Glenn Tracey Glasser Response The Quality School Managing Students Without Coercion The first impression I felt when beginning this book was one of disagreement, as the comparison of business management methods in Japan did not seem relevant to quality education. Many of today's quick fix solutions for problems are often looked for in the business world when these methods prove successful. The ideals found in economic gain for business do not translate to academic gain for students, even though many of them can be applied to their similar institutions. Choice Theory is based on the premise that students will take ownership of their education, behavior, and more importantly their motivation for learning. Coercion is a key word in this theory and a definition is "an exercise of force to obtain compliance" with the additional implication of disregard for individual desire. These are not things that sound pleasant when applied to educating children in our schools, but many current methods do use this to control the knowledge we choose to share and promote the values associated with learning as a means to personal success. The fact that society provides many opportunities to personal success is too often an encouragement to believe that people can't help but seek out the knowledge to gain this, yet many would rather wait for it to be handed to them. The quality school that is championed by Glasser has a flaw in that the choice theory depends on students buying into the idea that they control their environment and learning. The lack of maturity found in most students makes me wonder if they would make a choice based on lifetime learning or instead seek immediate gratification in the control they possess. All to often our motivation to conform is challenged by a desire to rebel, which frequently leads to decisions that can cause poor results. There are many examples of feel good words associated with choice throughout the book and even more negative comments about what is supposed to be the coercive model found in our schools. It is foolish to believe that all students will choose to comply with a desire to share this feel good attitude in school and then go home to the variety of environments that create the majority of the problems that they face. I may be somewhat cynical but my feelings toward Glasser are reinforced in finding in the summary a call for Quality School flags flying below the Stars and Stripes, which is another feel good attempt at selling his program. The continued development of new products does not always guarantee quality and often ends up costing more than it is worth. In my conclusion I would like to make one last comparison and that is inspired by a reference Glasser made to Ford Motor Co. EDSEL.

-- Anonymous, February 09, 1999