¡Reformismo!
What can General Franco teach us about education reform?
By Mazinger Z
Francisco Franco embodied the “no excuses” mentality.
World history is filled with great lessons that we can learn from as we seek to right our listing public schools, *crush* the achievement gap and launch our students towards 21st century success and prosperity. While reformistasoccasionally acknowledge the existence of the rest of the world, or at least Finland and Singapore, they need to go further—much further. Franco’s Spain, por ejemplo, may provide a shining beacon for their cause. In fact, the Generalísimo’s leadership embodied the “no excuses,” “whatever it takes” mentality in action.
Like the best principals, Franco had the power to hire and fire (literally) at will. His “no excuses” mentality did away with the Spanish Army’s unfortunate tendency to coddle the underperformers of the time: conscripts. (He personally shot a few of these for not living
