Educators From The United States

"I would also suggest that everyone read the poetry of Lucille Clifton, a black heterodox Christian woman who seems to me the most important spiritual poet in America today."

"One of my favorite poets is Lucille Clifton, author of a good number of fine books, including Blessing the Boats, Quilting, and Two-Headed Woman."

"Other than “the unanswerable question”… It’s the heart speaking, maybe that, maybe the human heart speaking."

"… A lot of women have borne a lot of things; a lot of people have borne a lot of things. There’s a certain kind of human that I want to be. There is not shame in my life. There is certainly misfortune, but I’m not the only one. I do know that. And sometimes, one of the things poetry can do is say to an audience: you are not alone. It can also speak for those who have not yet found their voice to speak. That’s part of the human condition. And if we’re going to talk about humans, why are we just going to talk about the pretty ones."

"… I am a grown-up, sensual woman, even at this age and size. People would think you wouldn't be. I'm open to the whole of human experience."

"born in babylon both nonwhite and woman what did i see to be except myself?"

"One thing poetry teaches us, if anything, is that everything is connected…There is so much history that we have not validated."

"(The book that...shaped my worldview:) Lucille Clifton’s poetry collection Good Woman. I have long considered her the secret godmother of my writing since I was 15, and this was the first collection of hers I owned."

"Lucille Clifton is able to do something difficult: take the strengths of poetry and apply them in such a way that you have first-rate prose."

"THE MOST ELEMENTARY ASPECT of administration is organization the structure of social institutions and their constituent parts, the composition of economic enterprises and their various branches, the organization of governmental agencies and their numerous departments. As it is mainly a matter of structure, organization bears the same rudimentary relationship to administration as does the science of anatomy or skeletology to the field of medicine. An administrative organization can be sketched and charted just as the human body can be physically depicted. Apart from its graphic convenience and its "teachable" quality, however, what intrinsic relationship does organization bear to administration?"

"MANAGEMENT involves the concrete practices and the observable techniques of administration. Frequently the term management is used synonymously with administration, and it is invariably assumed that a good manager is a good organizer. All of these usages are justified in the general terminology of administration, but in its more specialized sense management refers to the following specific techniques:"

"Many scholars who studied at the in the 1930s knew him well, due to his role in the intellectual ferment within political science and the other social sciences at Chicago during these years. At the age of 23 he was already a Ph.D. and a research collaborator with . By the age of 27, he had published three books with the University of Chicago Press: Judicial Systems of Metropolitan Chicago (1932); Movement of the Metropolitan Region of Chicago (1933), (co-authored with Charles E. Merriam and Spencer Parratt); and Home Rule for Metropolitan Chicago (1935). Among the best of his publications was a report of the in 1939, which helped to launch modern research on local government as a component in tri-level federal system that is the foundation for intergovernmental relations in the United States. During these years, he was an active participant in the New Deal, and the ideals of the New Deal remained a cornerstone of his approach to government and politics."

"One motive for Henri Fayol's vigorous defense of administration as a subject for serious scientific study was the fact that he saw France, in the period between the and World War I, disintegrating for lack of administrative ability and managerial efficiency. Hoping to make sounder administrative practices available to French civil and military agencies, he fostered the "Center of Studies in Administration" in Paris, as a kind of French Public Administration Clearing House. Fayol was one of the principal consultants to the French government during the crisis period of World War I and a leading participant in the International Congress of Administrative Sciences. Despite his conservative views about French politics, he was in complete agreement on questions of governmental organization with the rising French socialist of those days, Leon Blum, who, as Prime Minister, was later to try out some of the administrative ideas they both held in common. This is... but one of several such instances of agreement on administrative matters among political opposites, an instance which helps to establish the view Fayol insisted upon, namely, that administration is a subject of universal importance."

"Brooks Adams advocated that the chief function of administration should be to facilitate social change, or paradoxical as it may seem, to assure social stability by facilitating social change. Great-grandson of President John Adams, grandson of President Quincy Adams, brother of the "educated" Henry Adams, Brooks Adams produced, during the early 1900'S, a series of unorthodox historical essays. Their titles were more radical than their contents: The Law of Civilization and Decay, "The Collapse of Capitalistic Government," and The Theory of Social Revolutions. The last of these is quoted below; the first was regarded by Theodore Roosevelt as a "melancholy" but "powerful" book with "a very ugly element of truth.""

"Administration is sometimes referred to by specialized words such as management or organization, by particular terms such as executive work, or by general concepts such as public administration. Regardless of the name or nature of this supposedly new science, it is an art and technique which reaches far back into the experience of civilized man. For this reason, we include in this book ideas about administration presented by many authorities ranging from Aristotle and Socrates to Wilson and Stalin. Also included are the contributions of some three hundred other writers less renowned but no less convincing as to the importance of administration and its related subjects of management and organization."

"Administration, like other fields of knowledge, may be defined in various ways, but there is wide agreement on the following aspects of the subject:"

"Charles E. Merriam... attributed a decisive position to the managers of a democratic society. As Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago between the two World Wars, Professor Merriam inspired a generation of students and practitioners of public administration. As a local political leader in Chicago and as a national adviser to liberal American Presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt, Merriam recognized the practical significance of public management. In his overall treatise on Systematic Politics, Merriam devoted the final but perhaps the most significant section of his chapter on "The Organs of Government" to what he calls "the managerial organ.""

"A delegate is a person who is appointed to represent and act for another... The process of delegation is one whereby certain of the executive's functions, responsibilities and authority are released and committed to designated subordinate positions. The appointment of an individual to a Job and his acceptance of the obligations associated with it entitle him to use the corresponding authority for the duration of his appointment... Delegation enables the principal executive to extend his abilities beyond the limits of his personal powers. It makes it possible for an executive to accomplish successfully a mission that exceeds many times his immediate, personal limits of time, physical energy, and knowledge. The delegations of responsibility and authority usually are made simultaneously, since the latter is a derivative of the former."

"Admitting that business and government are both bureaucratic giants, most authorities take the view that an intrinsic difference separates them. This position was expressed effectively by: (a) Professor Wallace Donham, Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard University; (b) Sir Josiah Stamp, an English businessman and public servant; and (c) Professor Nathan Isaacs, also of Harvard University."

"While individualism was once widely hailed in Britain and especially the United States, today it is deemed amoral and heartless. The individualist viewpoint is unable to promise honestly that everyone will eventually be completely well-off. Critics find this defeatist and insist that ‘we must do better’ while calling upon the forces of the state to see that we do."

"If welfare and equality are to be primary aims of law, some people must necessarily possess a greater power of coercion in order to force redistribution of material goods. Political power alone should be equal among human beings; yet striving for other kinds of equality absolutely requires political inequality."

"[T]here is little doubt that only a totalitarian government aims to take on every possible concern of the citizenry."

"[C]oercive human interactions [are] destructive, even where the coercion is urged from honorable motives, and advocates confining the use of physical force in human relations to instances of the administration of justice understood as the protection and maintenance of individual (negative) human rights."

"Regulatory policies are inherently redistributive; that is, they involve the seizure of earned income for purposes of allocating this income in ways the government’s policymakers believe are more important than do those whose income has been seized."

"To Marx any talk of rights possessed by people equally, unalienably, absolutely, and universally would have to await the communist epoch when all persons will have reached a common nature, total equality and perfection. Until then people are in a state of incompletion and imperfection, incapable of justifying equal human rights."

"[The media] assume, in the way they address politicians or report on social problems, that whatever is important to society must be a matter of public or state concern."

"If one behaved as a good citizen or a charitable person simply because one was dreadfully scared of the state placing one in jail, one would not be a good citizen or person but barely more than a circus animal."

"Ethics requires the kind of personal reflection, in the end, that no one else can do decisively for any individual."

"Politicians are leaches, mostly."

"The institution of taxation is not a civilized but a barbaric method to fund anything... it amounts to... a gross violation of human liberty."

"This right to life, this right to liberty, and this right to pursue one’s happiness is unabashedly individualistic, without in the slightest denying at the same time our thoroughly social nature. It’s only that our social relations, while vital to us all, must be chosen—that is what makes the crucial difference."

"Without a market in which allocations can be made in obedience to the law of supply and demand, it is difficult or impossible to funnel resources with respect to actual human preferences and goals."

"On March 18, 1999, Colonel John Ripley resigned his position as president of Hargrave Military Academy effective immediately. He was replaced by Colonel Wheeler L. Baker, Hargrave's provost since January 1997. Colonel Wheeler Baker, eighth president of Hargrave Military Academy and veteran of nearly forty years in the United States Marine Corps, holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in education from the University of New Mexico, a Master's degree in International Affairs from Catholic University, a Master's Degree in Strategic Decision Making from the Naval War College, a Master's degree in management from Salve Regina in Newport, Rhode Island, and a Bachelor's of Science degree in economics from the University of Tampa. As a combat officer, he served two tours in Vietnam, a tour in Operation Desert Storm, and personally led the detailed planning for Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. Prior to coming to Hargrave, he served as the chairman of the Naval Science Department at the University of New Mexico."

"In the face of the recent institutional breakdown of trust in business, managers are losing legitimacy. To regain public trust, management needs to become a true profession in much the way medicine and law have..."

"[There will be] a time when societies around the world are crying out for more and better leadership, when our current leaders (especially in business, but also in government and other spheres of public life) have lost legitimacy, questions are being asked, sometimes angrily, of the institutions that school these leaders: What kinds of leaders are these institutions developing that have caused so much hardship for so many?... What is the vision or model of leadership that animates the curriculum and developmental models [of current leadership approaches taught in institutions]? If there is such a model, does it need to be revisited, reexamined, and revised in light of the widespread failures of leadership? Do we really understand what it takes to develop better leaders?"

"Over the summer of 1998, Colonel Wheeler Baker, provost, successfully defended his dissertation and was granted his doctorate of philosophy. His dissertation, titled "Training Transfer in Outdoor Experimental Learning: A Case Study of Two American Corporations," examined learning that occurred during outdoor experimental learning programs and if such learning transfers to the workplace and justifies such expenditures by corporations."

"Over the years many of the faculty and staff of Hargrave Military Academy have played vital roles in the lives of cadets. Cadets tend to attach themselves to a certain staff member in whom they confide, seek advice from and go to for guidance. These people become role models for the cadets and often find themselves that cadet's "go to" person in times of need. None are more effective than the Bakers at giving advice, being role models, or being that "go to" person. Col. Baker is a retired Marine Corps Colonel who rose through the ranks to command a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a Battalion, and much more. Dr. Baker has worked as a nurse, worked with animals and traveled around the world. Both have brought a lot of experience to HMA. All cadets agree that the Bakers are what the Hargrave faculty and staff should strive to be. Most cadets have spent time in the Guidance Office talking to Dr. Baker about something that they are having trouble with in their lives, or just eating candy out of her jar. Walking around campus, cadets will often run into Col. Baker, the President of the school, and are always greeted with a smile and a pat on the back. Very few people are as legitimately concerned about how your day is going than Col. Baker. And if you are having trouble, he will do anything in his power to help you. No matter what your trouble may be, the Bakers are always there to help you, and they always care. They are the mother and father figures of Hargrave."

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sympathy, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

"The development, strengthening and multiplication of socially minded businessmen is the central problem of business. Moreover, it is one of the great problems of civilization. Our objective, therefore, should be the multiplication of men who will handle their current business problems in socially constructive ways."

"Dr. Baker served Hargrave for close to 15 years. After stabilizing the Academy financially, he tackled several differed maintenance issues while simultaneously improving the academic curricula. New classroom space was built, technology was introduced into the classroom and improvements were made to the quality of Cadet life across the board. Most importantly, he has been a true leader and caretaker of Hargrave Military Academy in both good and turbulent times, leaving the school far stronger and in a far better position to take advantage of future opportunities. Dr. Baker leaves Hargrave in an excellent position for his successor."

"Plan in the real world."

"Wheeler Baker has spent many years studying management and decision making. He holds graduate degrees in International Affairs, Management, and National Security and Strategic Studies. His academic accomplishments are complemented by extensive experience in teaching and implementing crisis management techniques with military special operations organizations. These units are trained to respond to events that arise unexpectedly; events characterized by their complexity and demand for rapid solution. Of note, on short notice he planned and led the military side of the security for the presidential Drug Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, utilizing these same procedures. In the business world, he has assisted several senior corporate executives, federal agency supervisors and small business owners in developing solutions to complex problems. They have ranged from improving security at the nation's nuclear sites to critical examination of a business's ability to expand its market. Additionally, he has applied these management techniques in preparing for short notice ambassador level negotiations internationally. At the other end of the spectrum, he has assisted social workers in structuring their sensitive work with severe emotional family problems."

"There is absolutely no reason the command group can not pick the five most probable contingencies or missions that your unit could be called on to execute today. Identify those missions and then schedule a crisis planning session for each mission. The training and preparation value of doing this is tremendous."

"Two a.m. in a dark alley or on a mountainside is not the time to discover your unit is missing a key piece of equipment, or that you are not sure of the radio frequencies of an adjacent unit. The procedural check lists created in training will prevent those critical and unacceptable mistakes. This is the time to benefit from those "lessons learned". But leaders must schedule the time to train, do it right, critique, and move on. It is an investment that will bring the most return."

"In our class were Capts Wheeler Baker, Wayne Rollins, and Dan Smith, who were fellow DIs in 1962-1964. Sitting around the lunch table one day, Wayne commented, "Can you believe this? Ten years ago the four of us were dumb-ass Cpls and today we're all dumb-ass captains.""

"Leaders and managers do not have to risk lives, profit, or mission failure because they failed to plan for a crisis. Do not allow yourself to be put on the defense by changing circumstances. No one enjoys wasting time, but don't be reluctant to call a meeting just to discuss something that might happen. Remember the oil filter theory. Rather than disobey your instincts and proceed with the status quo or embark on a risky course, invest some planning time in your business. Control your risks. Identify important decision points. Forecast potential crisis. Apply the six hour model. A little time spent discussing your business is never wasted."

"My sincere thanks for your outstanding assistance with security, logistics, and communications during my visit to Colombia."

"Neoclassical economic theory forms the central discourse and behavioral model of contemporary management education. Drawing on research and insights from game theory and behavioral economics we have argued that many of the core assumptions underlying this model are flawed. While we cannot say that the widespread reliance on the Homo economicus model has caused the highly level of observed managerial malfeasance, it may well have, and it surely does not act as a healthy influence on managerial morality. Students have learned this flawed model and in their capacity as corporate managers, doubtless act daily in conformance with it. This, in turn, may have contributed to the weakening of socially functional values and norms like honesty, integrity, self-restraint, reciprocity and fairness, to the detriment of the health of the enterprise. Simultaneously, this perspective has legitimized, or at least not delegitimized, such behaviors as material greed and optimizing with guile. We noted that this model has become highly institutionalized in business education. Fortunately, we believe that the potential for moving away from this flawed model is significant and thus can end this chapter on a more optimistic note for the future of business education."

"We have all heard the saying "the man with a plan is king." I believe a man without a plan is just a pawn to circumstance and embarking on a losing strategy."

"Pressure can also make managers act out of character. Degrees of panic will cause a normally good manager to lose self-confidence and focus. Under stress, even a good plan can be abandoned."