Customer Service 2: Les Stumpf Ford Dealership, Appleton, WI (created 11-29-09)

I have had two, recent, personal experiences of excellent customer service at the Les Stumpf Ford Dealership in Appleton, Wisconsin.

I live about 25 miles north of Appleton. I only go to town once every week or two. I have a 1998 Windstar minivan with about 125,000 miles on it. I was driving in town when the breaks became very soft and squishy. And then smoke started to come out from under the car. I was only two blocks from the Stumpf Ford dealership so I pulled in, turned off the car and started looking under the hood. I was afraid of fire and I wanted to check it out as quickly as possible. A salesman came out to help me and when we were fairly certain the danger of fire was past he brought me to the service department. They immediately brought the car in on a rack and diagnosed the problem for me, a ruptured break line was squirting oil on the engine. I had commitments and errands to finish. They rented me a car (only about $30 for a day) and had the my car repaired that afternoon. I was happy and impressed.

About 3 months later I was heading toward Appleton to help my son move his girlfriend to a new apartment and noticed a burning smell. I stopped and checked everything and found the engine oil very low. I bought oil at a gas station and topped it off. I checked the oil filter and it was on tight so I started to worry that something was cracked to be loosing oil like that. I went straight to Les Stumpf Ford. Again, they immediately put it up on a rack and had a diagnosis for me in less than 10 minutes. The oil filter wasn't loose, but it did have a tiny hole in the bottom of it. They changed the oil and filter and had me on my way to meet my obligations in only 30 minutes and $18.95.

I can't say enough good things about them.

Education 2: no limits to learning

"The more you understand, the more you can learn."

While I was recently a teacher, the mantra at the school was don't teach or test for facts, teach skills and understanding.

I'm not certain how to separate the two.

The summer of 1974, between high school and college, I was lucky enough to be tutored by a man on how to improve my study habits and techniques. It opened new worlds to me.

Lesson #1: The human mind thinks 10 times as fast as most people speak or most people read. (I suspect this is part of what allows trained individuals to speed read.)

Lesson #2: The 9/10th of the brain not involved in listening or reading doesn't like to sit quietly and wait for something interesting to come along. It entertains itself. This is called daydreaming.

Lesson #3: The 1/10th of the brain involved in listening or reading gets sidetracked by the daydream and leaves maybe 1/100th of the brain left to listen or read. That's too little for any learning to happen. This is how you can get to the end of a reading assignment and say to yourself, "I'm glad that's done. I wonder what I read."

Lesson #4: Involve the entire brain in the listening and reading. This is not done by shear force of will. Its done by moving past passive listening or passive reading and becoming an active listener or active reader. That means that you are doing much more than just listening. You are actively thinking about what is being said. You are thinking about how what you are learning fits with what you knew in the past. You are anticipating what might come next.

Specifically for science, you aren't just trying to memorize a science fact, (in magnets, opposites attract) you are filling it out by thinking about 1) how it happens 2) why it happens, 3) why it matters, and 4) examples.

A simple fact is like a bit of dandelion fluff, and is easily blown away in the wind. Each related thing you connect to it helps it become more substantial. When you can interconnect the filled out facts, you have built a substantial structure upon which you can build true understanding.

"The more you understand, the more you can learn."

technological equipment half-life 1: why it was too soon to attempt the international space station (created 11-12-09)

My house is 11 years old. We didn't cut corners when we built and choose quality appliances and materials. In the past year, both garbage disposals started leaking. The dishwasher discharge hose cracked and leaked. The copper plumbing is starting to spring leaks. The furnace needed a replacement combustion blower years ago.

I used to work for a major printing company. There was constant scheduled maintenance and repairs to the printing presses, and they still needed to be completely overhauled after 10 years.

One of my cars is 11 years old and the alternator died last weekend leaving us stranded on the side of the road 100 miles from home.

What does all this have to do with the International Space Station (ISS)? Plenty. The ISS is 10 years old and we haven't finished building it yet. Things like tubes and hoses and fans and pumps and many electronics have a half-life of 10 to 15 years. So the ISS is going to start needing major repairs and it isn't even completely built yet. Whoever was in charge should have insisted that the engineers come up with a plan that it could be built and doing whatever it is it is supposed to do in the first 2 years. And if the engineers didn't know how to do that, or the funding wasn't there to do it, then they should have waited.

Bye for now, Doug

Customer Service 1: Fleet Farm (created 11-09-09)

My water heater was leaking. I went to Fleet Farm and bought a new, 50 gallon Natual gas fueled water heater. I brought it home and installed it. When I went to hook up the gas line, my brother pointed out that I had bought a Natural gas fired heater. I live in the country and have LP.

Fleet Farm allowed me to return it and didn't even charge a restocking fee. I had managed to drain it and re-crate it and bring it back with no damage or signs of use. I was honest about how installed it was. And they didn't even make me feel dumb for my bonehead error. The LP unit they sold me was even a few bucks cheaper.

Now that is what I call great customer service.

Bye for now, Doug

Education 1: Can everybody learn everything (created 11-09-09)

The following view flies in the face of everything that the United States has been trying to do in education for the past 20 or so years.

Teachers in training and teachers in jobs are taught that every child can learn every subject and it is the kiss of death to buck that sentiment. School districts are held hostage to the aspiration that every child will test at least "proficient" in every subject or the school district will be denied state funding and will ultimately be taken over by state authorities.

So, as a teacher, do I believe that every student can be proficient in every subject.

No I do not.

I believe that every person can be successful in life. That for those who have immense difficulty learning to do math, that there will be other strengths which can be cultivated to help them be successful and be a self-sufficient adult. The same goes for every school subject.

I have a friend who was in special education in high school. He wasn't good at reading or writing or arithmetic. But he was good with engines and he is very successful working at the city garage repairing their trucks and busses and such.

We compare ourselves to other countries and conclude that our education system is failing and so we reinvent it every few years. Guess what. The European countries who are testing better than us for high school kids is in great part because in 8th grade they separate the kids with the aptitude and desire to go to college from the other kids. The other kids get training in a trade. The college bound kids go to high school as a group and do remarkably well on the tests. We compare all of our kids in high school to just Europes best and brightest. Our high schools for the most part do not teach skills which prepare a student to immediately get a job. Our high schools attempt to be college prep schools.

Not every one wants to go to college. Not every one should go to college. There are not enough college level jobs for every one to go to college and get an appropriate job. So why do we continue to make everyone go to a high school that for about 30% of the kids is not teaching them any of the things to help them be successful in life.

This is not the politically correct opinion. But it's my opinion and I'm free to have it.

Bye for now, Doug