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Continuing Education (CE) at a Redneck Festival! My biggest challenge as I begin this article is deciding what to explain first – CE (Continuing Education) or “Redneck Festival”. The core issue is what’s more important learning about the things of life (CE) or living it (Redneck Festival). WARNING - If you are contemptuous of Rednecks don’t read this article because it will be a waste of your time. Simply skip to the last page and start reading at the high light for the one lesson this article offers even to the most sophisticated reader! For years Professional Associations, licensing boards, and other groups have recommended or required that professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, mechanics, insurance agents, etc.) obtain a certain number of CE credits annually in order to retain their license or certification. In the 1990s, Peter Senge in his book The 5th Discipline defined the learning organization. Today many speakers / consultants discuss the need for continuous learning. In our fast paced world continuing education is all-important. The good news about CE is that it forces people to attend classes that are alleged to improve them as professionals. The bad news about CE is that all to often the classes merely reinforce what these professionals already know, are boring, are limited to the profession and professional and don’t provide insight into the client, their needs or life. John Locke had it right; “no man’s knowledge can exceed his experience.” Unfortunately our education systems, including CE programs, all to often focus on the information / knowledge. They attempt to force fit what the instructor knows into the skull of the attendee / student (all to often those in attendance are not learning they are just “passing time.”). This system doesn’t work efficiently unless the “brains” and experiences are identical. In my opinion, what education should be about is creating experiences where knowledge is the product. Education should be about life – not books. It should be as much about scar tissue as it is about brain tissue. I can assure you that we learn more by falling on our butts than by sitting on them in a classroom. THIS IS WHY I BELIEVE THAT A REDNECK FESTIVAL IS A GREAT PLACE TO LEARN! If you need proof of the above assumption, consider these two facts: 1. Robert Fulghum’s book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten was a best seller and college textbooks never are. 2. Go to the best business schools in the country (Harvard, Wharton, LSU, ULL, etc.) and meet the professors, the majority of these could not survive in the real world of business (people) very long! Enough about academics, let’s talk about life – Redneck Festivals. A festival (at least in this part of the country [and we don’t “give a damn” how you do it up North]) is a party positioned somewhere between a celebration of life and celebrating life. Festivals can be about a crop (Sugar Cane, Rice, Yams, etc.), animals (Oysters, Frogs, etc.) a mixed event (Shrimp and Petroleum), a date (Will Nelson’s Birthday) or the arts (New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Blue Grass Music, etc.). Festivals are held at Parks, Fair Grounds, Racetracks, Boulevards, barns, city streets - anywhere. They can be one day to longer than a week. They can include arts and crafts, music, parades, dancing, eating, drinking, 4-H exhibits (cattle / crops) etc. They attract the young, old, and in-between. Festivals are about life and REAL PEOPLE that live it. A redneck is according to Webster (he wasn’t a redneck) a white member of the Southern rural laboring class – sometimes used disparagingly. It should be noted that this term also is often used with pride by rednecks themselves or the redneck “wannabes.” It should also be noted that Jeff Foxworthy is probably a better authority to define redneck than is Mr. Webster. As a practical matter, I believe Redneck is more of an attitude than an issue of geography or race – remove the word White and Southern from the above definition and you’ll discover that most of the nation is or comes from the lineage of a Redneck. I’m a Cajun – among ourselves we’re called “Coon Asses.” We’re rednecks without all the pretentiousness and sophistication – and we’re proud of it! Twenty-two years ago I went to a Polish Wedding in Toronto and discovered by attitude and actions they’re rednecks too. Having spent much time in New Orleans, the most diverse city in this country, I now realize we’re lucky because most of the world is Redneck! Last Tuesday I was in Huntington Texas on business. After the meeting Shane, Sundra (pronounced Sondra), Lynn (her husband), and I went to supper. We had a great time. We were at a local restaurant. As I reflect back on the night this was sort of a “mini” Red Neck Festival. Evidence of this was everywhere. The parking lot had many Pickup trucks and very few BMWs. Everyone there understood “spit cup” but very few had ever used a “tea cup.” Considering how Rednecks are perceived, I never heard a “discouraging” or inappropriate word yet often heard “mam” and “sir” in the polite conversation. The “surf and turf” special was ribs and catfish versus lobster and filet. Willie, Waylon, and the boys would have been recognized and embraced, Eminem would not! Get the picture. We had plenty of rolls and “sweet” tea but no Croissants and hot tea. I could go on but I ‘d rather spend the balance of this article discussing the continuing education program for the evening. Lynn was our instructor – yet all in attendance contributed something of value to this learning experience. Lynn works in the timber industry. His hands are hard, his face and skin are rough but talking to him you know he has a soft heart and good soul (Rednecks are proud of their soul). He told many stories – shared his experiences. Two of these I believe should qualify for CE credits for all professions. Unfortunately I’m reasonably certain neither story would be approved. They are separate yet they are linked. These experiences are about innovations that have saved millions if not billions of dollars in productivity improvements but probably have never been studied in Harvard. These were lessons learned in the fields with weeds not in the buildings with Ivy covered walls. Lynn explained that when he first started in the timber industry, the companies would cut the timber, clear the land and then replant new seedlings. The supervisor at each plant would stress the importance to line the seedlings up in “perfect” rows so that at harvest the machine could cut them. Lynn stressed the number of times he heard these
instructions and the reasons supporting them. He became curious because he
knew that trees were not cut with machines but rather were cut by men with
band saws. One day he asked the supervisor about these seeing one of these
new tree-harvesting machines. Lynn then took us back to the future. He told another story (and he is a master storyteller). This time he discussed the timber contractor riding through south Louisiana during sugar cane harvest. He watched as giant tractors equipped with diagonal cutting blades plowed through the field harvesting the cane. (At harvest sugar cane stands over 6 – 8 feet tall in rows and must be cut at ground level.) The guy was mesmerized (this is a term rarely used by Rednecks – I’m including it just in case an academic is reading this). He pulled off the road and crossed the fence. He asked about the machine, how it worked and what it could do. He even had the driver show him how the blade could be rotated to cut higher above the ground. The driver snapped off the top of a fence post to demonstrate the possibilities. The contractor went home and began the process that would result in the tree-harvesting machine that the supervisor in the first story had visualized long before the technology existed. These simple stories are in my opinion textbook examples about what CE should include and who should teach it! I think CE should include less time looking down at a textbook and more time looking up at the horizon – the future, the people that will live there, and the needs that they will have. The instructors should not just be the ones who know what has already happened but should include those with experience in the past but a curiosity of the future. Incest and inbreeding are one of the cruel jokes academicians use to “disparage” (Webster’s term meaning [in Redneck] talk bad about) Rednecks but nowhere is inbreeding more of a problem than in the world of academics and bureaucracies! Rarely are significant innovations developed in the field (remember the tree machine developed originated in the cane field where no trees exist!) that they will be used. The reason for this is simple – the academics who study a “discipline” and the bureaucrats who live and work in that field are too invested in the status quo to consider something new. They’re in a comfort zone and progress “ain’t” gonna happen there – REMEMBER NECESSITY (DISCOMFORT) IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION! Now for the closing lesson – a chance for Rednecks to laugh at the rest of the world! Bubba was on his first flight and as a novice passenger he was very anxious. He was pacing, fidgeting, etc. waiting for the plane to back out from the terminal. Sitting next to him was a Harvard Professor, dressed in a $1,000.00 suit and looking calm, cool, and collected. The professor said to Bubba, “you look anxious, this must be your first flight.” When Bubba agreed the professor suggested a little game to “pass the time.” He said, “Bubba, I’ll ask you a question and if I stump you you’ll pay me $5.00. Then you ask me a question and if you stump me, because I’m so much more intelligent, more educated, more sophisticated and worldly than you, if you fool me, I’ll pay you $10.00. Also because of the advantages detailed above, I’ll let you go first!” Bubba thought for a second and then agreed! His first
question followed, “what is red, green, blue, got three wings, two legs and
can’t fly?” The professor looked bewildered. He responded, “Bubba you’ve
got me on the very first question. Here’s your $10.00.” © Square One Consulting (September 2001) |