Expectations of a New Principal
Nadezhda Shurkova
[about]
For a long time our schools have been dreaming of a new type of principal. Traditionally, principals excluded themselves from the realm of children’s moral education because there was always a vice-principal responsible for all aspects of curricular and extracurricular activities. Lately these activities have been transformed into pure entertainment.
Until recently, we had to accept the fact that a principal could not dominate the sphere of education. The process of real education was left behind by the professional necessities of schooling. The necessity of caring about students was also left behind. Instead educators became involved in the process of “filling” the minds of future citizens with purely scientific information.
Today, looking at the results of our carelessness over the last twenty years, we have come full circle in our understanding that moral education and character development are the primary professional responsibilities of our schools. We are back to square one.