Saturday, August 25, 2012

Hire That Boy


Frances Woolley has a post on Worthwhile Canadian Initiatives. I read the post upon returning from vacation and my first remark was to "Hire that Boy!". This is a clear example of creative individualism, no caps please. The question was regarding capitalization, and he gave the answer. Apparently the teacher demanded the useless task of rewriting each sentence. Why? The test was on capitalization, not penmanship. Who writes anymore anyhow!

I scanned through the replies and not one of my friendly Canadian Economists caught on. This "Boy" is exactly the type of person I want for a start up. Solve the problem in the most efficient manner. You asked for capitalizations and you got it. If he were one of my students I would have given him an A+++. He got the idea.

Frankly this depicts the general backwardness of our Grammar School teachers. ask a question and you get an answer, the answer to what you asked. Ask another question and you will get another answer. And yes it was a boy. This is the type of person who has insight and initiative. You must reward that, but first you must recognize it.

Just in case some may have misse3d the point, the boy had keen insight into the obvious. That is a rare insight, most people plod along and never question. It is the few who see through the process, and go directly to than answer without the overhead that we seek to praise, not condemn.

Furthermore the teacher was guilty of the classic human flaw, ambiguity of expectations. She apparently had her way or no way. Yet the question posed was answered, and still she apparently rejected the obvious. Is this student demonstrating classic pragmatism at work?