One advantage I have when writing this blog is that there is no rule that I post on any given day. I'm trying to write one piece a day, catching up whenever I miss a day (or 11) with multiple postings. I have no deadline save that that I impose on myself.
According to a column I read in the Toronto Star on Monday (note, this is still late Thursday when I am getting around to venting), the Halton Board of Education has decided to do away with deadlines for assignments given to their students each term.
That ONE moron came up with this idea is to make me despair about the future of civilization. That a board of morons voted to ratify this policy makes me wonder about the future of humanity. I'm guessing the voting board members have progeny. I shudder at the concept spreading.
The education process in school is [A] socialization skills before [B] information acquisition. Somehow, kids prodded through pre-kindergarten, K-6, senior public, high school and eventually post-secondary school education are supposed to grow up into contributory citizens with a modicum of general knowledge and enough specialized knowledge to earn a living.
There are subjects I have never broached in life once out of the school system. I have not spoken German in more than 30 years (despite it being the first language I ever spoke). Haven't said a word of Latin in a longer span. But have dabbled a bit in French. I DO use my math and writing backgrounds professionally, although you readers occasionally doubt the latter. I haven't conducted a science experiment since lighting some phosphorous and dropping the ignited strip on the formica counter in the kitchen. The typing I took in high school and for one class in university has come in handy. And so it goes.
What I learned in school was how to interact with humanity. To deal with them, both on their terms and on my own. One of the things I managed to figure out is that deadlines are there for a reason. They can't be ignored willy nilly.
I'm not talking about late fines at the library or video store (I buy now, having experienced fines). I'm talking about losing a friend and a job opportunity because I thought a deadline was just a suggestion. I found out too late that the legal system doesn't like its information workers to be late providing key paperwork for ongoing cases before the court. When I left MY part til too late, and couldn't pull off an all-nighter, the friend that sublet the job to me lost his. Several guilty people skated. I lost the potential income. And I lost a friend.
I am a deadline worker. Have been all of my life. Under pressure, I'm pretty good at producing results. Tell me you need it today, and most times, today is when you will get it. Tell me a week Tuesday and you'll get the product of my work next Monday ... on Tuesday. Tis a sad fact, but I am a procrastinator. A very experienced, dedicated procrastinator. Occasionally, it results in me working myself sick, but it is who I am.
IF I didn't have deadlines, I would be unemployable. I'd be a bum living on the streets. Given the choice between putting something off and doing it right now, it's EXTREMELY likely I will find a book or a TV show to watch instead.
As a result, I love deadlines.
Guess it comes partly from earning my first pay cheques in life as a newspaper reporter. It emphasized to me that what I learned in school, due dates, was one of those few things from school that would translate into adult life. Later, I became a programmer. I've been working on one un-ending project now for more than a decade. But individual parts of that program, when required, are done in a time frame my employer needs to have me work inside of. We just had an inventory and I had to expand the analysis of the inventory to include departmental cost breakdowns, drawing from several data sources to decide what department to put what value into. He asked for me to complete the project before the inventory was taken. I succeeded. Without the deadline, IBM (it's an acronym for an Arabic phrase that means: God be willing, maybe tomorrow!).
The morons who voted in this policy must be politicians who have never worked a meaningful day in their individual lives. Regular productive life in this world is full of deadlines. People succeed and fail based on their abilities to do quality work within those deadlines.
If it stresses out little Johnny and Jill that they have some assignments due tomorrow (or today, it happens), that's too bad. That's real life in a microcosm. If they fail to meet deadlines when they travel through the Halton birth canal to adulthood, they will emerge unprepared to take on real life. They will have the kind of laizzez-faire attitude to getting work done that's gotten current society into the lazy shape we are in. In fact it will be worse. They will know they are lazy and will expect no one to care.
I hope the cold sober kick in the pants these board members must be getting from multiple parents who LOVE their kids enough to ask for deadlines, gets them to reverse their decision. Otherwise, I'd have to say that if a resume from any potential employee crossed my desk with a Halton education, I'd immediately round-file it. I wouldn't, could't trust the person to do their work on time.
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