time. They are also experts at developing staff, particularly new teachers.
Because they save time spent on administrivia, they have more time to
devote to improving instruction.
Some, as Mr. Thelen, also had deficiencies, but he was able to compen-
sate for them by using the talents of other members of his administrative
staff, as those of Mr. Flint, his head of security.
While all principals are, by virtue of position, authority figures, some
are more so than others to the students in the school. Mr. Thelen was
less so. A true authoritarian is not concerned with the reasons behind an
inappropriate action, whether it’s a fight among students, a disrespect-
ful remark to a teacher, or thievery of some sort. The true authoritarian
only sees the action and then imposes the prescribed penalty. As such, he
evokes a certain amount of fear, for any student sent to him knows for
certain that the letter of the law will be imposed. Ironically, most students
understand and accept this. Students are usually the first to complain if a
teacher or administrator makes an exception for a student. This does not
fit their sense of fairness.
Mr. Thelen was not a true authoritarian. However, an incident from his
own high school days taught him the importance of a school having a true
authoritarian, the person every student wants to avoid.
Mr. Thelen went to a parochial high school in the 1960s where corporal
punishment was permitted but rarely used. It rarely had to be because no
student wanted to test the system. On the first day of classes, all incoming
freshman had an orientation in the auditorium. One of the presenters was
the dean of students, a certain Mr. Ambrose.
Mr. Ambrose began by informing Mr. Thelen and the other freshmen
that they could do anything they wanted over the next four years—cut
class, leave early, smoke a cigarette. At this point, they were feeling quite
happy, as all of them had been led to believe that discipline was going to
be strict, to say the least. But just as this thought popped into their heads,
they heard Mr. Ambrose say the frightening word if: “If you can stay in
the ring with me for three minutes.”
At this point, he held up a pair of boxing gloves and the boxing trophy
he won while in the military. It should be added that Mr. Ambrose was an
imposing figure, well over six feet tall. When no one took up his offer, he
simply stated that he expected that everyone would strictly adhere to all
the school rules so that he would never see anyone in his office, where the
126 Chapter 9