From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 08/20/02-07:44:33 PM Z
Lou wrote:
> But since that time, I've wondered how our educational systems would work
> if we were in the position to always hire teachers and hire fewer
> judges....think how great it could be if an instructor, at any level, had,
> as their mission, to make the student as absolutely drop dead successful in
> that subject material as they could.
>
> Sure, that's not much training for the world, the world doesn't adapt
> itself to us...but then we don't actually pay the world tuition.
I was thinking along these lines this afternoon while I was walking. If
schools were held to the same standards that businesses are, most of them
would go under.
Let's say that my photo dept is a business. There is the head of the dept,
who is the CEO. Her underlings are like the managers. The students are
like the employees. And at this business, it's not just a few employees
that are having trouble; they ALL are. If all the employees at a business
are demoralized and having trouble cooperating with each other and getting
the work done, what happens? Most businesses won't fire all their employees
and start over from scratch. If the business can afford it, it calls in a
management consultant, to talk to the MANAGERS! The employees are not
blamed. The managers are held responsible for the poor performance of the
employees. Usually in a case like this, it turns out that the managers have
a punitive, discouraging management style. Sometimes they are made to go on
a "retreat" where they practise ideas like win/win scenarios, empathic
listening, and the like.
Or you could look at it another way. The students are the customers. They
are not happy with the product, but they can't shop elsewhere because
there's no place else in town they can get that kind of degree, and they
can't afford to leave town. The business has a monopoly. This is not good
for encouraging a quality product.
--shannon
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