Title: Advisory Committees: Cheerleading or Quality Control?
Abstract: The major question regarding committees has always seemed to be: What is an committee supposed to do? This question usually generates various answers. A review of this issue of The Magazine will reveal a variety of viewpoints. It is interesting to note that the words advisory and are located together in the dictionary. Advisory is defined as an act of advising, careful consideration, deliberation and recommendations regarding a decision. Advocacy is defined as a process of supporting or pleading a cause. In the dictionary, the word precedes the word advocacy. Isn't that the way it should be in using committees? Advisory committees are first and foremost e.g. they listen, gather input, deliberate, decide and recommend. Eventually, the efforts of the committee may lead to advocacy. But if advocacy becomes the primary reason for an committee it ceases to have as much credibility or objectivity. It's more like cheerleading as opposed to quality control. If the committee is appointed by the school board or other institutional authority, as it should be, quality control is the goal. Advocacy will take its proper place as quality results come out of the program. Giving advice is challenging work. Giving advice seems to imply that someone knows something about the matter under discussion. Therein lies the challenge. What is it that the members of the committee know and about which they offer advice? My agricultural committee members told me they did not want to be asked what should be taught in agriculture or how it should be taught. One member boldly asked me how I got a teaching license if I couldn't decide the answers to those questions. Maybe it was the way I asked the question, but these committee members made it clear that they were not curriculum and methods experts. They knew a lot about the diverse agriculture in the area and they knew how to acquire resources, but the degree to which different topics should be taught and how they should be taught should be the job of the agriculture teacher to determine. I learned to appreciate this perspective and made adjustments to my initial thoughts about committees. It was a valuable lesson. It became clear that the best approach to use the committee would be to seek input and reaction to departmental, curriculum and FFA/SAE goals, short and long term plans and selected activities. …
Publication Year: 2003
Publication Date: 2003-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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