An article by Dr. Josie Ahlquist, 25 Higher Education Presidents to Follow on Twitter, examines the Twitter style of university presidents that allows a peek at leadership perspectives. Most of the presidents selected employ Greenleaf's (1977) servant leadership model, hyping student and program accomplishments and being the face of the university. Some go beyond that paradigm to be transformative, advocating for change and leading values discussions (Gardner, 2005). Even fewer presidents demonstrate servant and transformative and authentic leadership that cheerleads their campuses, pushes for positive change, and displays themselves transparently as fallible humans.
What is education for? You may have different answers whether you are a parent, teacher, business owner, college student, but the answers are not merely based upon your role. Philosophy determines perspective, and ultimately, policy, when street-level bureaucrats implement policy through their philosophical lens. A recent article in The Week, “The value of education is not what you think” by Jeff Spross (2019) relates how two different philosophies of education, human capital and signaling, result in quite disparate national educational policy. The human capital theory argues that education increases earnings because it adds knowledge and skills to workers, making them more valuable as employees. Signaling theory counters that idea with research showing that education is much more valuable as degrees that signal employers the employee has what it takes in intelligence, perseverance, and economic and social resources. Human capital argues that education develops employees; signaling a...
If you want to see a great example of a president cheerleading their campus via twitter - check out https://twitter.com/TitanPrezVirjee
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reflections on leadership as related to this Twitter article. I appreciate the perspective you share and the insights into these presidents and their leadership models.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a good thing to see technology get used to it's full potential. So many people talk about the dangers of social media and why people should stay away from it. These presidents are clearly demonstrating how the technology can be used for good.
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