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藍莓的故事:教師給生意人上的一堂課

2012-03-23 14:05

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一場演講,本是要改變聽眾的理念,卻意外地顛覆了演講者自己的觀點……

藍莓的故事:教師給生意人上的一堂課

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By Jamie Robert Vollmer

唯一 選 李薇 譯

“If I ran my business the way you people operate your schools, I wouldn’t be in business very long!” I stood before an auditorium filled with outraged teachers who were becoming angrier by the minute. My speech had entirely consumed their precious 90 minutes of in-service[1] training. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation.

I represented a group of business people dedicated to improving public schools. I was an executive at an ice cream company that became famous in the middle 1980s when People Magazine chose our blueberry as the “Best Ice Cream in America.”

I was convinced of two things. First, public schools needed to change; they were archaic[2] selecting and sorting mechanisms designed for the industrial age and out of step with the needs of our emerging “knowledge society”. Second, educators were a major part of the problem: they resisted change, hunkered down in their nests, protected by tenure and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly.[3] They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! Continuous improvement!

As soon as I finished, a woman’s hand shot up. She appeared polite, pleasant—she was, in fact, a razor-edged, veteran, high school English teacher who had been waiting to unload.

She began quietly, “We are told, sir, that you manage a company that makes good ice cream.”

I smugly replied, “Best ice cream in America, Ma’am.”

“How nice,” she said. “Is it rich and smooth?”

“Sixteen percent butterfat,” I crowed[4].

“Premium ingredients?” she inquired.

“Super-premium! Nothing but triple-A[5].” I was on a roll[6].

“Mr. Vollmer,” she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised, “when you are standing on your receiving dock and you see an inferior shipment of blueberries arrive, what do you do?”

In the silence of that room, I could hear the trap snap... I was dead meat, but I wasn’t going to lie. “I send them back.”

“That’s right!” she barked, “and we can never send back our blueberries. We take them big, small, rich, poor, gifted, exceptional, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them all! Every one! And that, Mr. Vollmer, is why it’s not a business. It’s school!”

In an explosion, all 290 teachers, principals, bus drivers, custodians and secretaries jumped to their feet and yelled, “Yeah! Blueberries! Blueberries!” And so began my long transformation.

Since then, I have visited hundreds of schools. I have learned that a school is not a business. Schools are unable to control the quality of their raw material, they are dependent upon the vagaries of politics for a reliable revenue stream, and they are constantly mauled by a howling horde of disparate, competing customer groups that would send the best CEO screaming.[7]

None of this negates[8] the need for change. We must change what, when, and how we teach to give all children maximum opportunity to thrive in a post-industrial society. But educators cannot do this alone; these changes can occur only with the understanding, trust and active support of the surrounding community. For the most important thing I have learned is that schools reflect the attitudes, beliefs and health of the communities they serve, and therefore, to improve public education means more than changing our schools, it means changing America.

“如果我用你們這幫人運營學校的方式來經(jīng)營自己生意的話,我很快就會被踢出商界了!”我站在聽眾席前,那里坐滿了憤慨不已的老師,他們變得越來越氣憤。我的演講已完全耗盡了他們珍貴的90分鐘在職培訓。他們從最初冷冰冰的瞪視已轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榻乖瓴话驳募印?/p>

我代表著致力于改善公立學校的商人群體。我是一家冰激凌公司的總經(jīng)理,這家公司在20世紀80年代中期變得非常有名,《人物》雜志還將我們生產(chǎn)的藍莓冰激凌評選為“美國最美味的冰激凌”。

我確信兩件事。第一,公立學校需要改變;它們是陳舊過時的選拔機構(gòu),專為適合工業(yè)時代而設(shè)計,而且與我們新興的“知識社會”的需求也不協(xié)調(diào)。第二,教育者們是造成這個問題的主要因素:他們拒絕改變,“縮”在自己的“安樂窩”里,被終身職位制度和一個官僚主義的壟斷機構(gòu)所保護。他們需要放眼商界。我們才會知道如何打造品質(zhì)。沒有瑕疵!不斷的完善!

我剛一講完,一個女人就舉起了手。她看起來好像很有禮貌,令人愉快——實際上,她卻是一位犀利資深的中學英語教師,一直在等待著傾訴心聲。

她平靜地開口:“先生,我們聽說你管理的這家公司能做出美味的冰激凌。”

我自負地答道:“是全美國最美味的冰激凌,老師。”

“有多好吃呢?”她說。“口感豐富并且柔滑嗎?”

“含有16%的乳脂,”我炫耀著說。

“是用了優(yōu)質(zhì)的原料嗎?”她詢問道。

“超級優(yōu)質(zhì)!只用最好的。”我連連獲勝。

“沃爾默先生,”她邪惡地挑著一邊眉毛、向前傾著身子說,“當你站在收貨碼頭上,看到一貨船次品等級的藍莓抵達時,你會怎么做?”

在寂靜的房間里,我能聽見捕捉夾子吧嗒地一聲關(guān)上……我是死定了,但我不打算撒謊。“我會把它們送還回去。”

“這就對了!”她厲聲說道,“而我們永遠都不能送還我們的‘藍莓’。我們接受了他們,無論大小貧富,是天賦異秉,還是杰出卓越,是害怕還是自信,是無家可歸,還是粗魯無禮或才華橫溢。我們?nèi)冀蛹{了他們!每一個!而這就是,沃爾默先生,為何它不是生意的原因。它是學校啊!”

在一陣爆發(fā)聲中,所有的290人——他們當中有教師、校長、巴士司機、監(jiān)護人和秘書——都一躍而起,并大嚷道,“對啊!藍莓!藍莓!”于是,我漫長的轉(zhuǎn)變之旅也開始了。

自那之后,我去拜訪了成百上千所學校。我認識到一所學校并不是一樁生意。學校是不能控制其原料質(zhì)量的,為了獲得源源不斷的可靠收入,他們依賴于難以預測的政治策略,而且他們還不斷受到一大批意見相異、互不相讓的客戶群體的咆哮抨擊,這會逼得最能干的執(zhí)行總裁都抓狂尖叫。

而所有這些都無法抵消改革的需要。我們必須要改變教學的內(nèi)容、時機和方式,來為所有的孩子提供在后工業(yè)化社會健康成長的最大機遇。但教育者們卻無法獨自完成這一任務;這些改變只有在得到周圍社區(qū)公眾的理解、信任與積極支持才能發(fā)生。我認識到的最關(guān)鍵一點是:學校反映了他們所服務的社區(qū)公眾的姿態(tài)、信仰和發(fā)展狀況,因而,要改善公立教育就意味著不僅僅只是改變我們的學校,而是要改變整個美國。

(來源:英語學習雜志)

Vocabulary:

1. in-service: 在職期間進行的。

2. archaic: 過時的,陳舊的。

3. hunker down: 蹲坐;tenure:〈主美〉(大學教師等被授予的)終身職位;monopoly: 壟斷者。

4. crow: 〈口〉炫耀,夸口。

5. triple-A: 最高等級的。

6. on a roll: 連連獲勝中。

7. vagary: 難以預測的行為(或情況);maul: 抨擊;disparate: 全異的,根本不同的。

8. negate: 取消,使無效。

 

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