Wednesday, March 18, 2020

People Need to Learn to Read

     I think half the problems in the world would go away if  we ensured every child has a strong education that focuses on  strong reading, math, and science skills, along with a good dose of supports for social and emotional well being and basic life skills. of the problems that remain, half of those would be solved if those that can read, actually take the time to do so and then the time to review and try and comprehend. I ma neck deep in working on my part of the country mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 virus on children and families. Regular work still needs to happen though, so of course regular questions and issues com eup. However, today, there was specific directions shared on how to test a new system, and where you go with problems and questions. That place is not me. That place is not my coworkers. Of the 12 people that are testing this system change, how many do you think have either directed questions to me, or sent me multiple e-mails with their review. Answer, so far, 7 of 12. 

     We have clear guidance, and where there are still fine points to share, I've been swamped with people asking exactly the same questions that the guidance answers in full. I even had someone say, "I know the answer is probably in the guidance document, but I thought I would ask you first." Why!!!! We have a hotline set up as well as a phone line. Why do they think they need an answer form me specifically? It just makes no senses. Just about every answer is available if folks take a few minutes to look. We didn't all spend 12 hours on Sunday, and another 4-6 hours after  work on Monday and Tuesday to not provide good answers. 

     I am sorry for this rant, but I try not to rant at home to my family, and certainly can't in the work place. We as a state, a country, and a world can get through this crisis, but only if people use more common sense, leave the self importance at the door, and trust that anyone in charge of a particular sector wants to resolve problems as well. People need to at least try to use the mechanisms for communication, established, use the e-mails established to track questions still outstanding so complete and consistent answers can be worked on. Thanks for actually reading! 

24 comments:

  1. Rant away - I feel for you. Because I had been at my previous company so long (35 years) I used to get all the calls switchboard didn't know what to do with. Mostly I didn't mind but sometimes….. But what used to really do my head in was asking people to fill forms in when they arrived and they would expect me to fill in their name, address, dob, sex etc. Some people are just lazy but if they don't know the answer to those questions then god help them. Namaste!

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    1. It's lazy and a spoon fed mentality. conventional wisdom doesn't seem to be in high abundance.

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  2. You preacher, me choir. Why do people not use the resources available to them? People also need to learn how to write better as well. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have read updates from the schools with vital information missing--like WHERE, or WHEN (Not saying this is the case with you at all, however, just adding to the rant!)

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    1. I get that our information is incomplete based on new questions and evolving situation, but some of these are basic, basic questions, that have basic, basic, written guidance.

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  3. Rant on sister!
    We are raising a nation of folks who need immediate gratification and will/can not spend the few minutes required to actually read the information and find the answer for themselves. It's like someone asking me how to make jello. If you can't read the instructions and figure it out for yourself then you need to be permanently barred from the kitchen. (When I was in college a girl in my dorm actually had a box in hand and asked me that)

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    1. I think this crisis beyond the economic hardships, the knowledge hardships, will be so evident. If I see one more picture of families still planning on going on vacation, I will scream!

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  4. We could all spend a little more time to RTFM as Hubs IT guys use to say.....

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  5. Rant on my friend that is what we are hear for, what read? instructions? Why?

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    1. I am happy to have this safe ranting space.

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  6. Oh yes- I have no answers but it's not a new issue. We would print all kinds of things in the church newsletter and still, people would call and ask questions and even be so bold as to say they never bother reading that newsletter...same today with emails. They must be quite short or will go unread. Beats me- I love to read and subscribe to several publications. This is day 6 of my self-quarantine.

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    1. Yeah-don't even get me going on those that won't even try to read!

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  7. Like one of my friends daughter's says (she teaches 2nd graders) "Readers are leaders". That's one of my pet peeves, too. I'll get snagged in these emails back and forth that go on forever. They are either because the person didn't supply all the needed information in the first place or didn't read what was there.

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  8. I completely agree with you! I see the same thing here, people read one or two lines and thats it. Its really frustrating and wastes a lot of time.

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    1. Seeing this frustration, makes me want to be doubly diligent about not doing the same thing and reading thoroughly.

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  9. Oh my when I was managing retail stores it was always easier for someone to ask me then find out the answer themselves. Now I oversee 10 stores and usually I walk them through the thought process and make them figure it out. Only because I can and I am tired of the lack of common sense after 40 years.

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    1. We have 12 grantees-I had to get a bit firm with one, because not only was the answer to the question right at the fingertips, she had one of her clients call me directly. I wanted to calculate the time I had to spend, and deduct my time from the next payment.

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  10. People are lazy and some have a real problem with understanding what they read. Poor education, poor parenthood I guess. And the new generation? They have the attention span and mind of a fish. They have no patience to read anything beyond a short paragraph. They do not like to think. So, rant away!

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    1. I have more patience with not understanding, and asking for specif clarification as to not even bothering.

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  11. I'm so irritated by the troll. I think you deleted the comment. I was raging & prepping an answer to them when you removed. Probably for the best. ;-)

    I'm with you on the reading & trying to solve a problem vs leaning on others!

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    1. Oh-He's apparently back again! Oh well-I'll delete again, and after three days it no longer can go directly to the post. He's not even particularity smart. I know I'm way under the Boomer age, and you are a decade younger than me. I say let's all delete and not feed the troll or the computer program as it probably is.

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  12. Oh, and just looked at my own blog, & have the exact same comment. So... the troll is getting around!

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  13. Neil D. says in order to have America "great again" it needs to be smart again.
    It starts with the ability for careful reading.

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