When viewing human lives over decades or even lifetimes, hindsight shows that contradictions or hypocrisies most impact those whose actions embody them although the consequences are often first felt by students and teachers. There is an eventual price to pay whenever authority is abusive or misdirected, and the abuse or misdirection may still go unrecognized despite life-threatening crises that signal all is not well internally. The credibility gap that we fail to address in the present tends to grow and become more difficult to confront tomorrow, and when it has become multi-generational, it puts the greatest burden on the next generation. At stake, in the meantime, is the integrity, credibility, and effectiveness of the learning institution itself.
Small actions can carry big messages.
To amplify the hypocrisy that abounds within administrations only adds to deeper cynicism among students. Teachers find themselves in the middle of the credibility gap and often become unwilling accomplices of the misdirection of administrators. Being enablers of poorly conceived or poorly implemented policy erodes motivation and commitment in everyone who is on campus for more than mere credits or paycheck fattening. Excellence has no fear of observation, but neither does mediocrity, so long as it can present an acceptable facade. Insufficient preparation, unnecessary delays, cancellations, disruptions, and inconveniences such as inadequate notice take a toll on student and teacher motivation and goal-achievement.