BRILLIANT for PRODUCTION
The WRONG PROBLEM for education is BRILLIANT for production.
In about 1890, Frederick Winslow Taylor invented a production method which he called Scientific Management, but which we refer to as "Taylor's method".
Taylor's method brilliantly solves the structural problem of the ONE-AND-MANY in PRODUCTION.
The problem of the ONE-AND-MANY in production.
- IF one person slows down on the production line THE-MANY slow down.
- On the other hand, if NO ONE slows down to fix a defect, now maybe the Model T car (or whatever the end product is) won't work.
On it's face this seems like a VERY DIFFICULT problem to solve. If any ONE stops THE-MANY stop. On the other hand, if no ONE stops to fix a problem, the product has a defect.
Methods of management, or as we prefer to say, "methods for working together" are designed to solve just such a one-and-many problem.
Taylor's brilliant solution — for production
To solve the production ONE-AND-MANY problem, Taylor inserts occasional tests in the production line. These tests are just another task. Everyone keeps working. They do not slow down the line.
However, if a defect is detected:
- The car is repaired off to the side — so no ONE slows down THE-MANY on the line.
- The repaired car is then fed back into the line that no ONE slows down.
Do you see the school district?
The highest priority is FOLLOW THE SCHEDULE, which on a production line makes sense, so no one slows down the line.
There is a test every once in a while, just like on a production line.
But school districts are unable to "repair" a lack of learning in THE-MANY students who are ALL DIFFERENT, while on a production line, each Model T is THE SAME and only ONE Model T is repaired at a time.
Results of Taylor's method in production.
The result is high quality and efficiency. Everyone keeps working doing their tasks. No one slows down the line. Quality is maintained with the inspections and repairs.
That TODAY's school districts are based upon Taylor's method is well-documented.
A historian, Raymond E. Callahan, documented, blow by blow, how in 1913 school leaders were forced to adopt Taylor's method in his book: Education and the Cult of Efficiency
First published in 1962, this book is still in print, read and studied to this day.
Though Callahan's book never describes Taylor's method itself, Taylor himself wrote books describing his method, including:
• Shop Management in 1903
• The Principles of Scientific Management in 1911
In 1980 manufacturing ABANDONED Taylor's method in favor of W. Edward Deming's quality method.
| Early method | Modern method | |
|---|---|---|
| Production | Taylor's Method | Deming's Method |
When the world discovered the Japanese were getting even higher quality and lower costs using W. Edward Deming's beautiful quality method the entire manufacturing sector migrated to this better method.
TODAY's school districts CONTINUE to use Taylor's method.
The VERY SAME method ABANDONED by manufacturing over 40 years ago, school districts continue to use TODAY.
But what choice did school districts have?
The SCIENCES and TECHNIQUES necessary for a new method WERE NOT AVAILABLE.
SCHOOLIO is suggesting we ABANDON Taylor's method in education, in favor of creating a NEW METHOD benefiting from NEW sciences and techniques
— a new method that identifies and solves the RIGHT PROBLEM.
| Early method | Modern method | |
|---|---|---|
| Production | Taylor's Method | Deming's Method |
| K12 Education | Taylor's Method | NEW Method |