The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 TO BE FREE AND EQUAL 295quelled the panic about to start, hesent out crews to fight fires, he organizedrescue squads to get aid tothe injured, he put men at workclearing paths for the fire trucksand ambulances which he summoned.The professor concluded his lecturea few minutes early and leftthe room. I followed him to hisoffice. "Look," I said, "I want tohear the rest of the story. Wasn'tthe manager fired; didn't the dispatcherget a promotion?""Of course not," he said. "Thedispatcher,' when it was all over,was still a dispatcher. That washis job. The plant manager wasstill the manager. Why not? Hehad a Ph.D. in chemistry and aMaster's in Business Administra-,tion. He earned his position byten years of university study, tenyears of management training,and 'know-how' that saved thecompany ten million dollars everyyear. Both men were in their economicpositions of their own freechoice. Only in folklore would thedispatcher be jumped precipitouslyto the office of vice-president asthe disgraced manager wasstripped of his executive washroomkey and drummed in disgraceout of the company's gates.In industry prospective managerschoose to become and become highsalaried managers because theytake on a responsibility to drivethemselves toward that ambition.""I doubt that I'm that ambitious,nI told him."Neither am I," he said. "Iknow. it and I'd rather be here inthe university. But there .is animportant point that you and I,the less intensely ambitious people,must remember: it's morallydishonest and intellectually shallowfor us to blame anybody butourselves for the responsibility ofour choices."Self-Respect Comes FirstThree hundred years ago thephilosopher, John Locke, told us:'"He that would have his son havea respect for him and his orders,must himself have a great reverencefor his son." Whenever Ipoint the finger of scorn at myfellows I am acutely aware of thethree remaining fingers pointingback to me. We who have chosento work in the nation's schools areguilty three-fold in denying studentsfreedom to choose. Wearbitrarilydetermine performancelevels for them; we defend ourlegal public monopoly of pedagogicalservices; and we demand compulsoryattendance laws. Perhapswe need a greater reveren~e forthe business we are in and ahealthier confidence in our performance.Although contemporary legal decisionshave weakened the educa-