Author丨Yin Tao is the principal of Yaojia School in Lijiang Old Town
On May 20, the video of "girls being slapped and bullied" in Danzhu No. 1 Middle School in Changzi County attracted attention. The relevant departments acted quickly and announced the result: the principal of Danzhu No. 1 Middle School was dismissed.
Student bullying and dismissal of the principal are a bit "unprecedented". It turned out that the pot that the teacher carried was now thrown directly to the principal.
The intent is clear: the situation is grim, and the headmaster has to be put under a tight spell.
On April 26 this year, the Ministry of Education, together with the Ministry of Public Security and other departments, held a national video conference on the safety of primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. The meeting mentioned that a "doxxing" survey would be carried out for all primary and secondary schools.
Strengthen education and punishment measures, improve accountability mechanisms, and point fingers at campus bullying!
The situation is getting worse and worse, and it is time to take the principal's flag. The principal should have hit the muzzle of the gun this time.
Students beating people or teachers doing their own actions, causing public opinion to roar, and dismissing the principal as soon as possible has almost become the standard formula for handling such incidents.
Although it is said that the dismissal of the principal, calming down the people's grievances, and preventing the fermentation of public opinion may be a shot in the arm and can be saved for a while, but the stamina is too great, and I am afraid that there will be evil consequences.
Putting the line of defense on the campus and placing the responsibility on the principal is probably not a foolproof solution. As soon as bullying occurs and the Internet is exposed, you have to cry and cut the horse, how many principals' hearts will be chilled?
Besides, how many tools does the school have at their disposal to punish school bullying? In compulsory education, schools do not even have the right to expel them. Under the pressure of "controlling dropouts and guaranteeing education", as long as students do not commit serious criminal offenses, schools have to carry around and coax.
As soon as school bullying occurs, the principal is dismissed, and the problem cannot be solved. Not only will it not solve the problem, but the possible consequence will be that it will be concealed and not reported.
Once such a practice becomes the norm, the excitement of work will not be on the students, but on how to keep the "official hat". When principals become a high-risk industry, a greater secondary disaster in education is coming.
And just after I wrote a commentary article about the "dismissal of the principal", a principal in a certain place in Sichuan sent me a private message, ready to "take the initiative to resign".
He said that he "read the article and was deeply moved, and it just happened that he wrote a book that he was ready to hand in."
Compared with the threat of "dismissal" from higher departments, the principal's voluntary resignation makes people have mixed feelings.
What does it mean to resign unsolicited? I won't play with you anymore, bye bye.
Although the principal is not an official, after all, he has also been cultivated through thousands of tempers. In the cultural environment of teaching and excellence, the principal is regarded as the best among teachers, and he is also a cultural person in the local area, and even a cultural celebrity. Resources, connections, and social circles are all good, and there is no problem in living a nourishing life.
Principal, how many people can't ask for a position, why don't you do it?
Ma Yun said that there are many reasons for employees to resign, and only two are the most real: the money is not in place; The heart is wronged. It boils down to one thing: it's not a good job.
The principal is not happy to do a good job, and the salary is not low, that is, "the heart is wronged".
In the past few years, I only know that teachers have complained about the heavy burden, the incomplete forms, the incomplete cards, and the endless campuses that the ministries and commissions have entered. As the head of a school, what grievances can the existence of the "number one" suffer?
The resigning principal sent me a private message:
It is difficult for grassroots principals, especially rural principals, to be embarrassed. With the process of urbanization, urban schools have developed unicorn-like, and rural schools have been hollowed out regardless of funding and teachers. It's no wonder that the remaining teachers lie flat, they are passively lying flat under the current conditions.
As a principal, I don't have to do business and other non-teaching chores. And at every turn, what department intervenes in the investigation, and a huge campus can't fit a quiet desk.
When talking about practical difficulties, I will tell you about policies; When talking about policy, I will tell you about the pattern; When I talk about the pattern feelings, I will tell you about the difficulties...... In a word, the first person responsible!
One movement at a time, one rectification at a time, and one special treatment at a time...... Tired of coping, suffering teachers, suffering themselves, sorry children, sorry parents, sorry conscience, how good it is to be a serious teacher.
To sum up: I can't see hope, I can't stand the toss, and I deviate from my original intention.
I asked him: Are there many such principals on your side? He said:
There are many rural principals who think like this, but everyone just tacitly understands it.
Rural schools have now become chicken ribs, tasteless food, and unwilling to abandon them! In fact, there is a similar situation not only in rural education, but also in health care.
The principal said, "Maybe I'm a frog at the bottom of the well, and it's a bit unfounded. I don't know what the situation is like in other regions."
As far as I know the principals of some developed areas, especially those of ordinary public schools, life is not easy: the source of students has been harvested by private schools and hot schools, and the rest are few and weak; The aging of teachers is serious, and the Education Bureau does not provide staff; The mentality of teachers lying flat is common, and there are few responses to school reform, and there are many resistances.
The director of the education bureau is often transferred from other departments, and the layman leads the insider, ranking the school according to the score, rewarding the high and punishing the low. Now there are more "safe" high-voltage lines, and the congress will threaten and intimidate, and even name the public.
The principal was under a lot of pressure under several "big mountains" and lived in fear.
And many principals, who are in the prime of life, can't exert all their strength, so they can only smile bitterly: "Is there any way?" Don't make a mess, stay up until retirement. ”
In 2015, a teacher's resignation letter exploded on the Internet. The 10 words "the world is so big, I want to see it" are hailed as the "most emotional" resignation letter.
Nine years later, the principal's resignation letter was more helpless and painful than the teacher's free and easy and banter.
Intoxicated with work for more than 20 years, hard work, dare to have a heart of slackness! But the business has not improved, and the passion is gradually disappearing. And tired of useless chores for a long time!
Achievements or no performance, no merit and suffering. Standing up, not confused, not filial piety, ridiculous godson! Shame shame shame! Now that I think about it, I am not good for the school or harmful to myself because of my burnout, so I resign from the position of principal.
The words are short, subtle and restrained, but between the lines are gloomy displeasure, unwillingness and resentment!
Words and sentences, how many times have you been entangled and wandering, sighing and even "staying up" at night!
When he put pen to paper, he would not have imagined that he was high-spirited and had the original mission; You can't imagine the hardships and eventful years along the way; You can't imagine that so many teachers and students are still on campus.
He would not have imagined the series of effects that handing over this resignation letter would have on himself and his family.
In traditional Chinese culture, there has always been the gene of "if you are good, you will help the world, and if you are poor, you will be good alone", which is also what Confucius said, "Chen Li is in the ranks, and those who can't stop it".
Advance and retreat, birth or accession, are all trade-offs between individuals and society in the game.
Whether it is Li Bai who "An Neng broke his eyebrows and bent his waist to make me unhappy", or Tao Yuanming, who was unwilling to bend his waist for five buckets of rice, they all interpreted a spirit of quiet and self-control. is like the lyrics of "Words of Return":
Returning, the countryside will not return? Both self-conscious and self-serving, melancholy and sad? Realize that the past is not admonished, and those who know the future can be traced. It's not far away, and I feel that today is but yesterday is not.
Resignation is not a lie, but a return. "Tired of coping, suffering the teacher and suffering himself, sorry for the children, sorry for the parents, sorry for the conscience, how good it is to be a serious teacher."
Perhaps, the resignation of the principal is precisely the adherence to the original intention.
Another naked relict came to mind: Chen Xingjia. He left the scene gloomily with the crown of "National Excellent County Party Secretary", there was a conflict of interest and personality, and his final choice was very "Chen Xingjia".
Although I have never met that principal, I can read between the lines that he should be a qualified principal with talent, responsibility, justice and dedication.
But perhaps because of this, it is worth pondering: what went wrong?
The resigned principal is gone, will the successor be better than him? Will the problem be solved?
In the position of the principal, there are many corpse vegetarians, and even flies and dogs. They lay on this chair, ready to sit down forever.
And the real principal should be morally beautiful, well-educated, and a celebrity in society, at least a clear stream, and an existence of light.
A good principal is a good school. Tao Xingzhi's assertion was established back then and is still true today.
With a good principal, the school has at least a good atmosphere, and the management can "raise the muzzle of the gun by one centimeter"; The school may not be so good that it is not so bad that it has no bottom line.
There is nothing for a principal to resign, and the most feared thing is to trigger a domino effect.
If more and more principals with feelings choose to leave, and more and more excellent teachers are unwilling to become principals, it will inevitably cause the effect of "bad money drives out good money".
The principal can continue to be a teacher, be alone, take the right path, and be a good person. But their influence is not comparable to that of the principal.
Some mediocre and incompetent people, who rely on the background to ascend to the throne of the principal, are a disaster for the majority of teachers and students. What will schools look like in the long run?
The yellow bell was destroyed, and the tile kettle thundered.
Without light in the headmaster's eyes, the world is dark.
The principal is lying flat, can the majority of teachers and students still stand?
When a principal resigns, how many principals are still "in their positions, and their hearts are like trees"?
It is hoped that the relevant departments will pay attention to this phenomenon, correct this phenomenon, and support the principals who "want to do things and can do things" to "do things and achieve great things".
Don't go through the suffering of others, don't persuade others to be kind. And respect the choice of the resigned principal, and also advise those principals who are temporarily sitting in their positions, do not forget their original intentions!
You can enforce the rules, but don't help them; You can respect your superiors, but you can't flatter your tail; It's okay not to tell the truth, but don't lie a lot.
Because you're the headmaster, you're the captain at the helm!
Source: 丨Xingzhi Yin Tao, Editor-in-charge, 丨Huang Yaoting, American Editor丨Zhang Tianyu