Fifty school principals and Ministry of Education officials were introduced to the Monroe Doctrine yesterday.

They were not getting a lesson in US diplomacy but the educational theory and practices of New York City educator Lorraine Monroe.

She was speaking at the Bermuda College to principals and some of their assistants from the Government pre-schools up to the two high schools.

Also in attendance were Permanent Secretary of Education Dr. Marion Robinson and Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher and various education officers.

Dr. Monroe told them that above all else, they must challenge teachers to push students to accomplish more than they think they can.

"Notch it up a level,'' she said. "You have folks in school rooms now with children in them. There is an urgency to this.'' In a lengthy lecture, conducted in a folksy manner, Dr. Monroe explained the methods she used to make the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, New York into the top scoring school in its district.

A Columbia Teachers College graduate and former deputy chancellor for curriculum and instruction in New York public schools, Dr. Monroe is now the director of the School Leadership Academy.

Dr. Monroe has travelled the world teaching teachers to boost what children learn and improve how they learn it.

She has been featured on CBS Television's 60 Minutes and is the author of "Nothing's Impossible: Leadership lessons from the front lines''.

"Great schools do the same things all the time,'' she explained. "Whether the kids are black, brown, white, rich or poor. The SLA brings that out.'' A central plank of Dr. Monroe's doctrine is a comparison of how teachers motivate and how team coaches motivate students.

She explained: "Coaches tell them `you want to make the team? Give me an extra lap', and the kids do it.'' "But teachers say `that's stupid or not good enough,'' Dr. Monroe added. "I don't want to hear that. Children fail because they give up too soon.'' And literacy is central to transforming education.

"Give them something of interest. Allow them to read what they want to read,'' Dr. Monroe said.

She added: "You're starting with consonant blends and diphthongs so I might not want to learn.'' And speaking about underachievers, Dr. Monroe was adamant they can be taught, saying: "Alternative doesn't mean less than. It means go about it differently.'' Dr. Monroe left senior educators with the one last directive that their teachers are teaching several generations.

She got much agreement around the room by using an example of how her school trip to a museum stayed with her throughout her life and how she took her own kids to New York's museums every Saturday.

"My children are now taking their kids to the museums,'' she said. "That's what you have to tell teachers.'' "You are teaching something for three generations, sometimes four. Challenge them and operate as if your own child is in the room.'' Dr. Monroe will speak to teachers this morning at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium at CedarBridge Academy.