The School Administrator and Policy-Making FunctionAdministration and Policy-Making in Education. John Walton

Abstract

Today, when thousands of books and articles are published weekly and the frontiers of knowledge are constantly changing, how can the professions maintain a body of knowledge that is both clearly defined and up to date? Even in the course of an individual's professional training, knowledge becomes obsolete, and the frontiers of one specialty cross the boundaries of others. In writing about the more dynamic concepts of knowledge now emerging and their implications for the medical profession, Peter Drucker noted in an article in Harper's Magazine for August, 1957, that virtually every experienced teacher of medicine I know wonders whether the young medical school graduate of today-the very one who gets 'the best medical education the world has to offer' is as well taught and as well prepared as his much more ignorant predecessor of thirty years ago. Professional training programs in administration are buttressed by less tradition and less crystallized theory than training programs in other more established professions like medicine. One reason for this condition stems from the fact that professional training pro-