Its mid July, and the exhilaration of May's graduation is turning to desperation!
As friends, and linkedin connections are announcing their landing spots, your thinking "What am I doing wrong?" Your family and friends may be trying to be helpful. "Did you look on this website, did you call this person?" Are all aggravating! In education, especially, K-12 and College, the system is so different. In business, the system is so complex. Most places use a screening algorithm to "read" the cover letter and the resume/ CV. In many places, you may be qualified, but lack...something. Since the 1980s, and the 1990s especially, organizations want finished polish people. They are unwilling to train up. Furthermore, in the education world, many schools are churning through good people. What you need to remember is this: The economy is rebounding. Money is starting to flow. Be flexible, for a lot. If YOU think your underqualified, apply anyway. Don't self "no" out of job- let the company do that. Are we addicted to failure?
Have we become so obsessed with chasing the "dream" we have forgotten how to enjoy living? Here is what I mean: In education, we demand continuous improvement. In higher education, we demand revisions on writing pieces. In science, and in engineering, a product is never good enough. We want a bigger this, a better phone, and a faster car. Yet what happened? Are we happy? No! We are not! Our family lives are often stressful. At work, the environment is toxic! Mental health is at an all time crisis level. Why does this happen? Why have we allowed others to live rent free in our heads, demand we do more, and give of our time and energy and expertise for compensation. How did this happen? First it started with the belief that the American workforce was and continues to be a disposable commodity. In 2006, Louis Uchitelle published a book called the Disposable American. In his work, he found that companies squeeze short term profits for long term failure by eliminating their workforce so easily. Second, we have seen too many managers and administrators who are good at two skills: hubris & demanding, emerge in positions which need leaders. Leaders are folks with a vision, and a purpose who view their team as skilled people who are talented. Instead, we have managers and administrators who believe that they are best, and have the answer, and no one else is correct (hubris) and demanding, where they do not value a balance between work and life. They want people to work crazy hours, be at their beck and call, and believe unplugging is a sin. The Pandemic has made people rethink their lives, and employers are having a tough time keeping up. I believe that schools and higher ed is way behind, even employers. We lost in higher and elementary and secondary education the real reason for the experience. We forgot how to get kids and young adults ready for the next stage in life. We became to focused on measurable goals, via testing. We reacted as our funding levels were cut back to unconscionable levels and we still continued to "do more with less." As a society, we became okay with the drum beat of "we want our schools to do more with less. We let competition become the watch word, when collaboration is really most important. Instead of hiring solid, certified teachers, we hire the local, or the related, and our schools do not expand their world views. We settle for okay, as long as everyone thinks they are happy. We want conformality and compliance. We want a candidate who is not too strong, or too week, but just okay. We hate evaluations, yet we crave feedback... so we are confused. We want to get better, but its too hard, or we just don't even try. Yet in public, we hear from management and administration we want to get better. But when the plans, and processes are presented, we see …nothing. Maybe education has gotten to big, as a job, for most people. Maybe we need to look at our fundamentals: What do we demand out of our children? What do we want from our schools? I for one believe we must disentangle the "job drift" that has occurred in education in the last thirty years. Like "mission creep" that happens in other organizations, more is piled on, and asked for, if too many stakeholders are involved. My students and I ran through this thought exercise in Inventors Studio: How do you make a single pizza for a village of 100? The correct answer: you don't. You make as many pizzas as needed to keep as many people happy. The rest need specialty pizzas. We need to take this lesson to heart: In higher education, abolish the peer review process, and instead focus on strengths based research and reports for the PUBLIC and not the academy. K-12 education needs to stop making a giant single Pizza. We MUST create multiple alternatives for students if we are to ever hope of fixing what the last 30 years have destroyed. It will take a lot of money, and it will take a huge servant leader with a vision. We need folks who are all in, and we need to stop wasting human resources. If we do not act now, we will have a been there, and I have this tee shirt moment again. ” Far, we’ve been traveling far…” opens Neil Diamond’s song “America.” I think about this weekend because it reminds me of my family and the purpose of America. On a personal level, my mother is celebrating her birthday. She is my guiding strength and one of the greatest people I know. Mom was born into a working class family that had provided service to our nation in War and peace. She graduated from South Park High School. It was a rough part of South Buffalo, an Irish neighborhood. She grew up strong. For her profession, my mom became a nurse, graduating from EG Meyers school of Nursing (now UB Nursing). She went to work caring for the neediest. One of the positions she held was working with children who had been abandoned by their families. Mom treated them as if they were part of her family. Reflecting the work that The Venerable Father Nelson Baker, my mother has always had a way of helping those at need. Later, my mother went to work for the State, serving as an nurse at the Buffalo Psyche center. There she provided comfort to those that needed help soothing the demons of their minds. As part of here work at the state, Mom saw to the safety and health of public workers throughout Western New York. Mom helped to ensure the COs at a corrections facility were safe. She ensured teachers were safe from harm at schools. She helped volunteer firefights be safe during their vigilance. Before she retired from the state, Mom served as a nursing home inspector. There she had responsibility to ensure the elderly who were most at risk were cared for compassionately, correctly and competently by the medical staff. My mother, born into a working class family in a poor area of south buffalo, NY, rose above this to ensure people most in need of protection because they protected others had the support. My mother is my hero. She is a great person. I truly love her.
On July 3 is my parent’s wedding anniversary. Married in the days of the 1970s, they met in a hospital, where my Dad had suffered from an accident a drunk driver caused. Mom nursed him back to health. My father overcame some major injuries to court my mother, and finish his degree in Chemistry from University at Buffalo. He worked as a railroad fireman. Dad’s work on the railroad allowed him to see the road, but caused him to miss a very brief time when we were growing-up. Dad made up for that and more later in life, as he became our Scout leader in Cub scouts and served as our troop committee Chairman. Dad took us camping to Canada, Gettysburg, the national Jamboree, and Philmont. His service in scouting was also part of his work during the day. Dad served first as a chemist in the Department of Environmental Conservation, ensuring water quality at the Great Sacandaga Lake in the Adirondacks. After DEC protection, my dad went to work at the asbestos control bureau in Buffalo. Rising to the ranks of a regional supervisor, Dad ensured that workers, citizens, and community members were safe from Asbestos when it was present, removed and disposed. Dad worked hard and was dedicated to ensure companies did what was right and safe. Dad’s family came from Poland, and were farmers. They had worked on the railroad. In the span of 5 generations, our family had gone to college and had served the community. My parents inspired our family to serve the community. My sister, Emily serves to ensure research sites are doing research in medical efforts to help people. My brother, Nick, work to ensure computers and technology is functioning at a college in the Buffalo region. I worked at State Ed to help schools ensure educational opportunities for students improve. On July 4th, let us not just have a picnic and watch parades. Remember why the United States of America came into being: We are a land of opportunity for people looking for a second start. America welcomes people who are “tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breath free.” We should not go back to the days of hatred, discrimination, and imperialism. Citizens of America are great peoples. Lets dedicate ourselves to service projects, helping our neighbors, and improving the life of the weakest and neediest. On a personal note, to quote Outkast: “Thank God for Mom and Dad For sticking through together. Cause we don’t know how….” You are role models for Nick & Marissa, and Elizabeth and me. What does July 4th mean?
How do we celebrate? A meditation on sacrifice and common good: The United States of America emerged from 1/3 of the British colonists who wanted out of the imperial system. Why? Taxes, and restraints on their freedoms! They called out the King of England only after Parliament chose to deny their Olive Branch Petition. The war started in the North- Boston, where colonial merchants were subject to onerous "taxes" and regulations which stifled their trade. They wanted no taxation without representation, a lift on all restrictions on manufacturing and international trade. It is ironic that these same phrases have been used by people in the US to call their freedom into question. We forget that only one out of every three people in the Americas wanted to break away. One third were loyal, and one third could care less. We forget that Native Americans, leaders of their own nations, who were aligned with the British, were pushed away west, and forced off their ancestral lands. To the south, a large number of souls were bonded into slavery on plantations. Oppressed by the same people who stated "all men are created equal." Women and children had little or no rights, and were subject to laws and control. Only the land owners, and wealthy could participate, as renters and journeymen were subject to landlords wishes. Since the beginning, the United States of America has had one set of ideals, and another set of actions. We see this in how we proclaim that a well educated citizenry is the protector of democracy, yet our administrations continue to under and reduce fund schooling. We want all people to be equal, but we have different laws for different income levels. A fine is the same as a free pass for the wealthy. Our nation has made healthcare a for profit business, and 600,000 people have died. Wyoming's population was lost, and Vermont, at just over 600K is next. A building collapsed in the US, and a local leader stated "we are not a third world country" yet all the time laws and regulations to protect people's safety have been repealed or replaced. Our top 1% of wealth owners have made a huge profit off of the COVID 19 pandemic, and spread rumors and innuendos across their media platforms which have caused folks to refuse the vaccination, and claimed that the government was a "deep state conspiracy." As the country eats its grilled meat, and looks to fireworks, we must stop and remember, our "freedom" has come at a massive price- 600000 dead from COVID 7000 (mostly rural and poor) have been killed in the wards in Iraq and Afghanistan Almost 1 in 5 Americans has an annual family income rate of $26, 200 or 12.60 an hour for 52 weeks a year at 40 hours a week. (That is 1.4 million Americans). The Median (or middle wage) is $36,000 (17 dollars an hour for 52 weeks at 40 hours a week). For many Americans also need to pay taxes (which is often 33% of the wages). And the largest employers/ companies/ wealthy folks do not pay taxes. What does this mean? Since the beginning, the top have collected the treasure, blood, sweat, tears of the bottom, and convinced us that it was for our own good! They have tossed Horatio Alger stories at us, and said you too can pull yourself up by the boot straps! Yet that phrase was meant to ridicule the notion- it was impossible! According to science research, almost 2000000 deaths are caused by poverty. Covid 19 gave us freedom to work from home, yet many businesses are demanding we return to work. Women especially are dropping out of the workforce. We under fund child care, where the demand far exceeds the supply. Care workers wages are at the minimum wage. Our US forest service fire fighters make $12 dollars an hour. An entry level enlisted makes 39,600. A direct care aid makes $26568 a year. And they cannot work from home. Substitute teachers who are as qualified as regular teachers make $100 dollars a day. If these Masters degree people with state certification were haired for every day of the year, they would make 18000. Adjuncts at some colleges make $3500 a course. Others make 1800. In the Capital District, the United Way has calculated that a person needs a $50000 a year salary for 1 parent and one child to not be in or near poverty. That is DOUBLE the US Poverty rate. We, as a nation do not have a public transportation system, because the car industry lobbied its way. We do not have health care, because the lobbies won. We do not have stable employment, because the lobbyists won. We expect teachers to teach in a profession where the starting salary is one third of their expenses to get an education. Engineers who pay top dollar for school (250,000 for a BA) are often awarded a starting salary in the 70s, with sign on bonuses. What is the difference? Many engineers are subsidized by the federal military spending contracts awarded to large firms. For freedom, we have sacrificed our livelihoods, our health, our future, and our fellows. The System is broken, we must do better! |
AuthorOver 20 years experience in consulting for improvement. Lean and Six Sigma Certified. PhD in Leadership Archives
November 2022
Categories |