Conscientious Objector: The Unintended Consequences of Super-Development

Conscientious Objector: The Unintended Consequences of Super-Development: The Unintended Consequences of Super-Development: The ongoing recession (which I don’t think is over as some would like to believe) is reall...

The Unintended Consequences of Super-Development

The Unintended Consequences of Super-Development:

The ongoing recession (which I don’t think is over as some would like to believe) is really a case of unintended consequences of super-development.  I coined the word super-development, because some economies are well beyond the capitalist classical definition of development (mostly defined by the industrial revolution). My definition of super-development is when an economy is so highly sophisticated that over 60% of its GDP is comprised of income earning productivity from intangible assets; the skills of its labor force are no longer aligned or cannot fit with the required skills set to produce these assets; virtual technology efficiencies and mechanical automation is increasingly replacing human labor capital; tangible manufacturing outputs are based on fragments components of inputs sourced from multiple external suppliers, etc. There are other indicator variables but you get the idea! The transition from development to super-development (like most change) creates economic tensions and structural crisis that manifest in the form of economic depressions, recession, under or unemployment downturns, etc.  These are challenges and consequences of first mover advantages into super-development –another unintended consequent! However, to address these tensions requires innovative thinking, a paradigm shift in the ways they approach and implement economic solutions. But we seem stuck in obsolescence.

 Unlike other leaders before him as far as I know, President Obama is sending out his emissaries from different federal agencies to conduct focus group meetings with different local leaders of communities and industries. These private focus group meetings are being held all over the country as a way of the administration reaching out to the “grassroots”  in order to get feedback on  the pulse of what’s really happing on the ground in the Towns and Cities in the country! Once again this past week, one of President Obama’s emissaries was in New Jersey.  Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, Ms. Nicole Lamb-Hale came to meet with business and economic development leaders in Newark, NJ.  As usual, I was one of those leaders invited for this focus group meeting to discuss and brainstorm ideas of boosting the economy in America. As an economic development specialist and business leader, I have been invited to several of these focus group meetings held in Newark because of my involvement with small business development at Rutgers.  Given that the Assistant Secretary is with the Department of Commerce the specific focus was on the broadening of international trade through enhancing American manufacturing and services industries. The ultimate objective is always to generating jobs, increasing business development, increasing consumer confidence, etc, etc.

 In her opening presentation the Secretary shared one fact that picked my interested: America makes up 5% of the global market; thus 95% is out there. From a business perspective we all know that there are really two strategies of growing your business through an increasing market share approach: 1) either through a vertical integration strategy where you penetrate the same market using a matrix of strategic actions; or 2) by a horizontal integration strategy where you create a diversified portfolio of new and old markets.  Why they are we still just focusing on the 5% and seeming to ignore the potential of the other 95% market? I suggested to the Secretary that we are too preoccupied with finding solutions within our 5% market and it’s not enough we needed to think outside the box. From the solutions like workforce development training how can we increase market share?  One of the ideas I shared with the Secretary was the possibility of thinking about the Department of Commerce, in collaboration with the Department of Labor looking at ways of exporting some of the brick & motor skilled labor force to emerging markets that are still in the building phase! One of the Union leaders in the room had pointed out that he has 40% of his skilled trades labor force unemployed – if we have stopped manufacturing as we used to, and building new infrastructure as we used to our 5% market is not going to absorb this skilled labor surplus.

She acknowledges collaboration of related federal department in businesses services is something the administration has started doing. She also added that the thought of exporting labor as a resource was brilliant and thinking outside of the box. But the silence in the room was telling me I had taken the conversation out of its comfort zone - Americans work as migrant workers? That would be a culture shock. A perspective I have discussed in one of my other blog: “The Era of the New Migrant Worker”. In addition, the idea of exporting labor is the same suggestion I wrote about on exporting the American high school education model on “Manufacturing Education: Navigating the Public High School System minefields”. Thus exporting this labor would definitely boost the American economy as it increases the purchasing power of the expatriate’s families.

I was in Southern Africa recently and I noticed the emergence of small businesses – mostly traders. Entrepreneurship is booming in these economies. I found out that most of these traders are buying their commodities from Asia and the Middle East through online commodity procurement portals. These commodity consortiums are predominately Asian and Middle-Eastern suppliers of goods and services. I do not know of any commodity portal where American suppliers of goods and services are available to buyers in the 95% global markets. The Federal & State goods and services procurement portals we have here are of those businesses seeking to do contract with the US government or its State and local affiliates! I suggested to the Secretary, it would be a great idea to have US supplier portals that any global buyer or dealer can access if they wish to buy US manufactured goods and services. America’s competitive advantage is its credibility in producing quality products and services that meets standard guarantees. With Asia gaining the reputation of flooding emerging African markets with sub-standard goods and services, this presents an opportunity for the US to step in. But if they really need to do business with Africa the Administration also needs to take into account discouraging and unfavorable visa practices in the State Department that have undermined emerging market’s desire to do business with the US!

In a nutshell growing a 5% market will entail expanding into the 95% global market share.  For me, each time I attend these private focus group meetings I have left with mixed feeling of both excitement and of hopelessness for several reasons. The excitement is merely because the President is genuinely interested in connecting with the grassroots and finding out what’s really going on in the field. I don’t remember any President ever trying to do that. However, I am frustrated because usually most of the so called leaders (politicians/administrators/ businesses/academicians, etc)in the room have a very narrow focus on what the issues or solutions are because they are too focused on their immediate local  challenges and short-sighted to the dynamic complexity of the interconnections between the small and big pictures;  focused on what more the government can do for us; some leaders are out of touch and do not have many ideas let alone words to share; most are the usual suspects (like me – but at least I get it!) but  most frustrating for me is  that most cannot even fully articulate what the solutions could or  should be! Instead they will recycle ideas that have been done already - like we need to have more workforce development training; complaining about the need for more jobs but how to get these jobs created no one can tell; we need to get people to spend more to boost the economy, but if they do not have the money or are out of work where is the money to spend? Everyone is struggling to comprehend what should be done? Most of what can be done locally had been done and the results do not meet expectation.

After my recent trip to Southern Africa, it reinforces what I have known for a while – geography is irrelevant, and where you invest does not necessarily dictate where you earn; and where you earn is above and beyond not limited by where you invest! That’s the migrant mentality. I believe the writing is on the wall, the question is: “Are we prepared to move out of our false self-sufficiency superiority complex comfort zone and accept that the world now is really flat, not hierarchical?”

Published and copyrighted: @ February 4, 2012 by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA (Strategy Leadership Institute in Private  & Public Affairs); Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

Suggested related readings from my blog CONCIENCIOUS OBJECTOR: http://docndoro.blogspot.com/

1.       “The Era of the New Migrant Worker”: http://docndoro.blogspot.com/2011/05/era-of-new-migrant-worker.html

2.       “Manufacturing Education: Navigating the Public High School System minefields” : http://docndoro.blogspot.com/2011/09/manufacturing-education-navigate-public.html

3.       “Urban Entrepreneurship: Challenges & Solutions”: http://docndoro.blogspot.com/2011/06/urban-entrepreneurship-challenges.html

4.       “A Framework of Possibilities for Small Business Growth in the Globalization Era”:

5.       http://docndoro.blogspot.com/2011/02/framework-of-possibilities-for-small.html

Civility is NOT a Sign of Weakness!

I am truly fed up with grown adults with the audacity to display no manners or sense of courtesy to other people in public. I have a growing belief that the human race as a species is really regressing behaviorally rather than progressing. We are gradually losing our social skills, if we have not lost it already. I also notice that people have a total lack of passion and compassion. They are so robotic and thought-less in their actions and behaviors, like they have been neutered of humanity! It’s not just the lack of manners, ethics and etiquette, but a pervasive lack of sensibility, of just simple common decency. I work with the public a lot and I have seen a person pick up their cell phone in the middle of a training or presentation and proceed to entertain the cell while everyone is trying to listen to the presenter. I used to be diplomatic, but now I have had to tell some adults to leave the room with their cell phone because they are disrupting the class and the presenter!

As a parent of an autistic child, I have become so keenly aware of human behavior in public, simply because people are so intolerant of children who are different from the typical.  The other day I went to Costco and my son threw a huge tantrum in the store. He was running around the store and disappearing to look at the merchandise like the electrical fireplace and the fan heaters on the floor which are his object triggers. Because he was not listening to stay close to me, as punishment I told him he had lost his privilege of having the take out ice cream yoghurt. A treat I usually buy for him after check out. All hell broke loose. He wanted my reassurance that he was going to get the ice cream and I kept telling him no…no…No! He would not hear it. With each no, he would scream and run up and down the aisle then come back asked me again and I would say no. While this whole scene was unfolding, I started noticing this man and his three children following us from aisle and just starring at us. My teenage daughter just stood there holding the cart feeling helpless. As for me frankly, I don’t get embarrassed at all, it is what it is, this is my normal world.  By the third aisle there was quite a little crowd of adults including the man and his three children again just standing there and starring at my son doing his thing! As it dawned on me that people were starring like this was entertainment for them. As I was just about to go market on them and yell at them to keep it moving and mind their own business, I caught my daughter’s eye – begging me not to!  I could not believe it; these people were looking as if they have never seen a child throw a tantrum before. Who stands around as a spectator starring at a child throwing a tantrum as if its entertainment? Their passive action was abnormal to me to say the least.

Then I came home and caught the last bit on Anderson Cooper 360 town hall meeting on Bully. As I heard most of the experts saying the schools had to be equipped to handle these kinds of bullies by training the teachers, holding the kids accountable, etc, etc. I was like are you kidding me. Thanks to Doctor Phil for saying that this starts with the parents and therefore we need to hold parents accountable!!! I AGREE 100%. It starts with the parents and the value system they set for their children. Bully parents breed bully children. I truly believe that if you have a child bully, one of the parents (if not both of them) is certainly a bully either at work or to their spouse or in their extended family circles. I remember when my daughter was being bullied in elementary school. The bullying occurred on the afterschool bus to the YMCA. The bullying was being perpetrated by a click of 5^th grade girls on my daughter. One of the bully girls’ younger sister was in 2^nd grade with my daughter and they were having a run-in during class periods over a friend who was initially my daughter’s friend, but now this other little girl wanted my daughter’s friend to be her friend, but was not interested in sharing the friend with my daughter. When my daughter told me they were bullying her and calling her insulting words on the bus, it was on. I went to the class list and sought out the little girl’s home number and called the parents. When the mother picked up I politely introduced myself and told her why I was calling. Her first comment was “You shouldn’t be calling here; you should address it through the school! Besides, my daughters would never do that they are sweet and innocent.” I couldn’t believe that this parent was hiding behind “the school” and absolving herself of the responsibility of her daughters’ behavior. Instantly I knew therein lay the problem. I became icy cold and told her firmly “Your daughters are by no means sweet or innocent, they are bullies. You need to tell your mean daughters to leave my daughter alone. If they as much as stare at my daughter again or whisper any profanities to her again, I will be on that after school bus before the week is over and you do not want me to tell them myself. Do I make myself clear?” She was speechless. I continued, “Your daughters are messing with the wrong little girl and you do not want to hear from me again!” Then I hung up. That was the end of the bulling. My daughter never had trouble from them again.

These are just two of many incidents I have witnessed where adults just do not have common decency or social skills, they simply take no accountability or responsibility of their actions and they hide behind “the system”. The sneaky smile on Ruth Madoff’s face during her interview on CBS’s 60 minutes confirmed it all for me! It irritated the hell out of me and I felt like crawling into my TV screen and wiping it off her mouth with a cactus. People just abdicate their conscience or civility but stands by ignoring, blaming, or pushing it onto someone else! There is a decadent behavior of watching other people’s pain and misery without feeling compassion or empathy. Then we wonder why our children are growing up without proper social skills. Well it’s because most of the adults themselves have neutered social skills. CIVILITY IS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS!

Copyright @ November 1, 2011 by Dr. Tendai Ndoro begin_of_the_skype_highlighting  end_of_the_skype_highl(DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA (Strategy Leadership Institute in Private & Public Affairs); Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC. 

ROOTS & WINGS…Connecting the Dots in Retrospect

The other day I heard a mother saying to her daughter, the 2 best things that a parent can give her child is give them Roots and Wings. I gave them to you so go do your thing, I got your back. I loved it. It was so simply succinct and truly encapsulated my unarticulated parenting philosophy and aspirations – giving my children roots and wings! I have always preached about the importance of giving our children S.E.E. – socio-economic exposure…. and every time I said S.E.E. I felt it always sounded so “academic”. But when this mother said it – it was so plain yet so complete!  I remember telling my daughter that there are five ways of gaining knowledge. We learn through: a) formal education; b) cross-cultural immersion; c) multi-religious tolerance; d) multi-language immersion; e) travel and food exposure; not necessarily in any order of priority.

Once, I took her and her baby brother to an Afghan restaurant on 9^th Avenue in New York City when she was about 9years old. She started protesting that she wanted hamburger and chips! I told her this was not a McDonald occasion, so she needed to try something else or stay hungry. She was hungry so she had no choice but to eat the couscous. Now she loves it. The other day she remembered and requested that we visit the restaurant again. I am not even sure if it’s still open. Then I sent her to a South African International School for two and half years straight from 8 years in American parochial school. The first year was tough. Really tough. She cried and called every weekend! But now she is a global citizen with cross-cultural competencies of discerning subtle cultural nuances that positively differentiate us, yet at the same time make us one. She is grounded and has gained some self-discipline for African boarding school is like military school, if not worse. Above all else she has social capital -made friends from all over Africa and Europe as a result.

Recently transferred back to the US for junior high, she was placed in a Music workshop class that teach studio production and engineering. While some kids in her class were complaining about how they hated the class, she loved it. On the other hand she was complaining about how she hated her music theory class because she felt so unprepared! I worked hard to get her into that class. So I shared with her my own story about hating courses in high school but taking them anyway. I told her that when I was in boarding school, I remember hating a class called “Domestic Science” where they taught us cookery and sewing. We universally hated it because we believed that it was meant to prepare us to be maids (in case you failed the rigorous British Cambridge ‘O’level exams). It was the colonial era of my high school days! Roll up 10 years later I am in Grad school in America, the economy of my homeland is spiraling down so was the currency rates. I have no money, no fellowship, never could do those waitressing jobs, let alone I did not have the stomach for working as a nurse’s aide and dropping out of school was not an option. I needed a way to pay tuition so I decided to a fashion designing company. I designed my own custom made contemporary African couture. It was a thriving business and I made enough money to pay my tuition and rent!!!! Still hated sewing, but I got great at designing averaging $250/outfit. In addition, because of domestic science I turned out to be a great cook! Thanks to my teacher, Mrs. Malaba!!! Who knew?

At the time of telling her this story I did not even realize I was building on her roots and wings. I was just trying to help her in appreciating that the dots have a way of connecting somehow! I did not even know this either till I stumbled on a YouTube video of Steven Jobs giving a 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=D1R-jKKp3NA). He was sharing his story about how he dropped out of college because he could not bear the thought of his adoptive working parents spending their hard earned savings for college tuition he could not see the value of. Once dropped out he continued sneaking into classes and stumbled on a calligraphy course and he loved it! Roll forward 10 years later he started Apple in his garage and designed the Mac to have the most beautiful typography than the PCs. In a nutshell he said that he could not connect the dots while taking these risky decisions, but in retrospect he is able to connect the dots. Had he not dropped out of college he probably would not have started Apple, given it the best typography. When he got publicly fired from the company he started he would not have started PIXAR, the best animation company of the 21^st century.

Sometimes when one door closes, there is a reason why you are being detoured to your true destiny. As human beings, it’s in our nature to get in our way. But then again is it? Does all this structured “socialization” do more harm than good? I really don’t know. I am just trying not to get in my own way or my kids’ way. Its every parent’s responsibility to give their children roots and wing, but it’s the child’s responsibility to trust and tap into their roots and wings! They need to understand, with globalization geography is irrelevant. Spread your wings far and wide child!

Copyright @ October 18, 2011 by Dr. Tendai Ndoro (DocNdoro) – Founder, SLIPPA (Strategy Leadership Institute in Private & Public Affairs); Brighten The Corner Foundation; CEO EDCTrainers, LLC.

Conscientious Objector: The Con Game of Shearing & Controlling the Consume...

Conscientious Objector: The Con Game of Shearing & Controlling the Consume...: The Con Game of Shearing & Controlling the Consumer I just spend 2hrs of my Saturday morning with Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi set-up...what a lous...

The Con Game of Shearing & Controlling the Consumer

The Con Game of Shearing & Controlling the Consumer

I just spend 2hrs of my Saturday morning with Comcast Xfinity Wi-Fi set-up...what a lousy process! When they hooked up my internet to my cable last Saturday and I asked the technician for my Wi-Fi password and he told me “Oh I am just supposed to hook up your router and not set up your Wi-Fi" I said to him but I specifically asked for high speed internet with Wi-Fi capability? He just shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, looks at me calmly while he is fidgeting with his cell phone and said “So do you want me to hook it up or not?” I had already waited 2 weeks for the appointment, and he had just arrived 2 hours late for the appointment time and I was entertaining visitors, so I was in a corner. “How long will it take to hook it up?”  I asked. He says “20minutes.” Commonsense kicks in - I could not wait for another 2 weeks for them to come back for a 20 minute job. So I let him do it! I have FIOS right now and I am pissed at them too that’s why I am getting Xfinity before I kick them to the curb site! Sure enough he is done in 20 minutes. After the tech is gone, it’s irking me that they did not have it together, so I call customer service to find out why the order they gave the technician did not have Wi-Fi? The guy tells me, “Oh your router is already Wi-Fi capable, if you can’t get Wi-Fi on your laptops when you hook-up your desktop call us back and we will walk you through it, by the way you have 30 days to try it and if you are not happy you can always call us back to cancel it!” I had visitors and could not hook-up the desktop from FIOS to Xfinity there and then so I said I will get back to you!!!

Today, exactly a week later to the day, I call customer service again to tell them, well all is set up and I still cannot get my Wi-Fi! The guy tell me,

“Oh let me transfer you to our Wi-Fi department they will set you up.”

“You people told me to call you back, why do you have to transfer me?” I retorted.

“Yes, Dr. Ndoro but it’s another department that sets it up”

By then its dawning on me that I am being ‘handled’ and from experience there is always some rude surprise definitely awaiting me. I was right. They do not tell you that when you set up for internet installation with Comcast (which is $59 bucks) you have to make a separate call to set up your Wi-Fi network to your laptops and charge you another $45! The guy on the phone starts explaining in a calm voice the rational for the $45 dollars, and I am like “I don’t care about your back office logistics and which department does what or how much it cost, as an end user I wanted my technology working to my expectations the day your technician hooked me up….I did not expect to make any other service calls and go through a learning curve about cost and who does what in Comcast!”

I am beyond annoyed at this rate and I could feel the yelling coming on! But I remain calm. I tell him, “My experience with FIOS is you do not get all this peace-meal service...when they are done all your gadgets and services are working and the only thing they hand you is your NetID password!!! So again I don't care how you do it in your back office or how much it cost...just hook me up and let me use the service”. He continues calmly, “Yes, Dr. Ndoro”. But they are shearing me like a sheep…that’s what we call it in public administration when we refer to how the government increases your taxes slowly but surely without the taxpayer realizing it, otherwise the taxpayer will riot at sudden obvious hike moves…vano nyangira!

When all is said and done,

He tells me “We are done with writing up the order and you also have  Xfinity Signature support for another $5.95/ month which will appear on your bill and I will now transfer you to our network technician who will set it up for your here is your ticket #.. ”

HOLD IT!!! My mind is still at the other $5.95/month statement I just heard…..!

I ask him “Why am I now going to pay another $5.95, that’s not what your deal offer said? That takes another 15 minutes of conversation.

He tells me “This is not mandatory and it’s not included in your deal, this is just that if you ever need any Wi-fi support in case something goes wrong you can call us anytime at no extra cost”

“So it’s like insurance?”

“Not exactly, its additional support” he says.

I ask “What does that entail and ‘what would go wrong’ with the service”

“Oh if you ever buy another computer and you want it hooked to your home network we can help”

I said but that’s just to add my netID and my password to the new computer and I have to pay you $5.95 every month????”

 Then he adds "well, other people do not even know how to hook-up a new computer so we also help them with that straight from the box.."

I say "really...well I am not other people I can hook up my hardware myself"...

then he says "things can go wrong and you can call us any time, if you do not have the support plan it can cost you $45 each time you call us for a tech to help you remotely!!!".

By this time they have made me so insecure and paranoid. So finally, I am signed up for the $5.95 and yet I am experiencing buyer’s remorse and thinking - ”why should I pay rich Comcast an additional 6 bucks!!!” But I am worn out and exhausted with the conversations and need to move on at this point. I am thinking I will call them another day when I have new energy! Not to mention that when I finally get the network technician to set up my Wi-Fi, he remotely enters my computer system and takes over my desktop and is now controlling it remotely!!!! What the F**king hell are these people up to!!!  They have the capability and power to enter my home computer system through their little black box from anyway in the universe!!!! Instantly, I forget my concern of having been sucked into paying $5.95/month for ‘support’…. I am more than insecure and paranoid…I am PETRIFIED at the realization of how much control and ownership they have over me and every consumer out there!

Conscientious Objector: Manufacturing Education: Navigate the Public High ...

Conscientious Objector: Manufacturing Education: Navigate the Public High ...: I had an epiphany the other day – I am learning vicariously through my children. In fact, I realized that since becoming a parent I have...

Manufacturing Education: Navigating the Public High School System minefields

 

I had an epiphany the other day – I am learning vicariously through my children. In fact, I realized that since becoming a parent I have been learning and gaining exposure to life, not just my kids’ lives, but the capacity to understand mine too. As the kids are growing I have to assimilate them in the education industry. I have realized that this requires more unorthodox skills and street smarts than any classroom education can give you. My learning curve is in realizing that America has perfected the manufacturing of education! As an entrepreneur I was thinking this is one commodity America could franchise. If we could franchise this education system to the world every child would be “educated”, i.e. have a high school diploma! The question is will that High School Diploma allow your child to be an officer in the military, OR enter a 4 year college; OR become an entrepreneur pursuing their genius? That’s what it’s about, but if you as a parent check out or blink, your child sinks.

Don’t get me wrong – what I am saying is the superior education curriculum content is there, the problem is some of the kids are being excluded from the elite course offerings! Like everything in our American economy there are different levels of consumption – each consumer according to his/her means – you can either shop at Wal-Mart or Sears or Sacks Fifth Avenue; or you can either eat at McDonald or Olive Garden or at Per Se (NYC), but you are still consuming something! At the end of the day everyone is dressed and fed – life’s basic needs are met! The public education system is set up the same way, and frankly I do not think a lot of parents realize or understand how it works or some of the implications of it! Inclusion is not necessarily equal!

However, my daughter who had spend the first two and a half years of high school studying abroad recently changed schools to a public school here in the US. The last time she attended public school was in grade 1 & 2. After that I pulled her out into parochial schools. Now we are back, and little did I know that the Public High School System is designed as a mass production manufacturing education factory! It’s been an interesting awakening and a major learning curve from the private school process we are accustomed to. Here was my learning experience: After the application process for my daughter to attend the local public school, I sent an email to my daughter’s guidance counselor requesting a meeting. Having learnt to manage IEPs processes for my son, I knew that I had to be proactive, act timely, be fully involved and engaged in her transitioning process.  (RULE #1 – BE THE NO.1 ADVOCATE FOR YOUR CHILD).

In requesting a meeting it’s always best to specify your agenda items for discussion in your email before your meet with the school representative (s) you are seeking to meet with. As a rule and for convenience I never call school personnel or communicate by phone to the school in the beginning or on important issues I want to discuss. I always write a letter or most often email first. It also saves as a reminder of the issue I need to cover in the meeting, after the meeting and months later when there is no follow through then I have evidence of having brought it up. (RULE #2 – PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING FOR YOUR RECORD AS WELL AS TO ENSURE A PRODUCTIVE MEETING)

Well the IEP prior experience was very helpful in the situation now upon me with my daughter. We arrived in the guidance counselors (a very nice woman) office and she was ready for us and realized the email had also been helpful to getting her plan and focus on how we would proceed with the meeting. We hit the ground running. Started with reviewing her transcript from the other school – check; equated the subject credit list for the two prior years  she had done school abroad– check; discussed how the school worked – check; finally address her subject course needs for Grade 11 – pause! She reviewed her assessment test and told us “well she is slotted mostly for level 3”. NO! I had done my home work -Level 3 is the second from the bottom and was general education curriculum, it would not prepare her for a 4 year college and she was not going to a community college first! (RULE #3 – DO YOUR RESEARCH GET CORRECT INFORMATION AND BE INFORMED BEFORE GOING IN).

The other level were:  level 4 (honors); Level 5 (advanced placement) Level 6: College prep; Well my daughter was going to college we had already attended an open house/ orientation for the university I wanted her to go into so there was no way she would get in with a level 3 education! I put my negotiation skills and demanded that 1) nothing less than level 4 would do; 2) some of the courses she needed were in level 5 and I had already reach out to the subject area supervisor for approval for advanced placement. (RULE #4: Make sure as a parent you are talking to the right PERSON WHO CAN MAKE A DECISION ON THE ISSUE)

As we chatted while the counselor works on my daughter’s course selection for her schedule, we come to find out the high school has 2000 students (Grade 9-12). “What,” my daughter exclaims – her previous boarding school had a total student body of 450!  How do they manage to educate 2000 student a year? Couldn’t believe it. I am thinking “this is an education manufacturing plant to say the least” I am now finding out that public high school operates just like the universities. The students have customized course schedules created and they move from class to class based on that schedule and may never take a class with the same students for the whole year! A good course and time management experience for her near future years in college. My daughter’s guidance counselor had 200 students in her case file! I know as a public administrator, public service employees are usually overworked and under paid; I also know that they have rigid rules and regulations based on policies some legislator push through that they have to follow. But I also know that public administrator have enough room within the parameters of those rigid rules and regulations to exercise their own discretion in making certain decisions about your special circumstances based on what’s in front of them. The ideal is a one size fits all, but they can shave a square peg to fit into a round hole if need be or justifiable! (RULE # 4 –KNOW WHAT LEVEL OF DECISION MAKING DISCRETION THE SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVE YOU ARE TALKING TO HAS & ALSO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE ENOUGH DISCRETION TO MAKE CERTAIN DECISIONS)

Once the initial schedule was done, I stopped by the principal’s office and requested the student/parent hand book only to be told it was still at the printers and we would only get it after school started! This did not make sense. In my common sense, it should be made available during the summer before schools starts so that parents and students are fully informed about their options. Well it was not. Was this by design? My skeptical mind thought, but I quickly brushed the thought aside – it was distracting and a waste of energy for now – it would be my cause when my daughter is settled in school. Therefore I figured, it was now time to put my samurai sword away and use strategy skills – I would wait a few days till it comes. (RULE #5 – CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES).

But as soon as we got home I got a call from my guidance counselor we had a class conflict in period 6 so she had cancelled French for creative writing. I am thinking she needed a foreign language to get into the university program we wanted. It was now time to pull out my strategy skills. She needed French and we need to put it back! The counselor retorted but then she will not have an English requirement and the creative writing was it! She needed English so now she had to take Shakespeare in period 2not creative writing! I don’t mind Shakespeare, but my daughter as a music lyric writer, loves creative writing so her desire won. While the guidance counselor was stuck on the conflict in period 6 I am reviewing the transcript and seeing she there were other electives I did not care for. So I asked what other period is creative writing offered? She says, “In period 4 but she has supplement English reading and writing.” “What SuppEng was it for?” I asked. She tells me for an exam every 11^th Grader takes in March. Really, well let’s take it out and put creative writing, then give me the curriculum and I will teach my child to pass the damn exam! She knew I was not going to budge. Why is a child who has been speaking, writing and reading English proficiently since she was born need to take a subject for a one time exam? I know the performance measurement game in the public sector; I have a PhD in Public Administration!!! As it turns out that class can be taken after you fail the exam, not before, therefore she did not need to spend a year studying for an exam just to meet the State passing standard goals. I eventually read this in the student/parent handbook that we got after the fact, but my district was making it “mandatory” for some students before the exam! (RULE #6 – MAXIMIZE YOUR OPTIONS, ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS AND YOU WILL GET THE RIGHT RESULTS)

Surprisingly, my district high school is quite reputable in the State, and up there in the country! It has a music program which is not found in many high schools! Who knew? I sent my child to an oversees expensive elite boarding school to have the benefit of the music theory program yet it was right in my backyard. However, she learned piano there, got some global experience, made friends with kids from all over the world, learned about diversity, grew mature and grounded, that was a plus. Other than that, I am glad she is back home and not having to be pay tuition while paying taxes as well! At the end of the day, it was a win/win/win outcome. My daughter got a schedule that works for her and she loves her teachers and our public school; I got the level classes I wanted for her (&me too); and the guidance counselor did not get a headache from us. It all finally came together.

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