MS>     "Downsizing" is a major trend in the Fortune 500, and it's showi
MS> business doesn't see the individual employee as a resource to develo
MS>     It makes no sense for a business to push for policies that won't
MS> in its current personnel policy.
 
On the contrary, with downsizing, re-engineering (or whatever you want 
to call it this week) an organization (business, educational, military) 
had better be concerned about developing the individual.  With fewer 
positions available, the ones left behind will undoubtedly shoulder 
greater responsibility and more expectations placed on them -- the 
organization must, therefore, carefully select its new hires.  They 
will want competitive, competent and knowledgeable employees.  With 
fewer openning, an organization can "afford" to be more selective. 
But then, how is employee development tied to an organization's postion
on supporting the "academic standards" move within their community or 
state?  Can you safely assume that because company XWZ doesn't have a 
strong in-house employee education program, that they can't/won't be 
interested in developing academic standards within their community?  
Heck, maybe they would come out of that standards process with some 
positive thoughts on how to institute or improve their own employee 
development program! 
 
Again, this sounds like a nifty research project:  Who on this 
committee has a dismal (or nonexistent) employee development program? 
and secondly, what do they look for in a new hire? (have their 
expectations/standards gone up or down)
 
MS> DH> Well gee, maybe some of 'em have kids?!
MS>  
MS>     Most executives either send their kids to private schools or to 
MS> suburban schools, in either case schools with good discipline and gr
MS> scores.  Their kids don't go to inner-city schools, reform of which 
MS> affect the education their kid gets.
 
But wouldn't a consistent framework of standards be beneficial to all 
schools, both inner- and outer-city?  Throughout the reading I've done 
to date, the move is for this framework, rather than to impose a 
complex, ridgid set of immovable standards on a district or individual 
school...there must be room at the local level for people to make it 
work (I've not read anything yet that advocates a "national 
standards-in-a-box" approach)  I would expect support from the 
community on developing these standards would benefit all schools in 
the community.
 
I guess it's important to step back a second and look at this guide for 
what it is --- a guide to help interested business people participate 
in this process of developing academic standards.  Those that ignore 
the need for standards or dismiss the value of our educational system 
will not read it, will not participate in the process and will continue 
on as they have in the past.  Those that are interested in the topic, 
value education, think they *may* have something to contribute have a 
tool to introduce them to the topic and whet their appetite for more. 
Reading this guide surely won't turn someone into a world class 
standards developer overnight, but it may enlighten someone enough to 
make them *care* about the issue of standards or some other aspect 
related to the education of our students (young and old). From there, 
who knows, maybe that person will become actively involved or maybe 
they'll just attend one more PTA meeting, or pay a little more 
attention to their kids math questions or ... its hard to imagine all 
the possiblities.
 
Dale
--- TriDog 10.0
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