I loved your stories about "knowledge workers"--your relative and the
"dust-men"--and the "learned workers" whom they taught... This sort of
wisdom is priceless and a wonderful tonic for all of us highly educated
professionals. I couldn't help but think of my grandfather who never made
it past eighth grade, but was an airplance mechanic during the latter
stages of the First World War, became a heating and airconditioning
specialist later in life, and was always proud of his eventual induction
into the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. He lived to the age of
89 and was an endless source of practical knowledge about tools,
mechanical processes and fishing.
It also reminded me of the story included in a video (called Productivity:
The Pygmalian Effect, I think) where the head of the computing department
at a southern university asked the janitor, a young black man, to spend
half of his time learning about computers. This was back in the early days
when everything was keypunched in and the computers were rooms filled with
cabinets, key punch stations, and card-sorters. In spite of some
reluctance on the part of other computer officials, the "experiment"
turned out so successfully that the janitor eventually became the head of
all training for the computer center.
It certainly helps me to keep my perceptions in balance when I see these
examples of the power of learning and the limitations of stereotypes.
Keep those stories and lessons coming!!
Thanks,
-- Tobin Quereau Austin Community College quereau@austin.cc.tx.us