Structure is at the core of everything we know. A brief glimpse at structures reveals how important they are. Structures include atomic structure of all elements, structure of living organisms, architectural structure, sentence structure, societal structure. Structures simply comprise all of our reality and existence. The absence of structure is dangerous. Dangerous fantasies imagine anarchy driving creativity, opportunity, and a higher consciousness. But in truth anarchy, not structure, is the enemy of freedom. The debilitating effects of micromanagement derive not from too much structure, but from hierarchical failures. To micromanage is to appropriate the integrity and responsibility of others, depriving them of their rightful responsibility to manage with exactitude. The essential problem with micromanagement is not too much effective structure, but too little. Likewise in schools, the integrity and responsibility of students must be honored by the teacher. Free styling that does not lay down specific requirements and guidelines in effect deprives students of responsibility. The student without clear marching orders (structure) cannot know his task so cannot assume responsibility. Yeats wrote that “Measurement began our might.” Delineating structure is basic to all awareness and accomplishment.
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