Race for the White House or OUTHOUSE!!

Is it me or has this been the stinkiest presidential race in the history of the United States? I have never seen two candidates so disliked and not trusted.

American's are looking for someone to take charge and lead our country in a new direction. We are looking for someone to serve the people (All the people) and represent what is best for our families and nation. Not once have I heard any discussion about Social Security and the fact our seniors have not got an increase in two years. The only thing you hear is the scare tactic it is going away. People can not be expected to be able to sympathize and give their money and time to others if they can't take care of their own families first.

All we have are people who are so self-serving and self-centered who boast "crap" each and everyday.

This is a race to the bottom not the top! And the Loser is US!!!

So who will I vote for?  A wise man once said "Changes that Results in Improvement comes from Application of Knowledge." I would also add "Changes that results in a Transformation comes from outside the system."

High School & College Mentor Program - Updated 7/14/16

Updated 7/14/16 - 

I am no longer employed by Cabrini Schools - The CDMP Website is no longer available at this time. However, the information below and other links (Click the Dream Mentor) label on left hand side of blog) about the CDMP Program can be found on this Blog.

Updated 6/24/16

“We are extremely proud of the Cabrini Dream Mentor Program,” Jim Wasukanis President of schools said, in which students from eighth grade through 12th undergo “yearly intensive counseling” to help them determine a direction for higher education and career goals. CDMP Director Greg Campbell designed it,” he said. “As a result, scholarships have gone up from a few hundred thousand dollars in the past to $4 million for this year’s 100 graduates.”

http://www.themichigancatholic.org/2016/06/pastor-seized-rare-opportunity-reenergize-childhood-school/

In Addition - $207,750.00 Scholarship, Award and Contest dollars have been won through the CDMP Website as reported to Mr. Campbell. See the total under the "Data" Label. In addition, the CDMP Program has been instrumental in the amount of college/school scholarships offered to senior students over the past 8 years. The amount is over $20 million dollars.

For other newsworthy notes on the CDMP Program  go here - 

http://dreammentorprogram.net/InTheNews.aspx

Updated 2/1/16

Newspaper Article - 

https://detroitcatholic.com/news/guest-writer/cabrini-helps-students-to-dream-big-after-high-school

Updated 1/22/15 - Presentation on the CDMP Process

As part of an all school (K-12) parent meeting with over 1000 people in attendance the CDMP Program was presented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOk3qZ5hae8&feature=youtu.be

Other Informational links about CDMP Include:
May 2014 - Posted in the News Herald Paper - We (Cabrini High School) have a one-of-a-kind Dream Mentor Program that helps students prepare for college starting as early as 8th grade and provides students with over 900 scholarship opportunities. That is incredible! This is a parent-student cooperative program that is geared toward each student with as much individual attention as the student desires. 

Oct 2013 - D. Szczesny, a senior at Cabrini, provides a powerful statement (13 minute mark) about CDMP and how it has helped him prepare for college on the News/Talk 760 WJR Paul W. Smith show.  Link 

Sep 2013 - Mr. Campbell was selected as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS). NSHSS is an international honor society dedicated to highlighting the accomplishments of high school students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, scholarship and community commitment. The Educator of Distinction Award is named in honor of the society’s founder, Claes Nobel, a relative of Peace Prize namesake Alfred Nobel. Visit the NSHSS Website for more information. 

Mar 2012 - As part of Cabrini High School NCA CASI (accreditation division of AdvaneED) the CDMP was given a “Commendation” during the Quality Assessment Review (QAR). 

Nov 2011 - Mr. Greg Campbell will be presenting the CDMP at the Annual International Deming Research Seminar (February 27 & 28 - 2012) that will bring together people from around the world, and from a variety of specialties, to enhance, extend, and illustrate Dr. Deming's teachings and theories. 

Mar 2011 - As part of Cabrini Elementary and Middle School NCA CASI (accreditation division of AdvaneED) Greg Campbell Director of the Cabrini Dream Mentor Program (CDMP) was asked to submit the process to:

The AdvancED Resource Network is a knowledge base designed to support accredited and candidate schools and districts in their efforts to continuously improve student learning and school/district effectiveness. The network consists of the following core components: Peer-to-Peer Practices Connecting people to people Interventions, strategies, programs, or activities that have been identified by a school or school system to be effective within a given set of cultural, organizational, and instructional conditions. 

Jan 2011 - Read the article from the Times/Herald newspaper about the Cabrini Dream Mentor Program written by Andrea Poteet. Link 

Dec 2010 - CDMP Director named "Administrator of the Year" by the Michigan School Counselor's Association.. Link 

Dec 2010 - The Cabrini Dream Mentor Program and its director, Greg Campbell, were recently mentioned in the Downriver News Herald. Link

9/25/10
I would like to share with you a "unique" Mentoring Program that benefits students from 8th - 12th Grades.

If you are a high school student check out the College Info Link.

If you are a parent check out all the links.

If you are an educator or administrator check out the contact!


How did the Dream Mentor Begin?
The Dream Mentor program is a program that provided each student from eighth grade to twelve grades the opportunity to meet with a Dream Mentor to provide academic and occupational exploration prospects both inside and outside of the classroom.

What is the Purpose of the Dream Mentor Program?
The word “Dreams” provides a sense of comfort and confidentiality that is required when one is confiding trust and passion to another in hope reality can be achieved. The aim of the program will be to:
1. Fostering academic (thinking) development
2. Preparing students to be informed, caring, and productive citizens of society
3. Preparing students for higher education
4. Preparing students for the world of work.

What are the Goals and Objectives of the Dream Mentor Program?
· Help students find the joy in learning
· Provide students with academic and occupational exploration prospects both inside and
outside of the classroom.
· Assist students in discovering their abilities, talents and passions
· Aid students in creating short and long term educational plans
· Create a Dream Roadmap with student that follows the student from year to year based
on the student’s interests and goals.
· The roadmap will assist the student by identifying what he or she wants to accomplish
while in high school and in the future.
· The goal will be to meet with student at least three times a year
· Better chance of student going on to higher education
· Facilitate students with transition from grade to grade

What is the Process for the Dream Mentor Program?
CLICK ON PIC TO ENLARGE PROCESS FLOW

Go To http://www.dreammentorprogram.com/

Another You Tube Video (13 minute mark) that mention the CDMP program - 

Cabrini High School - Interview with News/Talk 760 WJR Paul W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqfqVpGy_9I

Want to know what qualities makes a good Quality Advisor?

Want to know what makes a good Quality Advisor/Consultant?

It is a People person who is somewhat a Perfectionist who loves Statistics and Variation. Throw in a little Anxiety Disorder and top it off with a Compulsive Passion for Planning.  Juggle these together and you have Quality Expert in the making for your company.

Strider53 says...

It has been said ...

I can either your best friend or your worst enemy. - You Choose!

3 (SSS) that equal a Solid Student System

Sense + Stability + Structure = Solid Student System

Dr. Deming insisted that 85 to 97 percent of problems in an organization are the responsibility of management I have found this true time and time again in my 36 year career in Process Improvement in Business and Education.

Dr. Deming was ardent about not “blaming” workers for poor quality when so much of it was “a fault of the system.”

Just last week a private school had a week long activity known as ‘Spirit Week.” During this week each day provided a day of dress-up from a school spirit day to decade type dressing to crazy hat day to dressing up like twins or triplets (Dr. Deming would hate this day since many students felt excluded if not asked to dress like someone else.).

Loosely stated rules were applied (Written and Email) to each day and were reminded each day during announcements ( Ever wonder how many students and teachers are really listening at the end of the day – try going to a kindergarten or first grade class and see what it takes to get them ready to go home).

On one of the days a number of girls did not follow the rules and broke some dress code rules. They were initially punished by saying they could not participate in the next day’s activity. This met with outrage, crying and complaining since parents bought clothes and accessories for each of the days. It was later changed to a lunch detention.

Administrators/Teachers (Leaders/Managers) set up the system/rules without strict rules/guidelines variation is expected. Instead of admitting the roll-out of the weeks activities had flaws the students were punished for adult inadequacies.

So again I say - Sense + Stability + Structure = Solid Student System

What is really troubling is the amount of school system/classroom rules that do not have the best interest of the student. Especially if something goes wrong. It is easy to blame those who have no voice in policy or decision making. Like Dr. Deming said another example of “The Demise of the American Management System.” However, In this case it is the Demise of American Educational System.

What makes a BAD politician?

By being an Idiot!

By Being a Bully!

By Believing that you/all are not Liars!

By Shouting instead of Talking – How Nauseating – you make me sick!

By not Selling yourself to the highest bidder!

By Being/Acting Stupid and worse yet by thinking we are Stupid!

By Thinking just because you have made a career in Politics that you are the most qualified!

By not understanding you work for the people! 

Yes, we want an outsider to shake up our government to remind ourselves that government serves the people. This race is all about EGOS!

Washington Politicians - Pass a law LIMITING the campaigning  to six months. 

WE ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!!!!

What Do Good Leaders and Poker Players Have in Common?

They have 

Where has the Middle Class gone?

This seems to be a question of great concern over the past five years. Actually it has been going away for much longer. I believe there is a direct correlation between the college degree and the disappearance of the middle class. It must also be stated the Middle Class is synonymous with majority. The Middle Class are where most people are identified on a social economical scale.

In the years following World War II the majority of workers could get good paying jobs after high school by learning a trade or taught by an employer. Starting in the late 1960's and in to the 1970's a 4-year college degree started to become necessary to gain good employment. Then in the latter part of the 1970's having a degree with 2-4 years’ work experience became the norm to gain worthwhile middle class employment for many careers that at one time required just a high school diploma. 

Colleges and Universities at the same time became more business oriented (I don’t care what they say they are not “Non-Profit”) and found the more students the more money and in order to entice more students competition between Universities became the norm and along with this it would require more dollars to advertise and build structures to house and provide pleasures for leisure instead of learning.

So how did the universities keep the money flowing in order to stay in business? It’s simple, they started to declare (In the 1980's) that 4-year degrees now require a graduate degree and then a few years later it is a graduate degree with 4 years of work experience in order to gain good employment. With that being said it is very hard to get a 4 year degree in 4 years because of the scheduling hurdles and obstacles (i.e., Price/Cost) that colleges put in place to graduate.

So what are the new norms?  Some degrees like physical therapy now want doctoral degrees. Others following suit include the nursing and educational fields.

Along the way the cost of obtaining a degree has outpaced the monetary level of the middle class and the only way to keep pace is to take loans to pay a for a future that may or may not be there by the time one graduates (Especially in Technology). Student debt will make the housing bubble look like walk in the park. We have mortgaged away a generation of students from life in the Middle Class ( Think Bernie Sanders).

What is very troubling now our K-12 education systems are now competing for students through school of choice marketing ploys that does nothing more than water down our educational system through competition and cost. 

So what is the solution? First we must realize in order to compete we must cooperate. Education is not a sporting or business competition. Education is the lifeblood of a society’s on-going improvement that must be for all citizens at a reasonable and obtainable price. By this I mean costs should be standardized and degrees should be normalized to make sense. Businesses want colleges to keep students longer and charge students instead of providing in-house training like they did in the 1960's-1980's. By shifting this burden and guilt (Companies say colleges are not doing their job in preparing students for work) to colleges has saved the business environment millions of dollars and provided money to universities. The losers are the vast majority of people whom were known as the Middle Class.

Now that the Middle Class is dwindling we will start to see universities and colleges default and only the elite will survive. Maybe that is the solution. We need to come full circle and colleges should only be for the elite and the majority of people should be able to have a good life through hands on training and apprentices like it was when there was a viable middle class that made our country strong. 

Want proof? Look at India and China – Both have huge middle classes that have been mostly trained and employed by American companies that have trained (Not the Universities) them for the vast majority of jobs that make up their middle class.  We have simply priced our own country out of the completion for the almighty dollar. My state of Michigan is a prime example:

While I am not endorsing a candidate here I will say Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have both hit at the heart of the American People about the trade agreements and what they have done to the middle class.

We should not forget about the one Trade Agreement that has been the worse and that is NAFTA! Do you remember who signed this in to effect?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/14/politics/hillary-clinton-trade/index.html

Customer Facing Employees - Please shut your mouths when customers are present!!

I had to stop at my local dealership because my low pressure signal showed up on one of the coldest days of the winter. It was about 1:00 pm and I thought I might as well get an oil change too since I was coming up on my mileage mark.

My dealership now has a “quickee change” lube shop attached to the dealership. I had been there twice before and did not find it the best experience but I went because it was convenient and I have a lease car and the dealership is right there if something goes wrong.

I still take my older cars to an independent quick lube shop that I have been going to for years. They know me by name and are always friendly.

The service agents at the quick change dealership lube shop have been different each time I go but they all must have gotten the same type of training in customer service.  That is because they all complain and bitch about their jobs, the service techs and one another when the other leaves the shop to check something out. It’s amazing that they don’t seem to care as a customer that I don’t want to hear it.

I know it is the American way to bitch about your job, boss and co-workers but at least do it among yourselves. Grocery check-out clerks are famous for this too. Post from 2007 - http://qualityg.blogspot.com/2007/04/to-grocery-store-managers-cashiers.html

Then they send me survey emails for weeks wanting to know if I was completely satisfied with my experience. Perhaps I should tell the about the time when I had a low tire and when I asked the service agent when cashing out if there was a problem and he said no just low all was OK. As the service technician pulled my car around I asked him about the tire and he said there was a nail and that he plugged it. Then he said did the agent tell you about the leaky seal? I said no and he said well I wrote it up and you should pull over to the dealership and set-up an appointment to get it fixed.

How about my most recent visit when it got very busy and there were six people in the small waiting area. The service agents sit in the same area so all conversations can be heard. Oh the complaining was non-stop. Customers were getting frustrated on how long it was taking to get their cars services. I sat quietly and observed. I had to move two times because the cleaning lady was cleaning the bathroom and then was mopping the floor and wiping down counters as the customers moved many times so she could clean. I loved it when the service agent was complaining so much about her job that she wanted to change positions with the cleaning lady.

One older lady who was two behind me in order to get her car serviced began to complain loudly and to whomever she was speaking to on the phone. As I sat and watched the service agent roll her eyes and then whispered (Not really since I could hear) to the other agent to give her 10% off for waiting.  Amazingly she got her car before me (As did two others). Now you might say I had more work to be done but that was not the case. I observed my service technician through the window stop servicing my car a number of times and chat with the person on the hoist next to my car. No one offered me a discount because I did not complain, bitch or yell.

As I pulled out I said no more answering surveys and no more shall I come to this establishment. I will take my new car to my reliable Mr. Lube shop where “Wild Bill” (I call him that) always greets me and talks to me as a friend and not a customer.

I will take my old Quality Consultant route and never go back but I will tell five friends about my experience and now I have told you.

Here is the real kicker. My old reliable shop owner Bill is of Middle Eastern decent and has owned his shop for at least 20 years. He works long hours and has added a muffler/repair shop to his lube businesses.

I should not even have to mention this but the American workers at the new flashy lube shop could care less. And, they just lost a customer for life.

How do you know you have a great teacher?

Over the years I always try and observe and learn what makes a good teacher. One of the measures by which I make my conclusion is how well the class learns and just as important how well it behaves and respects all (Teacher, Students) within the room.

If I find that 95% of the students follow this conclusion I know there is a good teacher at the helm. I know when I have found a “Great” teacher when there is a substitute teacher and 90% of the students follow my conclusion because their regular teacher has instilled the pride and learning so that whoever is in the room they give their attention out of respect for their regular teacher.

State of Michigan's Water and Education in a state of flux! Updated 3/29/16 - Corruption hits Detroit Schools - AGAIN!!

Back in 2010 and 2011, I penned two different posts that addressed education and measures (Dashboard) that were and are mentioned in many speeches by Governor Snyder.

He always mentions citizens as customers and talks about being data driven and let the measures do the talking. While I believe the Governor believes in the systemic approach to solving problems I do not believe the people that surround him understand the true meaning process and result measures.

Unfortunately, too many businesses and education systems today still are managed by Bottom Line (I call them Bottom Feeders) Leaders who are steeped in the financials but have no idea or understanding on where and how people, variation, knowledge and systems thinking must fit in to the equation. For the true meaning click here:
https://www.deming.org/theman/theories/profoundknowledge

For example - Flint Water Problem

"They don't listen to nobody," longtime Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid said of emergency managers. "They don't care about the community. They just care about fixing the finances." Kincaid and others said the managers' tendency to ignore local complaints played a role in the water fiasco, since residents had complained about taste and color of the water.

For Example - Detroit School System
"Things have been happening for so long, and I think teachers felt like they had no voice," said special education teacher Lacetia Walker about crumbling schools and oversized classes. "We realized that nobody is coming to save us, so we have to save ourselves."

We are in a sad state of affairs in Michigan for two critical elements (Water and Education) of life that should be a God given "Free" staple. For those in other state take warning because you are doing the same mistakes (You just don't know it).

Here are the Links:

http://qualityg.blogspot.com/2011/05/data-collection-process-must-be-driven.html

http://qualityg.blogspot.com/2010/01/determining-how-to-change-school-once.html

Updated 3/29/16 

Many people are disgusted about this latest report! This is not the first time corruption has been done. The problem is the everyday taxpayer is going to have to pay for this in raised taxes. The Silent Majority will no longer tolerate this behavior and it drives a bigger wedge from wanting to help Detroit.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/03/29/charges-announced-dps-corruption-case/82376338/

AND,

Remember when the "Ellen Show" Donated money to a school in Detroit. Guess who was also on the take.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/02/11/ellen-degeneres-spain-elementary/80222394/

Big Dreams

Without Plans and Measures

= 

a Fantasy

qg says...