Voices
has not been implicated at all in
these misrepresentations. The
news organizations will kick Emory around for a week or so and
then move on to something else.
It’s certainly a sad day for this
great university, but it will recover quickly, and it has done the
right thing by coming forward.
But back to my central question. Why in the world would
highly respected and well-trained
professionals do something like
this? Just a couple years ago,
Atlantans asked themselves the
same question about the “cheating scandal” in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) that cost the
Superintendent, as well as hundreds of others in the system,
their jobs. I know the Superintendent well, along with many
other administrators who were
also forced out. The ones I knew
best are all good people.
I still do not believe there was
an organized, system-wide conspiracy that directed employees
to cheat on statewide tests. I have
seen no evidence of that, even
three years later. Some teachers
were just plain cheating. Some
principals did the same. There
were examples of absolutely outrageous behavior that deserved
LAWRENCE
SCHALL
HUFFINGTON
09.09.12
the harshest punishment. The
behavior of many others who have
been accused, though, fell short of
what I would label cheating.
Those details aside, what I believe did happen was that a lot
of people, including leadership,
became focused on reaching a set
of numbers that in the end have
far less meaning than we ascribe
to them. Rewards were based on
achieving those numbers, and
severe federal and
state punishments
descended upon
A lot of
APS for failing to
people became
hit those numbers.
focused on
When so much is at
reaching a set
stake and the wrong
of numbers
things are being
that in the end
measured, even good
have far less
people will begin to
meaning than
bend the truth.
we ascribe
Misaligned incento them.”
tives can bring down
any institution. Consider all the criminal activity
that’s occurred in the financial
industry over the last decade. It’s
easy to say that all these folks
were just crooks, but I think the
bigger problem lies with the system. And this is harder to tackle.
An industry that used to reward
people for long-term results ben-