Mario Degiorgio, Msida
Colleges need new ideas
The education system in Malta is now based on a number of colleges, 10 in all. These colleges cater for the education of our children, from kinder to secondary level. The system has a number of advantages but also disadvantages.
As the system stands at present, the principal of a particular college can occupy the post till he retires. It should be perfected in a way that every three years a principal of one college moves to another, generating new ideas into the other colleges.
Certain colleges have gained a higher reputation than others. Some parents, wanting the best for their children, try to do their utmost even changing their address in order to enrol their children into a particular college.
There are two to three main colleges always in the news while it seems as if the others do not exist! This is not fair. One should bear in mind that one of the main ingredients for the success of a particular college is the principal’s aggressiveness. Principals act as coordinators; they depend on various other governmental departments for the needs of their schools. Some are not as aggressive as others and this tends to show in the success of the college as a whole.
New blood generates new ideas!
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Pule' Carmel
Oct 25th 2011, 23:40
Mr Degiorgio. "One should bear in mind that one of the main ingredients for the success of a particular college is the principal’s aggressiveness". So are the ingredients of a lion tamer in a circus, or if he in not agresive in real life, he must at least act agressive. Agressive towards what, the building, the contractors, the teachers or the pupils? That type of establishment is ususally reserved for criminals in a prison and there were so many films depicting an agressive management in a prison or a prisoner of war camp or a slave camp
This is all wrong in an educational establishment. Modern management indicates that all people must be made to realize that they are part of the system and they must love what they do, Steve Jobs of Apple has just passed away and his philosophy was that each individual must be, " Loving what he is doing" and they let him get on with it. If we are to be agressive we must be agressive with ourselves and no one else.
If I had my way, I would modify colleges by adding a few statues here and there depicting a thought. I would suggest that every college would have at its entry a large fountain where everybody can have a drink, with a caption describing some philosophy of education.
"College is like a fountain of knowledge - and the students are there to drink "
" you can take a horse to water but you cannot make him drink"
Most of our educational establishments including the University and MCAST are void of such an atmosphere which tends to sooth and condolidate the people who walk in them. Unfortunately our architects have not the slightest idea how to consolidate the minds of people who walk the corridors of the building that house education. As I see it , it is the buildings that are agressive andit is us who need to tame them through depicting the right artistic ingredients which transfer the educaion ," in silence" as Ludvic Wittgenstein once said, " That what we cannot transfer to other is language we must do it in silence!" Now that is good management and not selecting Principals for their agressiveness, those types should be shot or transfered to running a prison for criminals and even that seems to be changing these days.
I suppose what we need are good parents, good teachers and we will not even need principals to run colleges.