20% actual content, 80% frustration

[miss_mimsy]

 I attended my first faculty meeting yesterday. The principal decided to present to us on the Pareto Principal. It is the 80/20 rule. The way she wanted us to apply it is that teachers should be doing 20% of the “teaching” while students used collaborative techniques for the other 80

Comments

[barnabas_truman]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrg, what your principal claimed isn't the Pareto Principle at all and is in fact completely the opposite of it

[barnabas_truman]

Sorry if that came off as a little hostile--I tend to get grumpy when people (e.g. your principal) misuse misunderstood mathematical concepts to support their own agendas.

[rbus]

the first 90% of the time gets the first 90% of the work done.
the *other* 90% of the time gets the last 10% of the work done.

hey!
i know!

let's make a bar graph that mis-uses a point-spread trend line to show things are improving!

and then we can run a business. or maybe even government...

[barnabas_truman]

the first 90% of the time gets the first 90% of the work done.
the *other* 90% of the time gets the last 10% of the work done.

I remember the first time I read that principle... in an After Dark quote screensaver. :-D

[bdot]

you nailed it. you said much more elogently than i ever could exactly how i feel right now.

can i reprint this??? it is a fantastically written commentary on what is going on in education right now. well done. oh, and i will give credit where credit is due of course!

and this is your first staff meeting??? in 3 months? wow. we have had at least 6 in the same time period!