CLIP - Colegio Luso Internacional Do Porto - Artur Victoria Reflections upon Eduction

The view of reality as made up of separate and competing entities reinforces, or perhaps creates, the view that power means strong defenses, invulnerability, inflexibility, in short, domination Power consists of separate entities struggling amongst one another for strength, control, superiority and their separate interests

The view of reality as made up of separate and competing entities reinforces, or perhaps creates, the view that power means strong defenses, invulnerability, inflexibility, in short, domination. Power consists of separate entities struggling amongst one another for strength, control, superiority and their separate interests.

This concept of power, which has been called power-over. defined in the modern era by Hobbes and continued by Max Weber, Bertrand Russell and others, seems related to less developed forms of human relationships, and has served as moral justification for many acts of social and political aggression. In the mechanistic model any attempt to prevent disorder, or to restore order, is considered "good", since such effort is exerted to achieve the ultimate good of the community. The ultimate good of the community is not, however, the result of a consensus established by a dynamic society. In the mechanistic model, the ultimate good of society is a static and prescribed concept.

Our schools still function in accordance with this model. The educational process is conceived as a cluster of distinct elements: teachers who know and teach, students who know nothing and learn, administrators who know more than anybody else and control. The curriculum, prescribed and untouchable, is passed from the teacher to the student as a biblical testament to be dictated, received, and reproduced letter by letter, dot by dot. Any deviation from this norm is considered as a more or less subversive act, deserving of correction and punishment.

Teachers and students are thus considered as competing entities to be mediated by the curriculum. Reform in the traditional school thus means, above all, a curricular revision, or at most, a revision of the hierarchy.

The analysis of the relationships among the different entities is rarely conceived in horizontal terms: in this model the pyramid remains as the graphic image of those relationships.

The influence of the mechanistic model in international education is reflected in the notion that ethnic or multicultural studies can be reduced to the examination of exotic or minority cultures. The majority, or dominant, culture is rarely included in the same plane as the others, and the notion that it can be influenced by the minority or dependent cultures receives little or no consideration. We speak of the Portuguese influence in Africa and in Asia more frequently than we speak of the extent to which our culture was transformed by that association. similar parallels could be established for linguistic relations among peoples.

The man and the woman of today''s world have ever greater difficulty in understanding all the aspects of their reality in accordance with the precepts of the mechanistic model.

The easy access to information and the effort spent in mass education begot a population qualified to understand their own interests more fully, and to be increasingly more conscious of their rights of participation in the decisions which may affect their lives.

If, on the one hand, the pressures exerted by a society aware of its multicultural or multilinguistic distinctions demand a fully international school, the enterprise of commerce, of industry, and of public administration exacts the formation of young people competent to function effectively in a world in continuous and vertiginous mutation. It is no longer sufficient to instruct students in the specific skills of the different professions, for the current technological revolution today reduces to obsolescence what yesterday was novelty. On the other hand, the office and the factory are undergoing profound alterations.

The dehumanizing effects of the traditional assembly line are no longer tolerated by better educated and prepared workers, nor are the working conditions that separate manual activity from its spiritual and psychological complements. The need for the business enterprise to deliver instant decisions at all functional levels, makes the rigid hierarchical system, which has worked well until now, quite impractical. Taylor and Weber can no longer explain this new phenomenon of human relations. The world has begun to be perceived as a complex reality, composed by elements interconnected and more and more interdependent, in sum, by a series of systems.

Systems theory had its origin in the science of biology, and biologists, such as LUdwig von Betalanffy, were indeed some of its first proponents. When comparing the life of physical organisms to the life of a social environment, we cannot escape drawing comparisons and establishing parallels in terms of structures and functions . First of all, the interdependence and interconnectedness of all beings is hard to ignore. In the simplest organism, be it biological or social, every single element depends on another, thus forming a continuous cycle of interaction. This interaction further means that the influence of one organ upon another will put into motion a process of change that will affect all organs within that system. The change in the system is not, however, the cumulative result of all the changes undergone by its elements. The changed system is in many ways a new and greater system. Thus the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The changed system will in turn influence other systems in an unending cycle.

This interaction for change cannot occur in an haphazard fashion. Systems, rather, have built-in homeostatic mechanisms which enable them to maintain a steady state while undergoing change. This steady state, or equilibrium, is, however, of a dynamic nature. It strives to help development, not to impede or constrain it. In a system, the relationships among the different elements cannot be based on the concept of power over, rather they have to be influenced by another manifestation of power: the notion of power with.

In this context, the more power is distributed, the greater its influence. While in the mechanistic model power increases according to the intensity used by a small group to impose its will upon the majority, ostensibly for the maintenance of order, in the systemic model, development in equilibrium is attained through the distribution of power among the diverse components of the system, thus granting those elements an interactive autonomy which results in the expansion of their creative capacities and in the widening of their human potential. The strength of power with does not reside in the degree of intensity employed, but in the manner in which it fortifies and develops the whole system.

The notion of power with does not include the concept of linear causality. It is obvious that human existence is too complex to be explained by the over-simplifications of this view. As a general rule, over-simplification tends to complicate matters. A simple observation of the world and of its operations will lead us into a more cogent, coherent understanding of its functions and of the nature of its interactions.

Systems analysis theories have inspired thinkers to perceive and explain the world in other paradigms. Richard Katz and Joanna Macy have developed in the last years the infrastructure of a new paradigm, which they have labeled synergy. This new and obvious way of perceiving reality is being spearheaded and influenced by scientific research in biology (DNA), physics (Quantum theory), and even technology.

In the synergetic model, international education implies the analysis of different cultures on a common plane, and of their interconnectedness and dynamics. This means that in an international school -- designed to foster human and social development, based on the principle of respect for all cultures and of the reciprocity of their influences ? the organizational structures must promote the interaction of all its elements (students, teachers and administrators) for the achievement of the pre-accorded objectives. The respect for foreign cultures starts, however, with the affirmation of the culture of each student and of each teacher. In this fashion, needless acculturations, and even dehumanizing cultural invasions may be averted. Above all, we must keep alive the expression of the primacy of the concept of education over the notion of instruction. The knowledge ofdifferent realities must be discovered by students, never received through the transmittal of second or third hand versions of prescribed information.

To complete the picture, one other aspect of this mosaic that must be mentioned is the function of leadership in a democratic context. Leadership is an integral component of any social system, and as such must evolve as the system evolves. The manifestation of leadership in all of its nuances is, thus, of great importance. The way in which a leader -- individual or collective -- articulates, communicates, motivates, fosters change, propels the creative movement of development promoting structures is crucial to the healthy functioning of any organization. The way in which a leader acts, defined by his or her behaviors, attitudes and adopted processes constitutes what we call style. The style of a leader is a quality simultaneously innate and learned. This does not mean that leadership is a right which, by inclination or genetic predisposition, may be acquired at birth. There are, however, leaders who are more capable than others owing to their personal characteristics. Above all there is the implication that persons in positions of leadership must be Sufficiently introspective to recognize their strengths and to compensate for their weaknesses, and extrospective enough to be able to assume the expression adequate to a specific situation.

Even though no prescribed behavioral models exist which may be applied indiscriminately by any leader in any situation, he or she must be sufficiently proficient to analyze him or herself, to assess situations, to develop a plan of action for the group and for him or herself. The leader must be current in all areas of scholarship which are related to his or her function, such as theories of democracy, justice, liberty, development, power, and so on.

It is absolutely necessary that the leader be convinced of the complexity of human nature. In this way, the level of effectiveness is directly related to scholarship. In summary, the style of a leader may differ from one situation to another, but he or she must be coherent with his or her principles, convictions and motivations, yet flexible enough to be able to adapt style and methods to changing situations.

The understanding and the use of power are the other fundamental factors of an effective leadership. As the latter, power is an intrinsically human condition. Thus, must power be developed and evolve, be defined and used in accordance with the needs and expectations of managers and managed, as well as with the nature and scope of human relationships, in summary, in conformity with the stage of development of the social group. The level of effectiveness of a leader depends on his or her capacity to use the chosen conception of style and power in such a manner that promotes the union of the different elements, maintains the equilibrium of the system, impels people and groups into action, foments a sense of identity, a common goal, a plan of development.

We cannot expect that a business enterprise be successful when the managerial function is exercised because of fortuitous opportunity or because someone has the knack of it. An increasingly better prepared and capable work force requires an enlightened and competent management. It is in this sense that Drucker says that today''s society is no longer a business society, but a knowledge society. The attainment of any organization''s ultimate goal -- be it a business enterprise or a school -- depends on the elaboration of projects and of processes that transcend their immediate application. Thus the exchange of products is more than the relation between supply and demand, for this intercourse is inserted in more global spheres of cooperation and understanding.

The formation of students today goes beyond instruction and apprenticeship. The effective function of a person in today''s and tomorrow''s world demands abilities to relate and make decisions at a level and on a scale unthinkable just a few years ago.

The legitimate question that may be asked at this moment seems to be: What is the implication of all this to the conception of a truly international school?

People from other "ethnic" groups: from the ghetto and from the manor; people who read only the sports pages of the newspaper and people who discusses Shakespeare; people for whom the third world is the only one existing and people who think that the solution for all the world resides in Maynard Keyne or in Milton Friedman.

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