James Drogan

This morning brings the juxtaposition of interesting opinion from MSM.

The "incompetent" in the title of this post refers to the op-ed piece in today's NYT by Bob Herbert.  If either the Administration or Congress were running businesses, producing results, and behaving as the currently are doing, boards, shareholders, and investors would have sacked them long ago.

Why do we Americans put up with this level of incompetence?  Are we inured to this level of performance?  Are our political leaders simply operating at the level of our expectations?  Have our expectations been adjusted by their performance?

Whatever the reason, the performance is abysmal, particularly at a national level.  I can't see much prospect for change.

Which leads me to the word "constructive" in this title and the editorial from today's WSJ.   The Democrats (Abbreviated "dims" by a friend of mine.  I see this as an apt slip on the keyboard.) have little constructive to say on any important subject.   What of their presumptuous leader,  The Great Screamer?  Are  they thoughtless?  Do they lack the will and courage to advance their thoughts?

Perhaps the political parties are participating in a race to the bottom.  Presumably the party that gets to the bottom last is the winner.

Reality has left the Beltway.

Re Conversations with Dave

da Vinci was very much ahead of his time and contemporaries in very many areas.

The Navesink Logistics Review as well as the article from you last night on IBM getting into the logistics consulting business, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the logistics activity at IBM in the decade beginning in 1985, in which you played a significant role, remind me of Leonardo.
 
Someone has to be first, and sometimes being first doesn't lead to fame and fortune.

I was on my way home on the train last night.  A gentlman (we might later revise the description) sat across from me reading.   After awhile I thought I heard the ripping of paper.  Sometime later his stop came, he got off, and left this.

The rippng of the paper was the address label.   No one can connect him with the "crime."  Where is his mother when we need her?

I was viewed by both sides of not understanding the situation.

"We hypothesized that a major part of the problem was the incentive structure combined with the unwillingness to risk new things." applies, in my view, to both sides.

Business may not be concerned because any organization brings in a relatively small number of new graduates each year. This number multiplied by their presumed knowledge and skills deficiency likely amounts to an insignificant risk. Why worry? Be happy.

Tenure insulates many in academia from the cold winds of the marketplace. One very good institution in New York sent 48 of its finest into the accounting and finance community to find jobs. No offers were made. Faculty and staff wring their hands, but no one is willing to identify this as a significant issue and mount a plan to resolve the matter. What do you think the 48 are going to tell their friends about the value of their educational experience at this institution?

And yeah, I'm pretty satisfied at the moment. The number of dragons that need to be slain play no small part in this satisfaction. "Come, Sancho. Bring my lance."

What a waste, but I'm not surprised.

Re Conversations with Dave

I read the same article this morning.

In a presentation I proposed for CUNY's 2nd Annual IT Conference "Instructional/Information Technology in CUNY: Issues, Innovations, Integration" scheduled for November 14, 2003 I included the following chart.

The gap between what academia produces and what business wants is constantly increasing. Holstein would seem to support the hypothesis. This hypothesis did not, by the way, come to me after I had left IBM. I suspect it has been in my thinking the last decade or so.

I don't think this hypothesis necessarily applies to all subject matter. Calculus is calculus. But in fields that are subjected to more buffeting by the forces of the world (logistics, medicine, foreign policy come to mind as examples), I think it relevant.

I support Holstein's suggestions. Rather than pointing fingers, academia and business ought to come to the realization it is in their common interests to work together to resolve the issue. The combination of academically qualified and business qualified teachers is a must. The trick in all this is to somehow prevent class warfare.

 

I've taken the liberty of revising the first paragraph of this article.

"A UN mandated panel will report this week that the United States suffers from poor management, "dismal" staff morale and lack of accountability and professional ethics."

Physician, heal thyself.

Here is a very provocative post from The Cunning Realist.  It calls to mind political entitlements.  A line from the post.

"It would also mean that control of the presidency or vice-presidency will have passed between two families without interruption for thirty-two years since 1980---eight straight presidential terms straddling two different centuries."

A recommended read and a recommended think.

Re Conversations with Dave

Perhaps one ought to always keep an open mind. Drogan's Second Law says "When things are going really well you've probably missed something."

I once read a paper by an upstate (or is it upstart?) college professor who claimed there was no such thing as truth. I reminded him that the sun always rises in the east and have not heard from him since.

I close with

One of my Korean students has written: " As I am Korean, I am very shy, especially during class, only looking for right answers. In Korea class rooms, students only hear what professors teach, and even some students feel they have different ideas with professors' opinions (even I have never thought professors' teachings are wrong or something different with my idea), they never argue with professors. But here in the United States, there is no wrong answer. Even some one have different ideas or even these are not true, no one says that idea is wrong. In this reason, class rooms are alive (is it right expression?) and energetic."

and

"If stated reasons don't sit well with your conscience or stand the test of logic, look for deeper motivations." Docent Glax Othn

Inspirational dissatisfaction (from Bob Neuschel), healthy skepticism, and a tolerance for different views seems to me to be a good combination

Re Conversations with Dave

We must, as teachers, play the hand that is dealt us.  Indeed, maybe we're the only ones, particularly if we are good teachers, who can play the hand.

And what is a good teacher?  One with experience which brings with it wisdom, insight, courage, and a sense of humor.  And what does the good teacher do?  Inspire insatiable curiosity and teach the knowledge and skills necessary to satisfy that curiosity.

It ain't easy, but there is nothing like it.