The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 12, 1924, Page 7

Y problems are numerous, my perplexities overwhelming. As the controller of a vast system, I have two fruitful options: Either to act the benevolent despot or to play the benevolent democrat. Wither role taxes to the utmost one’s capacity and one’s patience. The joy of un- divided power is intoxicating. Tem- peramentally, all powerful persons in- cline to tyranny, tho they never speak of their control so brutally. They call it superiority, leadership, diplomacy. Observe how irresistible is the tempta- tion to aspire to dictatorship in a sys- tem so huge and impersonal that no human bonds span the gaps between superior and inferior. There is a human law of responsi- bility which reads: Human beings are Tfesponsible only to those who can Benevolent Feudalism in Education (SUPERINTENDENT IN CHIEF CONFESSES) grant reciprocal adyantages for fa- vors received. Inferiors, by their very position, must be ignored by their superiors. Not until inferiors can bestow or withhold privileges do they invoke the responses of genuine responsibility. Men who can seriously profit or seriously suffer by their reciprocal relationships know the debts of re- sponsibility periodically due from bor- humanitarianism is at home educational barracks. Hence it comes about that the head of a school system is immeasurably more concerned about the opinions and desires of his intimate coterie of fellow-manipulators than he is with the equally imperious and valid de- sires of the teaching body, too remote from the centers of authority to be interesting. But, as chief, one must in our i | i “ai CONGRESS OF RUSSIAN COMMUNIST PARTY rower to lender, from temporary in- solvent to solvent. The law of re- sponsibility is the law of mutual ad- vantage. Only a brilliant humanitarian can be expected to exhibit toward official inferiors as tender and thoughtful a solicitude as he perforce must mani- fest toward his scheming equals. Bril- liant humanitarians do not flourish in school systems. Neither brilliancy nor at least appear to be impartial and vitally concerned. What to do? Benevolent despots solve the dilem- ma by politely ignoring their inferiors in all matters requiring judgment, power, prestige, exceptional ability, unique knowledge, and by pretending to need theiv assistance in the solu- tion of the “moral” problems of edu- cation. Isn't it noticeable that teach- ers are forever being haranged on By a Teacher the meaningless themes of duty, loyal- ty, self-sacrifice, self-education, “high- er” consideration, and never enlight- ened on the strategic problems of power, administration, collective effi- ciency, aspiration, the rights to think and agitate and revise? In short, to be perilously blunt, benevolent autocrats wield power, but encourage their subordinates to be content with their own lofty influence. The compromise between substance and shadow works admirably. The few do as they pleace; the many talk (and usually, not as they please, either). The essence of successful power is to get people to’believe in you even when you don’t believe in them. The situation is not a lovely one tho it does operate quite well in practice. (Continued on page 6.) eee?