Notes on Seth Godin, Factory Work, Fast Food and Education

I have been reading Seth Godin’s new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Here are few thoughts from the book and few of my own. 

"Our society is struggling because during times of change, the very last people you need on your team are well-paid bureaucrats, note takers literalists, manual readers, TGIF laborers, map followers, and fearful employees. The compliant masses don't help so much when you don't know what to do next." 

Old System

"The system we grew up with is based on a simple formula: Do your job. Show up. Work hard. Listen to the boss. Stick it out. Be part of the system. You'll be rewarded."

"That's a scam." 

"There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do." 

ABC

"Thorton May correctly points out that we have reached the end of what he calls attendance-based compensation (ABC). There are fewer and fewer good jobs where you can get paid merely for showing up. Instead successful organizations are paying for people who make a difference and are shedding everyone else." 

The truest determiner of teacher pay is not ability, performance, creativity, innovation, or initiative...it is simply..who got here first? Factory worker thinking. Old system thinking.

Factory Work

"Most white-collar workers wear white collars, but they're still working in the factory." 

"They push a pencil or process an application or type on a keyboard instead of operating a drill press."

"But it is factory work." 

"It's factory work because it's planned, controlled, and measured. It's factory work because you can optimize for productivity. These workers know what that they're going to do all day--and it's still morning."

If your schedule is laid out to the exact minute in pre-determined prescribed fashion, are you more factory worker or white collar knowledge worker?

I hope we are not turning Education into McDonalds. Everything done in the same way, following the same procedures simplified and standardized to eliminate judgment, and to produce the same results over and over. This kind of work does not require a knowledge worker it just requires labor.

The Pursuit of Interchangeability

"The essence of mass production is that every part is interchangeable. Time, space, men, motion, money, and material--each was made more efficient because every piece was predictable and separate. Ford's discipline was to avoid short-term gains in exchange for always seeking the interchangeable, always standardizing." 

Standards of what should be taught-School, state, and federal standards 

Standardized curriculum used. 

Standards of how the curriculum should be implemented.

Standardized pacing.

Standardized time/minutes for each subject.

Standardized tests of what should be measured. 

Standardized use of researched based strategies. 

Standardized use of data collection. 

Standardized plan of intervention. -RtI

Standardized method for collaboration- PLCs. 

Standardized goals and purpose- NCLB and RTTT

Standards on teacher qualification- teacher credentials and education

Remember Seth’s warning..."There are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do." 

Is teaching at McDonald's a great job? 

Comments

[Michael Eury]

Rob, I've also just finished Seth's book and agree that there are many lessons for learning within it's pages (and some good lessons for me too!)
I especially liked the section on maps, you must build your own, you can't just pick up a standardised version and expect it to work!

[Rob Jacobs]

Thanks for taking the time to comment Michael. Seth is one of those writers who always make me think, even if I have to make leaps to connect it to education.

[Augusto]

Hello Rob, congratulations for your work - here's a picture I took last December in Denmark that relates a to the quote you tweeted below:

"You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were TRAINED to become a cog." Seth Godin

http://thelearninghost.com/acuginotti/wp-content/blogs.dir/5/files/cph-dec-2009/dscn2549.jpg

[MikeSporer]

"The truest determiner of teacher pay is not ability, performance, creativity, innovation, or initiative...it is simply..who got here first? Factory worker thinking. Old system thinking."

This is much of the problem in education today, Rob, and it is engrained in the system. This "who got here first" kind of thinking must change!

[Rob Jacobs]

Augusto, I love the picture.

Mike, I obviously agree with you. We need to overcome this status quo and design something both teacher and student deserve.

[Steve Barkley]

Well said....the most frustrating thing that instructional coaches often hear from a teacher is, "just tell me what to do" I suggest that they respond by saying, "Sorry" that job doesn't exist at this school. Here we hire people to figure out what to do." A coach is some to work along side to assist in that "figuring out"

[Rob Jacobs]

Steve, I have heard that comment often as well in PLCs and staff development. What an awesome response. I will have to use that response the next time I hear that comment (with credit to the master of course). Thanks for adding your thinking.