Say 'no' to group-think

Have you ever seen a good idea turned into a one-size-fits-all knee-jerk policy? Well, that's my fear after reading this Hartford Courant story about the wholesale adoption of what seems like a common sense idea by public school educrats in Minnesota.

Fred Storti, executive director of the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association, explains that last winter he invited David Walsh, author of the recently published "No: Why Kids - of all Ages - Need To Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It," to speak at his association's convention of elementary school principals.

He said that Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family in Minneapolis, contends that kids today are living in a culture that promotes "more, fast, easy and fun," and the result is that kids are lacking important qualities - perseverance, patience, self-discipline, self-reliance - that are vital for success.

"I think today people are so fast-paced and busy, and in the majority of families, both parents work," said Storti. "Sometimes because life is so fast-paced, there's sometimes a guilty feeling parents have that they haven't spent enough time with their kids. ... Many times, to make things easier, we give our children things."

Walsh's message hit such a strong chord among the principals that they decided to conduct a statewide campaign, which they are calling, "Minnesota: Say Yes to No."

Now, I'm in full accord with the sentiment that children should be told "no" on a fairly frequent basis. Well-defined limits are absolutely necessary for children who need to be taught about right and wrong. So is encouragement to persevere in the face of obstacles--life is hard, and kids need to be aware that temporary setbacks are part of the program. Giving kids everything they ask for and smoothing over all of the rough spots does them a disservice; they'll never grow into self-reliant adults that way. While I've never read it, I just might like David Walsh's book.

But it's one thing to say that Walsh is on to something, and it's another entirely to convert his ideas into group-think slogans like "Minnesota: Say Yes to No." They'll probably even put posters espousing that idea in the teachers' lounges. I can't think of any better way to ruin a good idea than to turn it into the educational philosophy flavor of the month, complete with un-subtle marketing campaign.

Of course, how else do you transmit promising ideas from the center throughout an institution so that they're adopted by administrators on the periphery?

That's probably the wrong question. The real question is: How do you keep institutional education from turning even good ideas into mindless slogans to be applied to children of varying dispositions and abilities?

The answer, I'm afraid, is that you can't. Having surrendered the education of most of our children to a vast bureaucracy, we've ensured that even the best intentions will be applied in the worst way possible.