[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Case Study of the Department of Education
There are a number of different reasons for the shift to mayoral takeovers of the public schools. We examine here several definitions of the problems in urban education during the time when the institutional choices for mayoral control were being made, including bureaucratic dysfunction, decreasing faith in existing governance structures, the new demands placed on mayors and urban governments, and the perceived need for direct mayoral involvement in schools. In addition, we consider the increased pressure these problems have placed on mayors, the use of enhanced mayoral power as the solution to these problems, and the idea of a "new breed" of city mayors who can take on issues such as education. (Theodore Lowi)
During the years 1890-1920, progressive reformers operated on the assumption that professional bureaucracy would guarantee efficiency, accountability, and neutrality. However, critics point out that professional bureaucracy often leads to the very inefficiency and political power without accountability that reformers had sought to eradicate. Professional education bureaucracies can create unanticipated consequences and tensions between written rules and reliance on expertise. In many cases, these conflicts can lead to near paralysis. For example, the inability of dysfunctional city education systems even to provide adequate school facilities was illustrated in a 1997 analysis of Washington, D.C.( Theodore Lowi)
Ironically, this sad state of affairs can be viewed as the legacy of reforms enacted at the turn of the century by progressives who favored executive centralization. That model makes the flexible responses that education requires almost impossible, generating instead the red tape associated with rigidity and dysfunction. At the school level, bureaucratic routines often become a way to protect authority and to deal with inadequate resources, but this typically occurs at the expense of innovation and productivity. Indeed, bureaucracy may create "trained incapacity," or an inability to think beyond narrow specialized roles....
This essay has the followings:
Total words: 3,181
Total reference: 10
Total price: £ 49.95
Click here to Order this essay!
Get Professionally written Essays that are:
• Written According to your Exact Requirements
• 100% Original and Non-Plagiarized
• Written by Expert
UK Writers
• Delivered to you before your deadline
Amazingly Low Prices - £9.95/page
