The Blueberry Story: The teacher gives the businessman a lesson
“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 inservice. Their initial icy glares had turned to restless agitation. You could cut the hostility with a knife.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 middle1980s 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 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 feathered nests, protected by tenure and shielded by a bureaucratic monopoly. They needed to look to business. We knew how to produce quality. Zero defects! TQM! Continuous improvement!
In retrospect, the speech was perfectly balanced - equal parts ignorance and arrogance. 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.“Premium ingredients?” she inquired. “Super-premium! Nothing but triple A.” I was on a roll. I never saw the next line coming.“Mr. Vollmer,” she said, leaning forward with a wicked eyebrow raised to the sky, “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, abused, frightened, confident, homeless, rude, and brilliant. We take them with ADHD, junior rheumatoid arthritis,and English as their second language. 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, aides, 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 into the night. None of this negates 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, permission 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. Copyright 2002, by Jamie Robert Vollmer
Envisioning academic success for all children.
EXPLORE SUPPORT ENCOURAGE APPRECIATE
When children feel valued higher productivity in learning and creativity can flourish. When students and teachers are able to see diversity as strength it opens doors for all children to an increasingly diverse world. The outcome from children going to a school with children that are all the same creates children who grow up not fully understanding the world around them.
Michael Sandel wirtes the book,"Justice"
He explores with his students at Harvard many issues in life that are worthy of debate.
They ask:
"Is the argument in favor of promoting diversity a valid one? "
"How does it size up against the argument that a student’s efforts and achievements should carry more weight than factors that are out of his or her control and therefore arbitrary?"
"Adversity," said the poet Horace many centuries ago, "has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant."As we embark on a new decade, I want to take this opportunity to thank the men and women of American Airlines, whose talents were revealed — and needed — like never before during the past 10 years. I believe that by persevering through the toughest decade in our long history,we have built our character as a company and learned a few lessons too.
One of the primary lessons is that difficult times make it even more important to maintain a focus on diversity and inclusion.While some companies see diversity as separate from their "real" business challenges, we know the opposite to be true.Our challenges are too big to let a single employee's ideas or energy go to waste, so sustaining an environment of dignity, respect, and collaboration — where different perspectives are not only welcome but sought out — is critical.
I realize, of course, that lofty words from the CEO are no substitute for effective action. So I want to take this opportunity to highlight and congratulate the leaders and members of AA's Employee Resource Groups (ERGs),whose energy and passion are the driving forces of our diversity efforts. ERGs are employee-governed grassroots organizations dedicated to enhancing the professional development of their members and to providing guidance on AA's internal policies, communications, and marketing initiatives. Our 16 ERGs reflect the incredible range of cultural backgrounds and life experience within our team, and our Diversity Advisory Council, comprised of representatives from each ERG, acts as a valuable cross-cultural sounding board and source of ideas.
Tapping the unique insights of each employee is obviously important to any business. But when you're competing in 40 countries in the world, as we are, it's absolutely essential. Our success rests on our ability to connect with and deliver for an incredibly broad spectrum of customers, and American Airlines' ERGs, in conjunction with leaders across the company, are helping us do that in a variety of ways. We are one of the few large companies with dedicated, diverse-segment sales-and- marketing teams focused on making sure our brand, products, and services are appealing and relevant to a globally diverse audience. Our Diversified Supplier program was launched more
than 20 years ago to provide minority, women-owned, and small businesses the opportunity to partner with American.
Today these companies supply AA with a range of goods and services, from fuel to wine. For more information on our approach to diversity and inclusion and to register your company with our Diversified Supplier program,visit www.aa.com/diversity.
While our employees deserve the lion's share of the credit for making diversity and inclusion a way of life at American,I would be remiss not to point out that for many years, we benefited from the leadership and insights of Earl G. Graves Sr., founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, who championed many of our diversity initiatives during his tenure on our Board of Directors. Earl chaired our Board Diversity Committee from 2002 until his retirement in 2008, when he handed the reins to Roger Staubach, a longtime member of our board who shares Earl's passion for diversity but brings his own experiences and perspectives and continues to press us to do even better.
The business case for embracing the diversity of our coworkers, customers, and suppliers — in an ever more globalized
economy — is obvious. But my hope is that the business case for diversity fuels, but never obscures, the moral and ethical duty we all have to treat all those we encounter, whether coworkers, customers, or fellow travelers, as unique individuals worthy of respect, dignity, and appreciation.
At AA, we value diversity, not just because it works, but because it is right, and because it is consistent with our greater mission of connecting the world.I want to close this, my first column of our new decade, by again thanking my colleagues at American Airlines for rising to meet every challenge during the last 10 years. And of course, thank you for flying with us today. Happy New Year!
Chancellor W. Randolph Woodson of NC State University
Since my arrival at NC State University, I have expressed my desire to see this outstanding university soar to new heights. One way that we can begin doing this is through a collective effort to embrace diversity on our campus. As a land-grant university with a mission to develop future global leaders, one of our first priorities should be to create a campus environment that is conducive to innovation and groundbreaking research. We must create an atmosphere where individuals experience educational freedom and are comfortable learning and exploring. In order for this to be achieved, it is absolutely necessary for us at
NC State to understand the importance of diversity and the role it plays in our lives. In this constantly changing world, new cultural boundaries are constantly broadening; new ways of thinking emerging; and new ideas unfolding. However, it is no longer enough to simply recognize these things. We must now fully embrace them with open arms. In order to achieve our university goals and to prepare students for the global workplace that awaits them after leaving NC State, we must create a campus climate and overall sense of global awareness that encourages and embraces all forms of diversity. We must remain committed to the collective pursuit of excellence through acceptance of both individuals and ideas that may be different than our own, for these are the items that will continue to move this outstanding institution forward.
Here at the people's university, we welcome all people regardless of ethnicity, race, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, religion or disability. While these may be things we choose to identify ourselves as, they do not define us. Instead, we choose to be defined by our excellence and our commitment to greatness. Because diversity is what makes our lives richer and gives us the chance to advance our university, NC State will continue striving to be more diverse in hopes of creating a culture that values empathy, respect,tolerance and equality for all. In doing this, we hope to serve as pioneers in a much larger way, paving the road for a more diverse and inclusive world - both at home and abroad.
Savage Inequalities
by Jonathan Kozol
Mr. Kozol describes several neighboring communities in the U.S. and the inequalities between them. (East/West St. Louis, for example)
There are some youtube videos on this inspired by Kozol's book.
Diversifying enrollment in public schools through socioeconomic integration is believed to have a direct impact on children's attitudes towards those in other ethnic groups. As our country’s population becomes more diverse, so does our school population. Nationally, the white population has decreased with the total minority population increasing. The most significant change is the increase in the Hispanic population. This change has impacted education within our public schools.
Federal Government Departments of Justice and Education Encourages K-12 Diversity
on the voluntary use of race to achieve diversity or avoid racial isolation in schools.
The guidance is intended to help schools, colleges, and universities lawfully achieve compelling interests in diversity, and for K-12 schools, the additional compelling interest in avoiding racial isolation."
