How would you feel about being referred to as Human Capital?

They referred to a person as human capital? That’s super weird. I understood it to mean the knowledge and experience an organization has access to (because of their people), not people themselves. Either they don’t know how the word should be used (or I’m wrong) or he doesn’t even want to acknowledge as actual people.

I would think that if this is a school board member, then their day job is dealing with widgets in a corporation. Not terribly appealing and I agree, very offensive, but I guess I would be more alarmed if a school administrator were talking like this. I like my school administrators to be warm and fuzzy, since they deal with children.

Exactly what I was thinking. This individual seems far removed from knowing how to speak to humans. I honestly have never heard anyone use that expression toward living beings; only in an esoteric sense. 

Human capital is a corporate HR buzz word. Lots of corporations use it. It is suppose to convey that the school board values its teachers, kitchen workers, etc. the way they would value the tangible things like buildings, cars, etc. It is suppose to show that you value people just as much (or more) than property. All in all it is part of the organization.

Oxford dictionary definition:

hu·man cap·i·tal
/ˈ(h)yo͞omən ˈkapədl/
noun
the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.

To me it is stupid. Just call them personnel.

Horrible wording. They very well could have said “top-tier educators” or “top-tier teaching staff”.

Given the background information you gave, they don’t want to humanize the staff in this statement. My guess is that this word was not chosen inadvertently.

Yeah, I'd take issue with it.

As association president, I go to all the school board meetings. If they have one. I'm there, if they try to hold one without the public, I'd file a grievance as they aren't usually allowed to do that here (there are some exceptions).

So far, I haven't had to fight our school board, although things have gotten a little heated at times

Putting the word “human” in the phrase, ironically, dehumanizes it. 

It seems to be meant to mean “assets that are people,” but, lawdy, there are better ways to say that without calling to mind some sort of indentured worker hive. 

In my experience, school board members who trot out corporate speak to be fancy pants know-it-alls are often Human ... hmm... Waste?

I would be deeply offended. I am a person with my own life, and people who depend on me and love me. I am not expendable. That is what that statement implies. That those teachers are EXPENDABLE. That their lives Do. Not. Matter. That they are replaceable.

No. That is not how we treat fellow humans and employees. That language and mentality needs to be shut down now.

I feel it is an unacceptable dehumanizing term just like I did earlier this year when the administration used it about the country
www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2020/5/26/21270863/kevin-hassett-human-capital-stock-coronavirus

I wouldn't be offended at that usage. It's a heck of a lot more concise than listing all the roles that are being referred to, but leaving any roles off for brevity would inevitably cause hurt feelings. 

What would your preferred language be in this statement? 

ETA: I think you're pissed about the board member and the potential about schools reopening. Which is totally justifiable. I suspect if the same wording were used in a more positive context, no one would be bothered by it. 

Dehumanized.

I’m going to play devils advocate here. Not that I love this terminology. However, when I have heard it used before, the context really conveyed a more dignified idea than property. As mentioned above, the value of human personnel is in the future, the potential. I remember reading about members of the wealthy who made it a point to live on their interest income, and “Never touch the capital!” I don’t think it’s meant to be demeaning.

Of course there are more important things to be offended by. But the topic is this particular phrase and what personal reaction it provokes. And it’s emblematic of a larger, historical communication problem between school boards and teachers. 

(I taught in public schools 30+ years and was a union president; hence, decades of board members, committees, contract negotiations.) There is a certain type of board member who consistently ruffles teacher feathers: the corporate guy who comes in gangbusters - super confident that he can fix the district if he applies his skill set, and equally confident he knows everything there is to know about schools, simply by dint of the fact that he went to school. A lot. Twenty years ago.

He might know finance and TIFs and such, but he’s equally confident he knows why Johnny can’t read. He at best views teachers as glorified babysitters and at worst views them with contempt. (Watch his reaction when asked if he’s ever recommended teaching as a career to his own kids.) So it rankles (or confuses) when he keeps lobbing corporate jargon. “Hit the ground running” (because he thinks we show up straight from the pool on Day One). Earnest claims that teachers just need to “buy in” and “think outside the box.” (What a novel idea!) Talk of “our stakeholders.” (Who? parents? kids? taxpayers?)

Cumulatively, encounters with this type of person, especially over many years, creates an impression. We believe he condescends. And language is a part of that: hence, the personal reactions seen on this thread. So we bristle at “moving parts” when they try to explain teaching to us and “human capital” within the context of possibly endangering/sacrificing that capital in a pandemic. Words matter - especially when the listener isn’t even sure what they mean so she has to ask here. 

That said, I fully acknowledge that “educationese” itself can be wincingly off-putting and I dearly hope it doesn’t ever leak into the corporate world because they would ALSO be mighty confused. Hell, I often think it has no place in education. Say what you mean; don’t make it sound shinier by using words others will misunderstand. 

I also acknowledge that there is a way I could have said this with many fewer words myself  ... but that’s Ameliaese for ya’.