Do Or Die

By David Ruenzel

One tenet, though, sounds revolutionary even today: "If individuals do not learn, then those assigned to be their teachers should accept responsibility for this failure and take appropriate remedial action."

By shifting the educational burden from student to teacher and suggesting that teachers are always culpable if their students do not learn, this tenet, perhaps more than anything else, paved the way for reconstitution in San Francisco. It is why one central administrator, referring to teachers at Mission High, says, "I have no sympathy for that 'ain't-it-awful' group. If they believe in the tenets, they ought to get back into the classroom and teach the kids. But if their attitude is, 'You come out here and try to teach these kids,' then they ought to find different work."

Bonnie Bergum, who became principal of Malcolm X Elementary when it was reconstituted in 1984, has the tenets framed on her wall. "Everything we do coheres around the tenets," she says. "Even after all these years, we still reflect on them and evaluate ourselves on how well we follow them. The tenets remind us that we're not in the excuse-making business. I just don't have much sympathy for teachers who say, 'Oh,...