On 11 Jul 96 at 10:29, Taylor Jenkins wrote:
> The public education system has been producing to specifications
> long enough.
I am quite curious about what you mean by the above. Care to clarify?
> A profound statement! By use of the forced curve and the grading
> system, it is required that schools produce scrap and rework. In
> other words, noteveryone can get an 'A'.
My experience is that very few educational institutions use grading
to the curve, which is good because generally, it isn't statistically
supportable anyway, with non-normal populations (such as university
students).
> When a student fails, he must retake the course and become rework,
> or he can drop out and become scrap.
I think there are problems equating students with say, televisions,
but I get your point. But let's not forget that schools exist in a
political context, and generally do not generate obvious immediate
dollars, so the investment needed to eliminate the scrap is difficult
to come by. Further, the analogy breaks down. In industry, one can
work with suppliers to eliminate raw materials that are not to
standard. One cannot work with suppliers of children to ensure that
they are all the same, consistent and free of human defects of any
sort. Short of genetic engineering, one cannot eliminate individual
differences (variation) in the incoming raw material.
Consider how difficult it would be for a company using steel to
manufacture products (automobiles) if it was impossible to
consistently procure high quality steel.
> Well, I think I've said enough.
> If anyone Knows of a case study, or incident where The Deming
> philosophy is being applied in education, please E-mail me. I am
> interested in where and how it is being applied, and what the
> effects are.
I believe there are several listservers on the subject. You might try
a search engine.
Robert Bacal, CEO, Institute For Cooperative Communication
dbt359@freenet.mb.ca, Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
(204 888-9290.
--"Robert Bacal" <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>