how many kids attended my high school.  Our school even had to utilize modular trailers to have enough classrooms for everyone to be in class at the same time.  Another thing I noticed was the structure of the school day.  Bells indicated when class was over and started while each class lasted the same amount of time.  Compared to my background of independent studying and fewer time constrictions, this was a big change for me.  However, I thrived in the new environment of classrooms containing no fewer than 30 kids and there’s no doubt that the organization of the school day contributed to that.

School reformers who argue against the theory of scientific management being applied to the school system may be overlooking the fact that schools are responsible for educating more kids today than they ever have in the past.  Looking back at my high school days, I honestly cannot think of any better way of accomplishing the task of educating 2500 high school kids.  When there are that many students, an organized system is necessary to provide the best chance for the greatest number of kids to learn as much as they can.  Unless an enrollment cap is established for public schools and more schools are constructed, public schools will continue to be responsible for a large number of children.  Because money is hard to come by these days and local, state, and federal governments can only dedicate a certain amount of funding to education, public schools will continue to be packed with as many kids as possible.  The only way for a high population pubic school to function is by maximizing efficiency during the school day and essentially run education factories.  I agree with the argument that this is not an ideal system, but right now it is the only system that will work.