Producing tomorrow’s leaders is a tall claim for any school to make, but increasing schools and colleges are citing the production of ‘leaders’ and the inculcation of “leadership traits” as one of the salient selling points of their establishment.
But before parents get enamoured of the idea of the school turning their little Rajiv or Raveena into a ‘leader’ it would be wise if they asked the school what kind of ‘Leader’ the school aims to turn out? True leaders come in all shapes and sizes and very few of them are the product of formal education.
Would you really want your child to have the same educational achievement, learning, attitudes, eloquence, of the ‘leader of the free world’ George Bush? No? But he is a graduate of both Yale and Harvard? What about Sir Winston Churchill? He too went to an expensive school but he was incapable of school work and only got to college because of his father’s connections. He was also a manic depressive, and an alcoholic.
Maybe your hero in the leadership stakes is a successful business leader. Here you have many role models that you can consider. Unfortunately many of them did not complete, or did poorly in their education. The most innovative successful businessman was probably Howard Hughes. He was a university drop-out and a true multi-market leader. Not only did he amass one of the biggest fortunes of all time, he was also responsible for many technical innovations, not least of which was the seamless bra. Sadly, poor Howard was quite cuckoo, and ended up naked and alone in a hotel room covered with tissue paper. And before you rush to give your child the ‘leadership’ education of someone like the squeaky clean entrepreneur Bill Gates, remember that he too was a college drop out….
Maybe you’d like your child to be a leader in the Arts? Now, here you have to be very, very careful. Picasso was probably the greatest artistic leader of the 20th century and he hardly ever attended school. He was dyslexic, hated school and preferred to spend his time fishing, drawing, painting, and chasing girls.
What about a musical leader? The Beatles all hated school, Bob Dylan also thought school and college positively harmful. Michael Jackson didn’t go to school, and Elvis left early to drive a truck. You can also be sure that the musicians who led us to the blues, Jazz, Reggae, Punk, and Hip-Hop were not the products of formal schooling, and the classical composers were mainly the products of home-tutoring.
What about a literary leader. Forget Shakespeare, there is no evidence he went to school at all! Mark Twain thought formal education was more deadly than “soap and water”, and Charles Dickens was working ten hours a day at 12 years of age in Warren's boot-blacking factory.
Perhaps you’d like your child to be a leader in the social sector. Here you might take the Shakespearean advice and tell her “get thee to a nunnery” since that worked for Mother Teresa, or surround your son with monks in a monastery.
Tall claims are always made by schools about their inculcation of leadership qualities, but research has shown that leadership is most emphatically related to parental situation and status. It’s you who will determine if they become a leader - not the school!
