Obsolete or obsolescent?

The adjective obsolescent refers to the process of passing out of use or usefulness -- becoming obsolete. The adjective obsolete means no longer in use--outmoded in design, style, or construction. (about.com)

A study in contrasts:

• This month hundreds of people lined up to purchase the latest iPhone. It allows people to place cell phone calls. Just like the phone they already own.
  
• This month with the retirement of one of our kindergarten teachers, the Mankato Schools got rid of its last Apple IIe computer. It was still used as a word processor, spreadsheet, keyboarding tutor, and skills tutor (via MECC games.) Just like the ones we are buying new this year.
  

When should we label a technology obsolete and when should it be called obsolescent? Is this differentiation merely annoying pedantry of interest and importance only to English teachers? Or do we all need to be more thoughtful about how we use these two adjectives - and be aware of their subtle influence on our views and actions?

Miguel Guhlin mentioned a couple times in his SecondLife talk last Tuesday evening that his district has a high percentage of obsolete computers - a factor that impedes the successful integration of technology into common pedagogical practice. (Miguel, correct me please if I misunderstood.) I suspect many district technology specialists make the same complaint about obsolete computers.

Yet I often wonder if this not often an easy excuse for many educators. Our district holds on to its computers and other technologies for a very long time  as my example above illustrates. But at the same time we have always practiced a form of "sustainable" technology implementation.  Our mission-critical computers are replaced on a regular rotation schedule of not more than five year and the older machines are moved to less critical areas or where we can establish a good deal of redundancy. We do not pretend we can support more computers than we can replace on an established basis. The theory that is it better to have one computer that works all the time than two computers that only work half the time.

We find that while computers suffer from obsolescence for a very long time, they rarely become truly obsolete. To be categorized as obsolete, computers in our district must be more than five years old and:

• Need repairs that cost money - in terms of parts or extensive tech time or need expert repairs.
• No longer run any software that supports either administrative or curricular purposes.
• Are sufficiently unreliable or slow that neither staff nor students are willing to use them.
  
• Can't find a home in a classroom, lab or mini-lab.

I'm seeing a paradox in our schools. The functional lives of the computers we buy seem to be getting longer. (When is the last time you could really tell your new computer had a faster processor? How many of your apps are now web-based and require little computer power?) Yet educators are demanding shorter replacement cycles. I am not sure why.

Are your computers really obsolete...or just obsolescent?

Your not yet obsolete, I hope, author...

Quit leading and start managing

Warning: I threw my back out yesterday and I hurt. What you will be reading may be written more by sore muscles than brain cells.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter Drucker

You can't do the right things unless you know how to do things right. - the Blue Skunk 

I am getting a little tired of the emphasis on "leadership" in society and especially in education. For all the talk, all the theories, all the studies, all the exhortations, this push is getting us nowhere - and good management may be suffering as a result.

Here are some deadly warning signs I've noticed lately...

• Has your local grad school replaced its "administration and management" classes with "leadership" classes?
• Has your professional organization's standards become a "visionary" document instead a practical description of and guidelines for an effective program?
• Has your last administrator been hired based on his philosophy and not his track record of running schools well?

I will state right up front that I am better manager than I am "leader." The workshops and articles of which I am most proud tend to be "management" rather than "leader" focused. Budgeting, tech planning, policy-making, skills integration, effective staff development and program evaluation are among my favorites. It's pretty easy to sneer at sharing "how-I-done-it-good" stories rather than research or high-blown commentary. But those looking down their noses probably aren't the folks trying to make actual changes in the classroom or library.

Let's face it - anybody can create a "vision" and cry loudly about all the things that are wrong and paint a utopian view that sounds pretty good (and it seems like almost everyone does). But what is usually lacking is any practical means of moving from Point A to Point B - especially within the parameters of working with real people, real budgets and a real number of hours in a day. I would contend that true genius is in finding ways to make vision reality - working where the rubber hits the road.

I've been wondering a good deal about what seems to be a round of recent political, economic and educational disasters - the Iraq War, the handling of Hurricane Katrina, the housing bubble, NCLB - and questioning whether it was a lack of leadership or piss-poor management that created (or exacerbated) the mess. Lets see:

• removing an evil dictator and establishing a democracy in the Middle East - good vision, poor execution
  
• helping the victims of a natural disaster - good vision, poor execution
• increasing the number of people who own their own homes - good vision, poor execution
• assuring that all children have good reading and math skills - good vision, poor execution

Where did we go wrong? Might it have been putting people who couldn't manage a one-car parade in charge? Leaders, not managers? Hmmmmm.

Pat a good manager on the back today...

We're building a new school!

I work in a great community.

Despite the high cost of food and fuel, a tax burden that's shifting more and more to local property taxes, and a general concern about the economy and personal well-being, the greater Mankato area citizens voted themselves a tax increase yesterday to build a new elementary school. The $33.5 million dollar construction referendum passed by 400 votes - 53% in favor. There are some other items in the referendum, including purchasing more land for yet another school, remodeling some science classrooms, and putting in an elevator but the big excitement is all about the new elementary building - the first we've built since the early 1970s.

We have a very smart school board and superintendent and savvy-supportive community. In my estimation, our district has a good track record of passing referendums because:

• We are modest in in our requests.
• We are well-known to be very well-run financially (and conservatively), winning awards in this area. We have the lowest administrative overhead and cost-per-pupil expenses in our region. 
• We are open and transparent about our finances.
• We are an "education-oriented" community, with four colleges within our school district boundaries.
• We get the support of the local chamber, city government and business organizations. They "get" that good schools are a community development issue.
• Our local paper has always been fair to our schools.
• The anti-referendum letters to the editor made state government the villain in the problem of rising property taxes (as well it is), not the schools. There was never a letter saying we don't NEED a new school, only objections about how education is financed in the state.

Anyway, this is exciting. We already know this will be a "green" school, modeling as many energy efficient technologies as possible. I am hoping the new building will also have a "model" elementary media center that will serve students and staff for the next, uh, hundred years? (We are still using schools built in the 1920s with no plans to stop doing so.)

When's the first planning meeting? I can't wait!