In a letter to Ron M. you stated the following---
 MS>     Ford, Chrysler, and GM each have their own 
 MS> _separate_ quality-control procedures, including 
 MS> "exit exams".
And they continue to produce defective products that make it through these 
tests--spending many of dollars that could have been spent on improving the 
process.  In education, millions are spent on national tests that do exactly 
the same.
Have you compaired the recall rate of, say Toyota vs any domestic 
manufacturer?  How about Saturn vs others? (they are Deming managed 
ompanies)
What I am saying is that the process of management of education is not 
correct--we are producing too many "defects".
 
 MS>     Just as there is no national, industry-standard quality-control 
 MS> system on car makers, quality control in education 
 MS> does not require national standards.  Indeed, 
 MS> waiting for the adoption of national standards 
 MS> would take longer than states or even individual 
 MS> districts doing it themselves, due to political 
 MS> delays...a local school board or superintendent 
 MS> moves faster than congress.
The whole problem is that everyone above is deciding standards without 
involving the community, students, parents, and teachers.  Without that, any 
attempt to install standards will not raise quality any higher than existing 
today.
Actually, we do have a standard in place--either the ITBS or the CBTS, both 
are used nationally--both are basically worthless except to the bean counters 
and the testing companies.
RM> grades in lesser courses.  Does Mr. Deming take into account
RM> that in education, the product interacts with the process
RM> and can be influenced in its (the product's) actions?  When
RM> making a tv, this isn't a factor ....
 MS>     Not exactly so.
 MS>     Quality-control professionals in manufacturing 
 MS> _daily_ have to face problems in their product 
 MS> deriving from poor-quality components bought from 
 MS> outside.
Deming does state how to deal with poor quality components and to get their 
quality up to standards directly from the suppliers.
 
In the case of students that are not "up to standards" before entering 
school, then there needs to be early intervention to bring them up to 
standards.  That will help make sure that they are good customers for the 
education that will be delivered to them.
--- Maximus 2.02
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