The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrongby Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull
Copyright 1969, 2008, 2009
HarperCollins Paperback, 2011
Miss E. Beaver, a probationary primary teacher, was highly gifted intellectually. Being inexperienced, she put into practice what she had learned at college about making allowances for pupils' individual differences. As a result, her brighter pupils finished two or three years' work in one year.
The principal was very courteous when he explained that Miss Beaver could not be recommended for permanent engagement. He knew that she would understand that she had upset the system, not stuck to the course of studies, and had created hardship for the children who would not fit into the next year's program. She had disrupted the official marking system and textbook-issuing system and had caused severe anxiety to the teacher who would next year have to handle the children who had already covered the work...
This book provides descriptions of widespread incompetence throughout society, and analysis of why incompetence tends to be rewarded... while raising the bar tends to be discouraged/punished. If you may have witnessed this phenomenon IRL, reading this book can be rather affirming.
