James Drogan

I've been following Blogniscient for the past couple of weeks.  The US Politics section of this blog labels articles as Left or Right.  Why is this done?

Who decides and how?

How does this impact the reader?

Is this a step towards the citizenry becoming drones?  Is an editor at work on a grand scale? 

A recent article from Slate has the following opening lines.

"A recent survey of "the world's top universities" by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai reports that 17 of the top 20 institutions are in the United States, with Cambridge (No. 3), Oxford (No. 8), and Tokyo (No. 14) the exceptions on the list. The rankings are largely based on quantifiable measures of research performance, mostly articles published in prestigious journals and internationally significant research awards, such as Nobel Prizes."

Note that it says nothing about students.

What should universities be about?  What are the desirable outcomes?  If a university claims it's strategic goal is to be listed in US News and World report, is that really a desirable outcome?

I don't think it's a question of what universities should BE, but rather what they should PRODUCE.  Responsible, well-informed citizens of the world who can take care of themselves and of others, who can thrive and make a difference in resolving any number of critical issues, who leave behind a quality of life better than what the inherited, seems to me to be useful goals for the universities.

Are "... quantifiable measures of research performance, mostly articles published in prestigious journals and internationally significant research awards, such as Nobel Prizes."  the most appropriate goals?

Alternatively, what are students qualified to do in life if the measures are  "... quantifiable measures of research performance, mostly articles published in prestigious journals and internationally significant research awards, such as Nobel Prizes?"  Will these qualifications allow these students to do what needs to be done?

See  Discussion Around a Masters Program in Supply Chain Management for related ideas.

This article prompts me to wonder about innovation in goverment.

"Physician, heal thyself." 

Irving Wladawsky-Berger moderated a very interesting panel on The Blogging Phenomenon December 5, 2005 at the Westport Public Library.  I found his remarks and those of the other panel members to be provocative and prompted the title of this post.  See a related entry in Westport Now.

What does it mean to be swimming in the Sea of Knowledge?  How do I keep from be drowned?  Or pounded senseless by the bizarre garbage (the best phrase that comes to mind at the moment) that is also in the Sea?  How is the swimming changing my view of the world?  How is the swimming changing me internally?  What sense could I, should I make of all this?  What could I, should I do next?

I have conceived of this post as one under a constant state of evolution as my mind, hopefully, becomes clearer on these questions.

Stay tuned.  Something useful may emerge. 

Re: Conversations wth Dave

Here's the organizational stack that is my reference point.

Not too clear in this version, but I think you can make out the components.

The issue that I see is that American political leadership lacks a set of values and a vision that has education as THE foundation stone upon which to base the remaining components of institutional and organizational design. One might argue, I suppose, that this is wrong. There is, after all, the Department of Education and No Child Left Behind. True, but in the absence of the necessary resources to live the values and implement the vision, what's the point?

Organosclerosis (can't you devise a name easier to pronounce?) surely applies to the political domain, maybe more so at the national than the state and local levels. The plaque needs to be cleaned out. The system for cleansing devised by the Founders has been corrupted by gerrymandering (when you're in you're in), lobbyists (no more than guns for hire), special interest groups (fanatics), and a passive electorate (I regret that I must, in the interests of fair disclosure, include myself in this group).

New leadership is required, but I doubt that it will rise from the major political parties. Any third party efforts are likely to be quashed by the entrenched. I foresee little to no change in our national system of government that would allow education to rise to prominence.

Perhaps the answer is more power to the States and local communities. Connecticut's current action on campaign financing may be a step in the right direction. Yet this evolves into conflicts between these levels on standards.

Perhaps we ought to let the marketplace decide. Then, however, those who need education the most would doubtless fall further behind.

The electorate needs to be educated on the issue and subsequently stirred to action. The way one reaches the electorate is through MSM or through leadership acting on a national scale (when was the last time you heard a prominent entertainment or sports celebrity discuss the need for education?). Articles on education will not sell advertising and require too much attention to be absorbed. I suspect education is not a mainstream topic on the popular talk shows.

So, what's required to awaken the sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve? The loss of American manufacturing prowess has not done it. The rickety economic structure has not done it. America's declining influence (as contrasted with America's rising boorishness) in the world has not done it.

The frog is being boiled.

I suspect that a credible picture of the future, say a generation or two hence, needs to be painted and exposed. But who could be trusted to do this? No one is immune to labeling, an insidious process that prejudges, and hence any party suggested would be derided by "...all those who have done well under the old conditions."

I suppose I'm not really getting at your question, but, to me, it's not easily gotten at. Perhaps I shall have an epiphany and become more erudite on this topic.

So much for my Sunday afternoon rant.

Dave is an example of a quintessential eclectic.  His side of the conversation piques my interest in and thinking about all sorts of issues across all sorts of domains.  Hence, the conversations are of value to me.  Inasmuch as a blog can be about what occupies one's time, my side of our conversations represents some of what occupies my time and find their way into droganbloggin.

No more, no less. 

Re: Conversations with Dave

For some time I've been holding forth that the important issues and objectives are:

1. Education: Lift the level of learning of primary and secondary students, and prompt increased college enrollments.
2. Health: Improve the health of Americans, then deal with the issues of the cost of healthcare.
3. Economy: Reduce the deficit through a reduction in federal spending. Improve the personal savings rate.
4. Security: Develop sufficient capacity to deter and, if necessary, defeat threats to American interests at home and abroad.
5. International Relationships: Be recognized around the world as an example of ethical and economic leadership.
   

The sequence is deliberate.

Now I'm not as learned in these subjects as most of you and the representation may seem a bit naive, but the list seems to somewhat align with Farrell.

To wit, the foundation (education) is the basis for all else. I've been corresponding with a graduate of our BS program who can seem to get her mind around the difference between "patience" and "patients." What's going on here?

Well, we know the answer and it's not to be found in No Child Left Behind. Testing is no substitute for teaching. Schoolboards and teachers' unions are no substitute for involvement by the parents and the community at large. Pretty buildings are no substitute for adequate course materials. Gifts and endowments are no substitute for gifted and engaged teachers.

We are letting our seed corn rot on the ground.

Re: Conversations with Dave

See The End of Process. I've bookmarked it, but have yet to read it. I was led to it from Irving Wladawsky-Berger's blog, but I note that Mayfield is cited on a regular basis by people I think are pretty level headed when comes to techno-business.

A quick hypotheses: no process equals no need for architecture.

Anyway, more later after I've read Mayfield.

Following a reply by Dave I then e-mailed him the following.

I read Mayfield and think, as you do, that he's missing the point. Constipated processes are symptomatic of deeper issues. However, perhaps he has done service by simply calling the question.

I would hypothesize that processes, as customarily understood, increasingly become encumbrances as one moves up the management hierarchy and/or as one encounters increasingly smaller decision windows. "As customarily understood" is meant to imply that processes may continue to exist as one moves along these two dimensions, but with a different set of characteristics than have been generally accepted.

Re: Conversations with Dave

"I believe that we’re about to witness what may turn out to be the last competitive frontier business will see. It’s going to be a war over the one priceless resource. Time. And when it comes, trust may turn out to be the best investment anyone’s made." 

Source: Jim Kelly, CEO of UPS, Remarks to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco & Oakland Chamber of Commerce, February 23, 2000. 

Re: Conversations with Dave

Regarding ",,,large body of exchanges that are rather deep, provocative and potentially powerful." I have,over the time of our conversations, occasionally published my part in droganbloggin. I had, of course, no business publishing anything from you. Perhaps half a conversation is better than none, but the whole conversations would be better.

This leads me to the following conclusion. You have numerous conversations on numerous topics with all sorts of interesting people. I suspect you have archived most (all?) of these. Perhaps you should consider editing and publishing your collections. Conversations on a Number of Themes is a title that comes to mind. I could see that something like this would be handy in the classroom.