Odds and Ends - midsummer 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 06:46PM Sorry folks. Summer is half gone. Didn't it just start last week? A few odds and ends and random thoughts.Too lazy to think too hard. Too bored not to write at all.
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I've expressed my feelings about cold sales calls and how to deal with them in this blog before. But this was a new experience:
I picked up the office line the other day after the secretaries had already left for lunch:
Me: District Media Services. How may I help you?
Caller: Who is this?
Me: This is Doug.
Caller: Heeeeeeyyyyy, Doug. How ya doin'?
Me: I was just about to leave for a noon meeting. Who do you represent and how can I help you?
Caller: Say, there must be something in the Muh-Ka-Toe [not Man-Kay-Toe] water there that makes you so energetic.
Me: Listen, I really am in sort of a hurry. How can I help you?
Caller: You know what? You don't sound like someone I would enjoy working with.
Click.
I didn't even get a chance to say, "It's mutual, I'm sure."
Just what was the magic phrase that got him to hang up?
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The family and I went to see the Science of Star Wars exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum in St. Paul yesterday. Given that my son-in-law and grandsons are huge Star Wars fans, it really was must see. The exhibit was great and our Science Museum is always a fun place to visit.
But what rocked my world, however, was the cost. And I am not complaining, only commenting.
There were seven us attending. Five adults, one elementary age student and one pre-schooler:
Exhibit, museum and OmniMax movie tickets: $180
Souvenirs: $60
Lunch at the museum: $80
Gas and parking: $50Total: $370
Now I am genuinely blessed to have the discretionary income that allows me to treat the family to an occasional outing like this. I would happily spend twice this to give my children a memorable experience, and there is absolutely nothing on which I would rather spend my money. But I really worry about just how many families can do these sorts of trips anymore.
What richness and conversation is being lost when most of kids' experiences come cheaply online through virtual field trips, videos, or not at all? Field trips seem to be an "easy" budget cut to make. Should they be? How is the real museum, the real zoo, the real theater experience different from their digital versions? Are we taking the easy way out or should we be fighting for funds?
I remember my then teenage son's first words after walking out of the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. "Dad, I didn't realize Anne Frank was a real person." Hmmmm...
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My grandsons are certainly popular culture addicts - or at least aficionados. I wonder how great the museum attraction would have been had it not been the "Science of Star Wars," but the "Science of Space Travel" or something? On our regular trip to the book store, both boys' self-selected book acquisitions had movie tie-ins (Indiana Jones, WALL-E, and Star Wars.) Lunch was chosen on the basis of the best movie tie-in toys with the kid's meal, not the quality of the French fries. Spiderman and Batman adorn the BVDs.
I was startled by Consumer Reports WebWatch study, "Like Taking Candy From a Baby: How Young Children Interact with
Online Environments" published last May, on the degree of commercialism experienced by even very young children online. For 
example, one observation made was:
Logos and brand names are ubiquitous. Not a single [web] site or service observed for this study was completely free of brand names, logos, licensed characters, underwriters or sponsors. Even nonprofit content providers such as PBS KIDS and Sesame Workshop display logos of sponsors or underwriters, though not always in areas of the site designated for children.
Hey, these are MY grandchildren's eyes we're talking about here!
How many schools rely solely on the "free" commercial web to meet their students' information and learning needs? Is a bombardment of advertising too high a price to pay?
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One of the latest "manifestos" from ChangeThis is "People Don't Hate Change. They Hate How You're Trying to Change Them" by Kanazawa. A couple interesting quotes from the 13 page tract:
Because so many of these [change] programs fail, some executives and managers start to believe the old saying that “people hate change” must be true. That is not true. In fact, employment surveys reveal that the top reason good employees leave companies is over a lack of new opportunities and boredom with stagnant, never-changing, dead-end jobs. People don’t hate change; they hate corporate change programs. How can we fix that?
and
Think about this… is your goal to get the most out of people or the best out of people? You typically can’t get both.
Worth a read...
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Our granddog Willie is part Basset hound. My daughter pointed out that the breed was used for tracking "slow game."
It doesn't get much slower than this...
Stay cool. Get rested. School will start sooner than you expect.
Reader Comments (5)
Doug,
One of the things I love about my district (Fort Worth ISD) is that I have limited power in deciding from whom to order library books and supplies. We have an approved list of vendors who have met the criteria, etc., which allows me to immediately cut off any sales calls with, "I'm not permitted to order from anyone who is not on our department's vendor list. You'll have to contact the library director." It works every time!
Regarding web advertisements, it's kind of hard to avoid them so I teach my students to recognize them for what they are and then ignore them. I don't like them either, but I'd rather have students/children make educated decisions while searching or playing games on the web than wander off following ads for products.
Doug,
This came to me immediately after I read the paragraph on change. I overheard a teacher whose school is "instituting" PLCs say this, "Instituting PLCs here is like instituting democracy in Iraq." Quite a metaphor.
@ C,
So this is why I (as library director) have been getting all the vendor calls!
Better me than our building librarians being taken away from their students and staff.
Thanks for the comment!
Doug
@ Renee,
Great point. I think we have done a good job of this with magazines - teaching kids to discriminate between editorial content and ads - but not so much on website. And I think websites are trickier!
All the best,
Doug
@ Skip
Wonderful quote. I need to remember it!
Thanks!
Doug
Talk about summer-lazy! You on the other hand have been aq dynamo! The dog is wonderful, wish he were my neighboor.