".. I think the most important issue for any child is to be recognized as
an individual. My son began first grade in a class where his needs were
not being met because the teacher was too busy meeting her own. Without
saying anything derogatory about the teacher, I approached the
principal and requested a classroom change (I argued that there was a
teacher-pupil incompatibility). Nothing that I said convined the
principal. My request became an excuse for the principal to assert his
power over both me and the teacher. Meanwhile, my child was suffering
from the teacher's mishandling.
"In the end, we switched him to another school. The change has been
amazing. He comes home eager to do his homework. He has stories about
his teachers and his principal (who is the sort that stands outside the
school in the morning and greets each child by name). He has been given
responsibility and positive reinforcement instead of being made to feel
inadequate for his failures.
"It all comes down to being in an environment where he is respected as a
person instead of expected to perform to meet the needs and expectations
of others. I could tell similar (less dramatic) stories about my older
child. She too blossomed when she encountered a teacher who instead of
worrying that this "gifted" child might get too far ahead of her peers
allowed my daughter to be herself."
SO, IMHO a learning process occurs when the people within that process are
able to progress every hour of every day and continue their own personal
learning and that THAT is learning directed in support of the overall
goals of the organization and moves it toward those goals in a measurable
way through timely and objective feedback.
The people will adopt their own approach, they will make mistakes and
have the opportunity to correct them without personal criticism, and
they will share their learnings and be supported by peers and management
in that process. Systems will be addressed by orchestrated teams of the
knowledgable people involved in the processes impacted by the systems.
Naturally there are lots of details to be worked out. Is this not the
essence of what we are talking about here?
Thanks for listening...Keith
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>