Images are powerful. They shape behavior. Advertising, politics, and television document the potency of the pictures we have in our heads. The principalship is no exception. Embedded in the origins and history of the post, images of what a principal should be have competed for attention from each generation of would-be administrators. Principal as Bureaucrat and Principal as Instructional Supervisor are dominant images that have fueled debate over the nature of the position over the last century.