Schools are not Businesses, but they should innovate like them.

I came across a line from The Quick and the Ed that said 15 percent of the original 500 companies listed on the S&P 500 in 1957 still exist today as independent companies.  How many of our schools from 1957 are still operating today?  

I would be willing to bet that a lot more than 15 percent of the schools from 1957 are still operating today.  I think The Quick and the Ed were trying to make the point that innovation and change are good things and schools should operate the same way.  That is competition should help some succeed and others fail.

I want to take that idea in a slightly different direction.  I think the real issue is that teaching methods and styles have not drastically changed since 1957.  That is the innovation and change that we need.  The schools themselves can keep their names, but it is what happens on the inside that really matters.