The Principalship

By Mildred Collins Blackman and Leslie T. Fenwick

Years ago, the noted anthropologist Harry F. Wolcott wrote a book called The Man in the Principal's Office describing the day-to-day activities of one 1960s-era elementary school principal, Ed Bell. From his morning cup of coffee at home to the final ringing of the school bell in the afternoon, we witness the mundane routines of a schoolman.

History tells us that the past is prologue, or, in more colloquial terms, that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Today's public schools and those who lead them may be a lot like those of Principal Bell's day, but, at the same time, they are quite different.

The student population, for example, is more diverse now than it ever has been. Approximately 36 percent of the nation's students are categorized as members of minority groups (primarily African-American or Hispanic). Statisticians predict that by 2004, that figure will increase to 55 percent. In some schools, 90 percent or more of the students speak a first language other than English, often Spanish. Ten percent of the nation's schoolchildren are...