Free Custom «Expectations Story by Katherine Boo» Essay Paper

This paper presents a summary of the book "Public Administrations Concepts and Cases, ninth edition by Richard J. Stillman II". It establishes why the author decides to use “Expectations” as the title of the story. In addition, it elucidates how these expectations influenced the final outcome of the reform agenda. Moreover, it looks at why expectations are hard to understand yet they have a significant influence on the case.

The writer must have used the title “expectations” purposely to denote the high hopes of success they had from the beginning. According to her description of the entire project, there is some obsession with the expectations and indeed the certainty with which the group view their project. Indeed, it is this big hope that makes them adopts a dismissive attitude of everyone who tries to participate and approach the reform agenda in secrecy. For instance, Boo uses quite a derisive tone on people who suggest that the project could succeed when carried out in the environment of secrecy. Besides, the excessive obsession somehow prevents them from seeking full information concerning the stakeholders that they should involve. This is seen when they prove unaware that some independent community organizations are automatic stakeholders. In their opinion, the civil rights lawyers were overstepping their mandate by attending the initial rallies that were organized after the Manual’s closure. In effect, other potential participants like students, teachers, parents as well as leaders from Denver begin to view it as an exercise in futility. According totem, it was synonymous with one trying to clean a glass window by wiping one side of the glass. This shows just how expectations could be hard to understand. For instance, while one group views them as real possibilities others consider them a complete waste of time. Nonetheless, the fact that Boo did not invoke positive expectations in everyone explains the reason for the failed reforms(Richard 2010).