The Good, The Bad and Me

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Moral Purpose

• The Good, The Bad and Me

Kevin Crowther For EAD 801 Professor Nancy
Colflesh
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What is Moral Purpose

• Moral Purpose is a term coined by Michael Fullan
  in his book Leading in a Culture of Change.

Moral Purpose the intention to make a positive
difference in the lives of individuals such as
employees, clients and society as a whole.
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Michael Fullan on Moral Purpose

• In addition to the direct goal of making a
  difference in the lives of students, moral
  purpose plays a larger role in transforming and
  sustaining system change.

Within the organization, how leaders treat all
others is also a component of moral purpose.
Moral purpose means acting with the intention of
making a positive difference in the (social)
environment.
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Fullan on Moral Purpose (cont.)

• Moral purpose means closing the gap between high
  performing schools and lower performing schools
  high performing and lower performing students, by
  raising the level of achievement of all, while
  closing the gap. This is the only way for large
  scale, sustainable reform to occur and it is
  moral purpose of the highest order.

Moral purpose is more than passionate teachers
trying to make a difference in their classrooms.
It's also the context of the school and district
in which they work. That means principals have to
be almost as concerned about the success of other
schools in the district as they are about their
own schools.
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Whose Moral Purpose?

• Fullan talks of "moral purpose", but he is
  noticeably ambiguous about what he means.

Moral purpose sets decision-making in a
framework of values that take the wider community
and wider context into consideration.
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Whose Moral Purpose?

• Fullan draws the connection between moral
  purpose and commitment. However, commitment
  itself need not be driven by noble motives.

Moral purpose is an arbitrary construct a
leaders personal morals have no bearing in
effective leadership if they believe the
decisions they make are for the benefit of those
they lead.
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Philosophy of Morals
17th century British philosopher Thomas Hobbes
held that many, if not all, of our actions are
prompted by selfish desires. Even if an action
seems selfless, such as donating to charity,
there are still selfish causes for this, such as
experiencing power over other people. This view
is called psychological egoism and maintains that
self-oriented interests ultimately motivate all
human actions.

• 18th century British philosopher Joseph Butler
  agreed that instinctive selfishness and pleasure
  prompt much of our conduct. However, Butler
  argued that we also have an inherent
  psychological capacity to show benevolence to
  others. This view is called psychological
  altruism and maintains that at least some of our
  actions are motivated by instinctive benevolence.

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Sober and Wilson

• They describe motivational pluralism people
  are driven by both egoistic and altruistic
  desires.

Sober and Wilson (1998) also state that it is
futile to argue whether people are driven by
egoistic (self-centered) or altruistic
(unselfish) motives. The fact is that all
effective leaders are driven by both.
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Sergiovanni

• Suggests in Lifeworld (2000), there can be no
  leadership if there is nothing important to
  follow.

This follows Fullans belief that moral
purpose is driven by commitment.
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Famous Leaders and Moral Purpose

• As mentioned earlier, moral purpose is an
  arbitrary construct.

Fullan (2001) says to strive to improve the
quality of how we live together is a moral
purpose of the highest order.
Many famous leaders exemplify this concept in
their own unique ways.
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Mahatma Ghandi
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Gandhi's 11 Vows

• Ahimsa (Nonviolence)
• Satya (Truth)
• Asteya (Non Stealing)
• Brahmacharya (Self Discipline)
• Asangraha (Non-possession)
• Sharirshrama (Bread labour)
• Aswada (Control of the palate)
• Sarvatra Bhayavarjana (Fearlessness)
• Sarva Dharma Samantva (Equality of all
  religions) Swadeshi (Use locally made goods)
• Sparshbhavana (Remove untouchability)
• From the book 'Yeravda Mandir' by MK Gandhi.-
  Published by Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad - 14

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Gandhian Myths

• Satyagraha (non-violent action) was not a way
  for one group to seize what it wanted from
  another. It was not a weapon of class struggle,
  or of any other kind of division. It was instead
  an instrument of unity. It was a way to remove
  injustice and restore social harmony, to the
  benefit of both sides.

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Gandhian Myths

• Satyagraha was for the opponent's sake as well
  as those who practiced it. When Satyagraha
  worked, both sides won. That is the essential
  difference between Gandhi's Satyagraha and so
  much of the non-violent action practiced by
  others.
• Love for the victim demanded struggle, while
  love for the opponent ruled out doing harm. But
  love for the opponent likewise demanded struggle
  because by hurting others, the oppressor also
  hurts himself.
• The oppressor likely is not aware of this. He is
  however, likely enjoying his power and wealth.
  But beneath all that, his injustice is cutting
  him off from his fellow humans and from his own
  deeper self. And when that happens, his spirit
  can only wither and deform.
• Ganhdi did not view his actions as passive,
  rather he considered them an aggressive action.

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Gandhis Moral Purpose

• Gandhi believed that through his actions he
  would improve the lives of everyone thus
  demonstrating a moral purpose of the highest
  order according to Fullan.

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Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
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I Have a Dream

• Five score years ago, a great American, in whose
  symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation
  Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a
  great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro
  slaves who had been seared in the flames of
  withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak
  to end the long night of captivity. But one
  hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact
  that the Negro is still not free.
• One hundred years later, the life of the Negro
  is still sadly crippled by the manacles of
  segregation and the chains of discrimination. One
  hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely
  island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
  material prosperity. One hundred years later, the
  Negro is still languishing in the corners of
  American society and finds himself an exile in
  his own land.
• So we have come here today to dramatize an
  appalling condition. In a sense we have come to
  our nation's capital to cash a check. When the
  architects of our republic wrote the magnificent
  words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
  Independence, they were signing a promissory note
  to which every American was to fall heir.

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I Have a Dream
This note was a promise that all men would be
guaranteed the inalienable rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is
obvious today that America has defaulted on this
promissory note insofar as her citizens of color
are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred
obligation, America has given the Negro people a
bad check which has come back marked
"insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe
that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse
to believe that there are insufficient funds in
the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check -- a check
that will give us upon demand the riches of
freedom and the security of justice. We have also
come to this hallowed spot to remind America of
the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to
engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take
the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the
time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity
to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift
our nation from the quicksands of racial
injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
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I Have a Dream
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the
urgency of the moment and to underestimate the
determination of the Negro. This sweltering
summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will
not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of
freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not
an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the
Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be
content will have a rude awakening if the nation
returns to business as usual. There will be
neither rest nor tranquility in America until the
Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The
whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the
foundations of our nation until the bright day of
justice emerges. But there is something that I
must say to my people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice.
In the process of gaining our rightful place we
must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not
seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by
drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
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I Have a Dream
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high
plane of dignity and discipline. we must not
allow our creative protest to degenerate into
physical violence. Again and again we must rise
to the majestic heights of meeting physical force
with soul force. The marvelous new militancy
which has engulfed the Negro community must not
lead us to distrust of all white people, for many
of our white brothers, as evidenced by their
presence here today, have come to realize that
their destiny is tied up with our destiny and
their freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk,
we must make the pledge that we shall march
ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who
are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When
will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied
as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of
travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the
highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot
be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic
mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger
one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro
in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New
York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be
satisfied until justice rolls down like waters
and righteousness like a mighty stream.
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I Have a Dream

• I am not unmindful that some of you have come
  here out of great trials and tribulations. Some
  of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of
  you have come from areas where your quest for
  freedom left you battered by the storms of
  persecution and staggered by the winds of police
  brutality. You have been the veterans of creative
  suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
  unearned suffering is redemptive.
• Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go
  back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to
  the slums and ghettos of our northern cities,
  knowing that somehow this situation can and will
  be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of
  despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in
  spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the
  moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream
  deeply rooted in the American dream.
• I have a dream that one day this nation will
  rise up and live out the true meaning of its
  creed "We hold these truths to be self-evident
  that all men are created equal." I have a dream
  that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons
  of former slaves and the sons of former
  slaveowners will be able to sit down together at
  a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one
  day even the state of Mississippi, a desert
  state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and
  oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of
  freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four
  children will one day live in a nation where they
  will not be judged by the color of their skin but
  by the content of their character. I have a dream
  today.

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I Have a Dream
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama,
whose governor's lips are presently dripping with
the words of interposition and nullification,
will be transformed into a situation where little
black boys and black girls will be able to join
hands with little white boys and white girls and
walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a
dream today. I have a dream that one day every
valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain
shall be made low, the rough places will be made
plain, and the crooked places will be made
straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I
return to the South. With this faith we will be
able to hew out of the mountain of despair a
stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our nation
into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With
this faith we will be able to work together, to
pray together, to struggle together, to go to
jail together, to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.

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I Have a Dream
This will be the day when all of God's children
will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My
country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of
thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of
the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let
freedom ring." And if America is to be a great
nation, this must become true. So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New
Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty
mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the
heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let
freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of
Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous
peaks of California! But not only that let
freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let
freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every
molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside,
let freedom ring.
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I Have a Dream

• When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring
  from every village and every hamlet, from every
  state and every city, we will be able to speed up
  that day when all of God's children, black men
  and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and
  Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in
  the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at
  last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are
  free at last!"

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MLK and Moral Purpose

• There are very few people in the world who would
  argue that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did not
  have moral purpose.

His speeches and demonstrations were in support
of the advancement of Civil Rights in America.
His commitment to this cause was unfaltering and
paid for it with his life when he was
assassinated at the doorstep of his hotel room in.
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Adolph Hitler
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Effects of WWI on Germany

• In the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans were
  forced to sign a humiliating treaty accepting
  responsibility for causing the war, as well as
  dole out large sums of money in order to
  compensate for war costs.
• In addition, the size of the German state was
  reduced, while that of Italy and France was
  enlarged. Rising hostilities toward the rest of
  Europe grew, and many German soldiers refused to
  give up fighting, even though Germany's military
  was ordered to be drastically reduced.

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Exerts from Hitler

• On February 24, 1920 Adolph Hitler presented the
  Programme of the Nationalsozialistische
  Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist
  Labour Party) more commonly known as the Nazi
  Party.
• In this speech composed by himself and Anton
  Drexler they laid out the foundation of the
  fourth reich through 25 points. The ones
  pertaining to moral purpose are highlighted in
  the next few slides.

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Mein Kampf

• In Volume II Chapter 5 of Hitlers Mein Kampf he
  states
• If the idea of the People's State, which is at
  present an obscure wish, is one day to attain a
  clear and definite success, from its vague and
  vast mass of thought it will have to put forward
  certain definite principles which of their very
  nature and content are calculated to attract a
  broad mass of adherents in other words, such a
  group of people as can guarantee that these
  principles will be fought for. That group of
  people are the German workers.
• That is why the programme of the new movement
  was condensed into a few fundamental postulates,
  twenty-five in all. They are meant first of all
  to give the ordinary man a rough sketch of what
  the movement is aiming at. They are, so to say, a
  profession of faith which on the one hand is
  meant to win adherents to the movement and, on
  the other, they are meant to unite such adherents
  together in a covenant to which all have
  subscribed.

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Hitlers Programme

The Programme of the German Workers' Party is
designed to be of limited duration. The leaders
have no intention, once the aims announced in it
have been achieved, of establishing fresh ones,
merely in order to increase, artificially, the
discontent of the masses and so ensure the
continued existence of the Party.

• We demand the union of all Germany in a Greater
  Germany on the basis of the right of national
  self-determination.

2. We demand equality of rights for the German
people in its dealings with other nations, and
the revocation of the peace treaties of
Versailles and Saint-Germain.
Hitler was a patriot and wanted nothing more
than the betterment of his country.
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Hitlers Programme

• 4. Only members of the nation may be citizens of
  the State. Only those of German blood, whatever
  be their creed, may be members of the nation.
  Accordingly, no Jew may be a member of the
  nation.
• 5. Non-citizens may live in Germany only as
  guests and must be subject to laws for aliens.
• 7. We demand that the State shall make it its
  primary duty to provide a livelihood for its
  citizens. If it should prove impossible to feed
  the entire population, foreign nationals
  (non-citizens) must be deported from the Reich.

Hitler wanted to ensure the survival of his
people.
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Hitlers Programme

• 14. We demand profit-sharing in large industrial
  enterprises.
• 15. We demand the extensive development of
  insurance for old age.
• 16. We demand the creation and maintenance of a
  healthy middle class, the immediate communalizing
  of big department stores, and their lease at a
  cheap rate to small traders, and that the utmost
  consideration shall be shown to all small traders
  in the placing of State and municiple orders.

Hitler wanted to ensure a healthy economy
utilizing both socialistic and capitalistic
concepts.
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Hitlers Programme

• 24. We demand freedom for all religious
  denominations in the State, provided they do not
  threaten its existence not offend the moral
  feelings of the German race.
• The Party, as such, stands for positive
  Christianity, but does not commit itself to any
  particular denomination. It combats the
  Jewish-materialistic spirit within and without
  us, and is convinced that our nation can achieve
  permanent health only from within on the basis of
  the principle The common interest before
  self-interest.

Hitler exemplifies moral purpose while
establishing the foundation of his infamy in the
same paragraph!
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Moral Purpose in Athletics
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Moral Purpose in Athletics

• "To me, no coach in America asks a man to make
  any sacrifice, he requests that he do the
  opposite -- live clean, come clean, think clean
  -- that he stop doing all the things that destroy
  him physically, mentally, and morally and begin
  doing all the things that make him keener, finer
  and more competent."
• -Fielding Yost, former University of Michigan
  Head Football Coach

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Moral Purpose in Athletics

• The most important key to achieving great
  success is to decide upon your goal and launch,
  get started, take action, move.
• -John Wooden, UCLA Hall of Fame Basketball
  coach

Be more concerned with your character than your
reputation, because your character is what you
really are your reputation is merely what
others think you are. -John Wooden,
UCLA Hall of Fame Basketball coach
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Moral Purpose in Athletics

• The quality of a person's life is in direct
  proportion to their commitment to excellence,
  regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
• -Vince Lombardi, Former Green Bay Packers Hall
  of Fame football coach
• Individual commitment to a group effort -- that
  is what makes a team work a company work, a
  society work, a civilization work.
• -Vince Lombardi, Former Green Bay Packers Hall
  of Fame football coach

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Moral Purpose in Athletics

• All winning teams are goal-oriented. Teams like
  these win consistently because everyone connected
  with them concentrates on specific objectives.
  They go about their business with blinders on
  nothing will distract them from achieving their
  aims.
• -Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach

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Moral Purpose in Athletics

• Each of these men understood that commitment to
  a common goal and strong character are the
  cornerstone to a successful team.
• All of these men describe moral purpose, even
  though the term was not used until long after
  each of them began their careers.

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My Personal Mission Statement

• As a teacher and a coach
• I will commit to having a belief in the
  importance of the work I do, be it in the
  classroom or on the field of competition.
• I will model the behaviors and ethical standards
  that I believe in and expect those in my
  supervision to possess.
• I will commit to providing rational for my
  belief in the importance of the work I do.

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• Fin

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References

• Fieser, J and Dowden, B (2006). Ethics. Internet
  Encyclopedia of Philosphy. Retrived April 19,
  2006.
• Fullan, M (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change.
  Jossey-Bass.
• Fullan, M (2002). Principals as Leaders in a
  Culture of Change, Educational Leadership,
  Special Issue, May 2002. Retrieved April 19, 2006
• http//home.oise.utoronto.ca/changeforces/Articl
  es_02/03_02.pdf
• Ghandi (1982). From Yeravda Mandir. Greenleaf
  Books.
• Hitler, A (1926). Mein Kampf Volume Two Die
  Nationalsozialistische Bewegung. Hitler Hisorical
  Museum. Retrieved April 10, 2006.
• http//www.hitler.org
• Office of the United States Chief Counsel for
  Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy
  and Aggression Volume IV. Washington, DC United
  States Government Printing Office, 1946
• http//www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/MOD/25points.html
• Sergiovanni, T (2000). The Lifeworld of
  Leadership Creating Culture, Community, and
  Personal Meaning in our Schools. San Francisco,
  CA Jossey-Bass Publishers.
• Shepard, M (2002). Mahatma Gandhi and his Myths.
  Barker and Taylor.