leadership and management

Rob,

I would concur with your assessment in general. It has been my perception as well. I often think MLC does both our principals and schools a disservice by not sufficiently training both in conflict resolution, strategic planning, and peer review procedures. They have certainly made strides in this area but in my opinion are still woefully lacking.

Do our WELS Lutheran schools teach students to be leaders and managers in the church and in the world at-large?

Although our WELS schools emphasize team sports, I do not see lessons learned on the sports field carrying over to other applications.

While our pastors and teachers seem to excel working by themselves in lonely outposts where no collaboration is required, teamwork is a weakness. In my experience, I've seen dual pastor experiments end in failure and team teaching arrangements struggle dysfunctionally for years. (A team teaching arrrangement is dysfunctional when teachers in the same classroom do not communicate regularly to coordinate deadlines of major student projects and synchronize curriculum.)

I attended secular schools from Kindergarten through college. Student government and activities began in elementary school and grew in complexity, so that by college, Juniors and Seniors were running food service dining operations, organizing music events, and managing dormitories. Grad students ran university experimental farms and science laboratories. Students who developed leadership and management skills in college went on to become captains of industry.

In our WELS schools and culture, do we pamper our young people, thereby stunting their personal growth?