Workplace Calisthenics: Education should be top priority, not afterthought

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Cal LeMon, of Executive Enrichment Inc., solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting.|ret||ret||tab|

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He began our telephone conversation with, "Irregardless of what you have heard ..." I cringed. He is an executive vice president of a large organization.|ret||ret||tab|

She wrote me a business letter that stated, "Just between you and I " I flinched. This woman is the president of her own company.|ret||ret||tab|

He was making a presentation to an all-employee meeting and emphatically stated, "To who should we be complaining if we have a problem?" I was startled. This man is the plant manager.|ret||ret||tab|

If you are wondering what this column is about, please take note. There is no such word as "irregardless." The correct pronoun is "me" because it is the object of the preposition "between." And, "whom" is always used when the it is the object of the preposition "to."|ret||ret||tab|

Are your co-workers emasculating the English language, having trouble adding up numbers (when without a PDA or computer) or finding it difficult to express themselves in a meeting?|ret||ret||tab|

Have you asked yourself, "How did these people graduate from college/high school?" Or, how about this question, "Did anyone bring his/her brain to work today?"|ret||ret||tab|

Sitting around tsk-tsking the educationally deficient among us is a royal waste of our time. That practice is the elitist response of an effete snob. |ret||ret||tab|

No, the harder task is to stop rewarding this trend. That's right, "rewarding."|ret||ret||tab|

It is my opinion that we are cutting off our brains to spite our budgets.|ret||ret||tab|

When the state coffers start resounding with emptiness, the first place we look for cuts is education. |ret||ret||tab|

When a company needs to get its fiscal house in order, we lop off the training rooms.|ret||ret||tab|

And, when this nation wants to find someplace to dump our moral malaise, we normally pull up to the steps of some university or college.|ret||ret||tab|

We, as a culture, are caught in a conundrum. We know, in our heart of hearts, we need smart people to craft our future. At the same time, smart people are dangerous; you never know when their thinking will challenge us to change.|ret||ret||tab|

Our culture must declare that our greatness is between our ears. |ret||ret||tab|

We have an enviable track record for thinking up things. Playing golf on the moon, Saran Wrap, Microsoft, Rubik's Cube, Mood Rings, Lava Lamps, Cabbage Patch Dolls, "wardrobe malfunctions," etc.|ret||ret||tab|

The greater challenge now is putting our brains to work in order to decide how we will live. You know, questions like:|ret||ret||tab|

How can we do more with less in our workplaces and remain sane?|ret||ret||tab|

How can we grow communities without also growing neon-blighted, drug-saturated, strip-mall craziness that motivates us to endlessly scurry from one drive-through to the next?|ret||ret||tab|

How can we talk to each other even though we disapprove of each other's sexual preferences, political persuasions or bumper stickers?|ret||ret||tab|

I am suggesting that education continues to be our greatness. If we cannot intelligently think through our future, the future will be unforgiving.|ret||ret||tab|

Therefore, what alarms me most is the "disposable" mentality about education.|ret||ret||tab|

The people we pay least in this society and beat up most often are educators. Our state and local government should not see education dollars as the slush fund for balancing every budget. |ret||ret||tab|

Our businesses cannot afford to bend to the organizational knee-jerk thinking that says training is the first to go when downsizing a budget.|ret||ret||tab|

And, our educational institutions should terminate teachers and professors who have not had a new thought in years, are known for boring students to tears and are living off past greatness.|ret||ret||tab|

Hey, just between you and I (good, you caught it it should be "me"), our best national resource is still between our ears.|ret||ret||tab|

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