There are many examples ... of situations in which disparate groups of politicians and the constituents they represent have joined together in common cause but consensus has represented nothing more than a superficial commitment to a simple slogan.
--- Susskind & Cruikshank, Breaking the Impasse, 1987, p.63-64

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Slogans in Education

The United States is remarkably pluralistic. Its people are a unique amalgam of many cultures and traditions. So it is that the citizens of the United States, when faced with social choices, commonly disagree among themselves as to both how and what should be done. How, for example, do we establish and maintain consensus about the means or ends of schooling? One way is negotiation and compromise. But this consumes both time and patience and the outcome often leaves everyone unsatisfied. What, then, is to be done? ...

Slogans and Shallow Consensus

... the fragile covenants pasted together by sloganeering commonly dissolve when submerged in the often turbulent political processes of implementation. It is during these proceedings that we face the tough choices required to bring aspiration to reality. It is here that the actual costs of social action are first examined.

School reform provides a near perfect example. Time and again reform movements are launched with the help of one or another slogan such as: "excellence in education;" "school-based management," "teach children, not subjects," and so forth. ...

Generating Frustration and Resentment

W. Edwards Deming, ... denounces mottoistic slogans. Although they have a lofty ring, says Deming, slogans "generate frustration and resentment." ....

...Deming (Out of the Crises, 1986, p.3) points out that in such a context slogans and exhortations are perceived as clear signals that top administrators not only don't understand what is going on, they don't care enough to find out. He then observes,

[Sloganistic] goals are like hay somebody ties in front of the horse's snout. The horse is smart enough to discover no matter whether he canters or gallops, trots or walks or stands still, he can't catch up with the hay. Might as well stand still. ...

Dissolving Ambiguity

Consider only those issues raised by "multiculturalism" that relate to the status of women. How, for example, should "multicultural" schooling deal with the rights of women... " Does that mean a "multicultural" education must either celebrate spouse thrashing or at least present it as a viable alternative to other forms of marital conflict resolution? ...

Reifications as Sloganistic Terms

Reifications are a particularly important weapon in the arsenal of the sloganizer. Reification occurs when ...

...Here is one other example. In the landmark 1985 report, A Nation At Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform, the National Commission on Excellence in Education asserted that "Our society and its educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined efforts needed to attain them." Who in American society has lost sight of this? And whose purposes are we talking about anyway? The sloganeering of the Commissioners glosses over these questions. ...

So how do such critical omissions largely escape attention in such an important document? Because sloganeering with reifications obscures them.

Every Vague Statement is NOT a Slogan

We have to be careful not to identify every vague statement as a slogan. Sloganeering is what people do to emphasize and promote what they perceive as consensus. While there may be characteristic forms for slogans, e.g. mottoes and reifications, it is their typical use that makes them slogans. ...

Summary

Actual goals are discovered only when the public goal ... is factored into operational goals ... .
Once this is done, it turns out that there are several goals involved, and maximizing one
will usually be at the expense of another.
-- Charles Perrow Complex Organizations 1979. p.58

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