Replying to LO30079 --
Dear Phillip and At,
I found your comments on the 'new paradigm' interesting, and At's comment
about teachers 'crossing the rectory' too many times.
For many years I have believed the old auhoritarian paradigm ran on
bullsh*t.
The simple myths appear in both education and in the workplace.
I don't mean to be hard on teachers however the belief that every student
must achieve some form of certificate to get a job is arrant nonsense.
The richest (most successful ?) people I know have had very limited
education. They are the risk takers who recognise an opportunity.
The idea that a teacher should approach industry to determine needs is
also rubbish. How many middle managers or CEOs know anything about
managing or what they wantv frrom graduates. The 'good' decision rate for
managers is approximately a probability of 0.5, in other words under the
old paradigm some kid flipping a coin could do as well as many middle
managers.
One thing the kids seem to recognise immediately they get a job, is that
its important to be a syncophant to 'get ahead'.
Your friends who 'cross the rectory too many times' are simply paying the
price for this obseqiousness on the part of others.
Why employ someone who rocks the boat, what would they know anyway?
Trouble is that the reason people like your friends, stand up and be
counted is the final realisation that the game has terminal consequences
for the organisation, their friends and their jobs.
I worked for one company which 'managed itself into extinction' simply
through lack of industrial democracy, and management systems. It was
impossible to turn the situation around once the downward spiral began.
Best Regards,
Alan Cotterell
--"Alan Cotterell" <acotrel@cnl.com.au>
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