Source: promobiledj.com

I know very little of the actual Hippocratic Oath (well, I have read it, and looked at modern versions). In researching for this post, I googled “Hippocratic Oath for Teachers” and I found quite a few attempts. In each of these attempts to create something of value for educators, there was a constant theme: do no harm!

As I read through the Teacher’s Oath, I kept wondering if we needed a Principal’s Oath? Or maybe an Administrator’s Oath. After reading about 5 or 6 Teacher Oaths, I decided to give it a try. I figured it couldn’t be that hard…

I started by asking myself a few questions.. How do we go through the day, the week or the school year without doing any harm? How can we assure that students and teachers are treated in the best way possible, so that their experiences in “school” inspire them to do great things in the future? How can we, as Principals, do better?

Here are few lines in my feeble attempt to create a new oath for Principals:

• Treat students as if they were your own I’m not sure we would trust each other’s parenting techniques.
• Treat students and teachers with dignity and respect Do we have a working definition of dignity? Respect?
• Provide a student-centered, growth approach to student learning Hmm, are we talking about best practices, assessments or UGH this is difficult!
• We will educate the whole child Just as soon as we get through these standardized assessments
• While the teachers and students are in the building we will be as present as possible Just as soon as we get all these reports completed!

Ok, I am going to leave it up to the experts… And in the meantime, I am just going to follow these principles, for my Principal’s Oath:

• Treat others as I would like to be treated
• Be the change I wish to see in the world
• Make kids, teachers and parents smile (hopefully laugh) as much as possible

Whats your Oath?