Thoughts on Shawn's McKinsey blog

Shawn,
You make such great points, especially that:
-- teachers should get paid sabbaticals
-- GOOD administrators need to be a priority, not just good teachers (I experienced a principal who observed me on the last day of school for five minutes, standing in the doorway, and then expected me to sign off on his evaluation.)
-- students suffer when teachers are granted unconditional tenure (every year, when I assign a characterization, the same social studies teacher gets parodied "anonymously", of course)
-- observing a variety of classrooms, not just within one's subject area, as you did as a WASC member, is invaluable. I'm a BTSA mentor and learn as much if not more from my mentees as they learn from me.
-- class size is crucial. Our freshman English classes are capped at 20, making risk taking, participation and conferencing about writing much easier. I like your "tipping point" of 25. The dynamics really change -- feels much less safe and there's much less accountability -- over 25.
You sound like a sharp, dynamic teacher! Have a great time in Argentina! Dina