🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct04.000328.1546@jlc.mv.com> john@jlc.mv.com (John Leslie) writes:
>In article <1992Oct2.143330.24239@cbfsb.cb.att.com> (anthony.r.rizzo) writes:
>>
>> Government and the educational system could learn much from the
>> "Process Quality Management and Improvement" programs that are
>> being implemented in the private sector.
>>
>> As I see it, the students are the customers, and the educational
>> system is the supplier.
>
>   Customers are people who buy something.  There is a well-established
>industry of greeting cards.  All the firms in this business know that
>their customer is the buyer of the card, not the recipient.  Why do
>educators insist on believing that _their_ customers are the recipients,
>not the buyers?
>
>> Yes, I know that this is not alt.politics.  But the deterioration
>> of the school system inevitably will lead to the deterioration
>> of industrial competitiveness.  It will affect even my own
>> children's ability to earn a living, even though they are only
>> 4 year old and 15 months old right now.
>
>   Now you sound like a customer.  Quality Improvement programs _do_
>have a lot to offer us, once we've correctly identified the customer.
>Customers can learn to recognize and value quality, once the supplier
>takes the time to listen to their needs and adjust the specifications
>to fit those needs.
>
>   Could we re-cast this discussion, starting with the customers' needs
>and progressing into adjusting the specifications?

Sure!
I will very soon become a customer of the school system in the country.
In fact, I am already a customer, in one sense.

My near-term needs are these:

1)  My children need to learn the basic skills that are essential
    to continued learning.

2)  My chilren need a physically and emotionally safe and nurturing 
    environment where they can acquire those skills.

My longer-term needs are these:

3)  My children will need to prepare for one of two career paths, either
    employment without a college education or employment with a college
    education.  Therefore, I need the 9-12 segment of the school system
    to prepare them adequately for either of those career choices.

4)  I and my children will need continued education in select areas
    of knowledge, throughout our lives.

5)  I and my children will need retraining, at some point in our careers.

Now that you know the customer's needs, lets see the specifications.


Tony Rizzo