McDonald's or Burger King?

If you were to walk into a McDonald's, saunter up to the counter, and casually ask for a...Whopper, what kind of a response do you suppose you'd receive from the gal behind the counter? Okay, maybe that's a little too blunt. Let's put a finer point on it.

Suppose you walked into the same McDonald's and asked for a Big Mac, but you also requested that the kitchen hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, hold the special sauce, and add extra onions. Would you be surprised to hear the gal behind the counter say, "Um...Where do you think you are...Burger King?"

You see, McDonald's is very straight up the middle about what they sell: a Big Mac has two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. You order a Big Mac, you know that's what you're going to get, and they don't take special orders. Likewise, if you go into Burger King and ask for a Whopper, by all means, tell 'em to hold the onions! They invite you to. And because these two establishments are up front about their products and services, I have no cause for complaint if I walk into McDonald's and find I can't have it my way.

I find this analogy very helpful in the school business as well. At school, I tell you what the school has to offer, what it doesn't have to offer, what the tuition is, what the fees are, who your teachers are; we publish the curriculum and encourage parents to read it. I encourage parents to come to school programs and sit in on classes so they can see what's going on. So that, when someone comes to me and says, "You're teaching six-day creationism? Don't you realize the scientific difficulties with that?" or "All of your teachers don't have degrees in their fields. That's a problem," I address their concerns, of course, but at the end of the day, if they believe that my answers are unsatisfactory, or that their children are receiving an inferior education..."Hey! You're in McDonald's! Burger King is down the street!"

I mean, seriously. Have I been deceptive with these folks? Aren't our teachers' bios on our website? Isn't our curriculum published and on display in the main office? Even if they don't want to buy a copy, all they have to do is ask to borrow one, and they can know everything they want to know about what it is we teach. We have no secrets! We tell no lies! Purchase the service or don't, but why stay and demand that it be something I never said it was going to be in the first place?

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not talking about bringing me legitimate concerns, or bringing something to my attention that you think might be out of order. If you think there's a better way to grade math facts, I want to hear about it. If you think our students are not supplied with enough leadership opportunities, let me know what other ones you'd like to see. Some of the best ideas for improvement come from parents, teachers, and even the students themselves. (Who ever said that I was the fount of all good ideas?!)

What I'm talking about is the determination to demand something that the service provider (in this case, a school) never remotely suggested you were going to get if you purchased that service.

I guess what I'm talking about is the moral superiority of freedom. I have the freedom to build a school according to what I think a good school ought to be. You have the freedom to purchase that service, or go find another one that better suits you. By all means, tell me if the bathroom needs cleaning, or if the mustard and ketchup dispensers are empty. But if you want Buddy's Southern Fried Chicken to serve you falafel, or if you want the Christian school to provide you with teachers who value state certification as proof of good teaching...you might be in the wrong place.

Is it bad of me to suggest such?