Continuing Education (Ce) At A Redneck Festival!
CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE) AT A REDNECK FESTIVAL! by Mike Manes Mike Manes' biggest challenge in 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're contemptuous of rednecks, don't read this article because it will be a waste of your time. Just skip to the end and read the lesson the article offers. 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's 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 too often the classes merely reinforce what these professionals already know, are boring, limited to the profession, and don't provide insight into clients' needs or life. John Locke had it right, “No man's knowledge can exceed his experience.” Unfortunately our education systems, including CE programs, all too often focus on the information/knowledge. They attempt to force-fit what the instructor knows into the skull of the attendee/student. All too often, the attendees aren't learning, but just “passing time.” This system doesn't work unless the “brains” and experiences are identical. In my opinion, education should be about creating experiences in which 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 this assumption, consider these two facts: • Robert Fulghum's book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten was a best seller and college textbooks never are. • Go to the best business schools in the country (Harvard, Wharton, LSU, ULL, etc.) and meet the professors. Most of them couldn't survive very long in the real world of business! Enough about academics. Let's talk about life: Redneck Festivals. A festival — at least in this part of the country — 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 (Willie 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, or city streets — anywhere. They can be one day to longer than a week. They can include arts and crafts, music, parades, dancing, eating, drinking, etc. They attract the young, old, and the in-between. Festivals are about life and the real people that live life! According to Webster (who wasn't a redneck), a redneck is a “white member of the Southern rural laboring class — sometimes used disparagingly.” It should be noted that this term is often used with pride by rednecks themselves or by “wannabes.” Jeff Foxworthy is probably a better authority than Mr. Webster on defining redneck. As a practical matter, I believe that redneck is more of an attitude than an issue of geography or race. Remove the words “white” and “Southern” from this definition and you'll discover that most of the nation is or comes from redneck lineage. 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 that they're rednecks too. Having spent much time in New Orleans, the most diverse city in the country, I now realize that we're lucky because most of the world is redneck! Recently, I was in Huntington, Texas on business. After the meeting Sundra (pronounced Sondra), Lynn (her husband), and I went to supper at a local restaurant. We had a great time. As I reflect back on the night, this was sort of a “mini” Redneck Festival. Evidence of this was everywhere. The parking lot had plenty of pickup trucks and very few BMWs. Everyone there understood “spit cup,” but few had ever used a “tea cup.” Considering how rednecks are perceived, I never heard a discouraging or inappropriate word; yet the polite conversation was full of “ma'ams” and “sirs.” The “surf and turf” special was ribs and catfish rather than lobster and filet. Willie, Waylon, and the boys would've been recognized and embraced; Eminem would not! We had plenty of rolls and “sweet” tea, but no croissants and hot tea. You get the picture. I could go on, but I'd rather spend the rest 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, and his face and skin are rough, but talking to him you know that he has a soft heart and a good soul (rednecks are proud of their souls). Lynn shared his experiences, telling us a number of stories. I believe that two of these should qualify for CE credits for all professions. Unfortunately I'm reasonably certain that neither story would be approved. They're separate, yet linked. These experiences are about innovations that have saved millions (if not billions) of dollars in productivity costs, but have probably never been studied at the Harvard Business School. These were lessons learned in fields with weeds, not in 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 of lining the seedlings up in “perfect” rows so that the machine could cut them at harvest time. Lynn became curious because he knew that trees weren't cut with machines, but by men with band saws. One day he asked the supervisor about these new tree-harvesting machines. The “boss” explained that, although these machines currently didn't exist, if we planted the trees right — in perfect rows — the machines would be invented some day because straight rows and a large supply of trees would facilitate their invention. This supervisor understood the future. I'd bet all I own that this guy had very little “schoolin'” (brain tissue), but I'm equally certain that he had great experience (scar tissue). Lynn then took us back to the future. He told another story — and he's a master storyteller — about a timber contractor riding through south Louisiana during the sugar cane harvest. He watched as giant tractors equipped with diagonal cutting blades plowed through the field harvesting the cane (at harvest the rows of sugar cane stand more than six to eight feet tall and must be cut at ground level). The guy was mesmerized. He pulled off the road, crossed the fence, and asked how the machine 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. To demonstrate the possibilities, the driver snapped off the top of a fence post. The contractor went home and began the process that would result in the tree-harvesting machine visualized by the supervisor in the first story long before the technology existed. In my opinion, these simple stories provide textbook examples about what CE should include and who should teach it! CE should involve 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'll have. The instructors should not just be the ones who know what has already happened, but should include people with experience in the past and a curiosity about the future. Incest and inbreeding are some of the cruel jokes that academics use to disparage rednecks. But nowhere is inbreeding more of a problem than in the world of academics and bureaucracies! They rarely develop significant innovations in their fields (remember, the tree-cutting machine originated in the cane field where no trees exist!). The reason 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. Never forget that 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 and fidgeting as he waited for the plane to back out from the terminal. Sitting next to him was a Harvard professor, dressed in a $1,000 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, educated, sophisticated, and worldly than you — if you fool me, I'll pay you $10.00. Also because of these advantages, I'll let you go first!” Bubba thought for a second and then agreed. His first question followed, “What's red, green, blue, has three wings and two legs and can't fly?” The bewildered professor responded, “Bubba you've got me on the very first question. Here's your $10.00.” Bubba, ever polite (rednecks are), took the money and said, “Thank you, sir.” The professor asked, “Well what is it?” Bubba answered, “I don't know. Here's your $5.00.” The professor has the brain tissue and lost $5.00. Bubba has the scar tissue and won $5.00! Michael G. Manes can be reached at Square One Consulting, 625 Weeks Street, New Iberia, LA 70560, cell 337-577-3885, e-mail
[email protected], or visit www.squareoneconsulting.com.