Modern principalship is often characterized as complex, convoluted, and filled with paradoxes and ambiguities. But it also has predictability, behaviors that seem constant for students, teachers, and principals. Their predictability makes them a normal part of the schoolhouse culture. This light-hearted article lists some of these constants.

Some classroom-management techniques actually undermine establishment of an orderly classroom and impair an otherwise competent teacher's ability to win changing behavior. Instead of changing behavior, all teachers achieve with these heavy-handed techniques is minimal compliance, beneath which lies deep resentment, a breeding ground for…

In this article, the author iterates how over the years he had sensed that student misbehavior was on the rise: rudeness, lateness, loudness, distractedness, and the myriad small sins that irritate teachers. It was not as if these young louts were protesting a war or engaging in civil disobedience; they were just plain rude. But, although the…

In this article, the author discusses an e-mail survey of principals from across the country regarding whether or not their school had a formal staff dress code. The results indicate that most did not have a formal dress code, but agreed that professional dress for teachers was not only necessary, but showed respect for the school and had a…