The Daily Grasshopper

Well, I’ve finally done it. Sorry to hit you twice in one day, but that means I’m all caught up. Without any further ado, here’s my take on today’s news:

First, there’s a fair amount of good news, unless you happen to like the idea of our armed forces leading an invasion of Iraq. If that’s the case, please skip the following links:

“Pressures build against fast action in Iraq” Boston Globe, pg. A1
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/014/nation/Pressures_build_against_fast_action_in_Iraq+.shtml

“Action against Iraq not likely for months” Boston Herald, pg. 7 (not available on-line)

“As British Antiwar Sentiment Rises, Blair Defends Iraq Stand” New York Times, pg. A10
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/international/europe/14LOND.html

“Pope Voices Opposition, His Strongest, To Iraq War” New York Times, pg. A11
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/international/europe/14POPE.html

There’s also a story about anti-war demonstrators taking civil disobedience to the highest level: they’re in Iraq, preparing to act as “human shields.” It’s not reported in any of the papers I’m used to reading, but I found it while looking for something else on the Washington Post website. It’s a short article, and pretty interesting:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51883-2003Jan13.html

So while there are encouraging signs on the international front, there are the usual worrisome trends here at home. For example, the corporate invasion of the classroom continues. In the past decade or so, we’ve seen blatant examples of big business using the captive audiences in public schools across the country as markets for their wares. This push by corporations to imprint their brands on young, impressionable minds has gone to extreme lengths. There’s ZapMe!, a service that provides free internet access to schools (with the understanding that a banner featuring corporate advertising and logos has to appear onscreen at all times), there’s the rush by soft drink and junk food vendors to get their machines into cafeterias and hallways, and, the most sinister, in my opinion, the placement of brand names into textbooks, a sort of stealth advertising geared to get students thinking that one Oreo plus one Oreo equals two Oreos. To read more, visit:

http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/0010/molnar.html

Against that backdrop, we read in today’s New York Times “New York Report” that Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, is going to be running the “Leadership Academy” for New York City principals. The story, by Abby Goodnough, states “Welch stole the show at a news conference yesterday, zestily describing how his take-no-prisoners corporate strategies might apply to city schools.” (I’m guessing he used a PowerPoint presentation). You can read the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/nyregion/14PRIN.html

The idea that we can apply “corporate solutions to the school system’s problems” is one that’s worth exploring. Welch’s “take-no-prisoners” style, which earned him the name “Neutron Jack” (after the Neutron bomb, which killed people but left all the buildings standing – a “tribute” to his job-cutting zeal), sure made G.E.’s stock price go up. He has been lionized in the mainstream media, and deified in the corporate press (Fortune, Forbes, etc.) His book “Straight From the Gut” has given him fame to accompany his wealth. “He made a lot of people a lot of money,” a friend once told me, as if there were no other consequences of the Welch years at G.E. worth noting. He sure did make a lot of money for a lot of people. But if you weren’t one of the fortunate G.E. shareholders, and were instead someone whose job got shipped off to Mexico, or lived in a community like Pittsfield, Mass., which G.E. polluted for decades, and which Welch refused to take responsibility for, you might not think he’s such a great guy. Some of the very things that allowed Welch to succeed at G.E. (wholesale firings, externalizing costs onto the environment, etc.) aren’t readily duplicated in a classroom setting. Here’s a review of a different book, “At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profit,” by members of the United Electrical Workers Union:

http://www.ranknfile-ue.org/contract2000_anycost.html

I think it’s wonderful for people to be able to rehabilitate their reputations (Welch was recently found to be having an affair with the former editor of the Harvard Business Journal and is going through a messy divorce: http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4375855,00.html). This is America, after all. But the good people of New York City should be concerned about the sort of training their principals are getting from Neutron Jack. After all, in the corporate world, an underperforming division can be axed. Are we ready to embrace that level of callousness in our schools?

Here are some of the corporate crimes of which G.E. was accused (and, in some cases, convicted) during Welch’s tenure (thanks to reporting, once again, from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting):

• In 1990, GE was "convicted of defrauding the Defense Department by overcharging the Army for a battlefield computer system." (Fortune, 9/5/94) GE paid $30 million in criminal and civil fines.
• In 1992, GE "pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, money laundering and corrupt business practices in connection with its sale of military jet engines to Israel," the Washington Post reported(7/23/92)
• GE faced anti-trust charges "of a scheme by GE executives to rig prices with DeBeers Consolidated Mines, the secretive South African cartel that controls much of the world's diamond production." (Fairfield County Business Journal, 5/25/92)
• Most recently have come revelations of illegal reporting at Kidder Peabody, GE's investment subsidiary, which resulted in the dismissal of Kidder CEO Michael Carpenter – who was brought in from another GE division by Welch in 1989 to put Kidder in order. "Like it or not, the scandals at Kidder Peabody were brought on by GE's management," Fortune asserted (9/5/94).
• A February 1994 report of the Project on Government Oversight found that GE had 16 instances of fraudulent activity against the government since 1990 -- the most of any company listed (Daily Citizen, 3/14/94).

Such revelations led Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, to note, "If the law were 15 strikes and you're out, GE would be banned."

Mokhiber’s “Corporate Crime Report” ranked GE 34th in its list of the top 100 corporate criminals of the 90s.

http://www.motherjones.com/fotc/fotc1.html

The ruthlessness, shortsightedness, and greed of today's corporate elite, who are obligated to maximize short-term profits at any expense - embodied by Enron but represented well by G.E. - aren't traits that educators should admire or aspire to. According to all accounts, Welch wielded the meat axe of "downsizing" whenever costs got out of hand. Let's hope the principals that graduate from his "Leadership Academy" learn that you can't just cut a kid who wants an education.