The Purpose of a System is What it Does

The great cybernetician, Stafford Beer, coined the phrase, “the purpose of a system is what it does.” What we wish it did lies in the realm of visioning and strategy formation. What a system does can be expressed in terms of its recurring and onetime outputs as well as its key processes. So, the purpose of a school, for example, is to produce both graduates and dropouts, because these are clearly outputs of the system. We may wish or prefer that the school only produce graduates, but until we gain a clear view of what a system really does, we are impotent to change it.

Here’s an article from ABC News that says 10% of the high schools in the US are ‘dropout factories.’ In this article the author is defining a dropout factory as one in which no more than 60% of the students that start the school actually finish (graduate).

I had read at some point that the dropout rate in the US was around 30% (I can’t remember the source of that). That figure may be significantly influenced by schools that are mentioned here in this article – but whatever the figure actually is educators must come to terms with the fact that schools as we know them today produce a significant amount of students that do not finish.

1 in 10 Schools Are ‘Dropout Factories’
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD AP Education Writer • WASHINGTON Oct 30, 2007 (AP)
It’s a nickname no principal could be proud of: “Dropout Factory,” a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That dubious distinction applies to more than one in 10 high schools across America.

In my humble opinion one of the ways to improve these numbers is to make the education system and schools more engaging and connected to the rest of life. The following brief story gives a good example of making schools engaging and meeting young people where they are while at the same time increasing enthusiasm for learning.

This article shows a great example of doing just that:

Hip Hop High: Rhythm and Lyrics Teach Everything from English to Algebra
The musical language of the street has new fans: teachers, who are using it as a classroom tool. • by Eric Hellweg
Like many sixteen-year-olds, Amir Ali spends a lot of time after school talking with friends about sports, girls, and music — specifically, hip-hop music. But last year, during his sophomore year at Lynwood High School, in Lynwood, California, Ali noticed a drastic shift in these spirited afternoon after-school conversations.

Improve, Change or Redesign Schools?