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The term “headmaster” is a
synonym for principal teacher, an antiquated name
that has been reduced to the principal with which we
are all so familiar. It is important to note that
the word master refers not to the man’s or to the
woman’s rank, but to his mastery of subject matter.
In short, “master” means teacher.
In the past, the headmaster was
the teacher who headed the school. The management
revolution that followed World War II continued a
process that the Industrial Revolution of the late
19th century had begun by which educators
reduced the headmaster’s responsibility to that of
an administrator. We can see this in the
bureaucratic structures of schools and in the
substitution of the relatively abstract and empty
term “principal” for headmaster.
We believe it is a serious
mistake to reduce the position of headmaster to
administrator, not because we do not value
administration (no school can succeed without it),
but because the administrator and the head of school
fulfill separate functions.
It follows that if the head of
school is the administrator, no one is fulfilling
the functions of the head of school.
To see the difference, consider
that many people feel one can be an effective
administrator without ever having taught well (and
schools often hire accordingly), but almost no one
would suggest that one can be an effective head of
school if he is not also an effective and gifted
teacher: thus, head master.
In addition, an
administrator can be a specialist, at least
theoretically; a headmaster must be a generalist,
with a solid balance of the mind and heart, reason
and intuition, left and right brain.
In short, then, the headmaster
is the teacher (and he or she must be a teacher,
whether in the classroom or not) who leads the
school community.
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