High Comedy
Mar. 26th, 2002 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueMy, I'm feeling civic today. Aside from going to court, I bought a hula hoop and a copy of the newspaper.
This, I never do.
Before you start throwing stones, let me explain: I hate the Dallas Morning News. Its reporting is biased and inaccurate, and the Belo Corporation has a stated policy of not writing stories in which there is any controversy. Today's front page includes little mention of international affairs and none of military actions, state or federal congressional debates, the status of the nuclear test ban treaty, the docket of the supreme court, the current senate race, Dallas' transition to a new mayor, the scandal over the proposed highway project, or investigation of alleged voter fraud.
Instead, the headlines deal with co-workers battles for control of the coffee pot, and a high school choosing to go locker-free.
This level of investigative journalism is hardly surprising in a periodical whose chief pride is its sports section.
Thrilled by all my reading options, I plunged into the high school locker story.
Admittedly, it's an issue on which I have a lot of unresolved questions. Certainly, I never used my locker in high school, middle-, or elementary school, but maybe this was its inevitably inconvenient location. Maybe it had to do with the brisk 5-minute passing periods, in which I didn't even have time to stop by a water fountain. Who knows whether I would have utilzed them in a more favorable envionment and foregone the back strain that stemmed from the half-dozen books my teachers insisted I cart around at all times. (Thank God for block scheduling.)
I was ready for a spirited debate on the increased space, safety, and quiet of a lockerless school versus students increased loads and teachers' attempts to pare down or otherwise compartmentalize the curriculum.
This is what I took from the article:
"[School Principal Bartosh, who implemented the change,] took some inspiration from the old industrial psychology principle of the Hawthorne effect: "If you want to dramatically improve the production of your employees, you have to drastically change their environment."" The article goes on to breathlessly laud the students' suddenly high test scores.
::blink:: Excuse me? ::blinks again:: THAT's how they're intepreting THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::great exclamation and alarm::
Okay, okay, I realize that most of you don't know what I'm talking about, but if you did, you'd be up in arms. To wit: the Hawthorne effect dictates that when evaluating the effect of any change in a the workplace you have to wait for up to 2 years until the novelty wears off. Otherwise, all your data will be positively skewed, often to a dramatic degree. The Hawthorne effect is not a organizational reccomendation, but a warning against the premature lauding of improvement, since production often drops back to normal levels just a few weeks later. If the principal really did intend to exploit the Hawthorne effect to temporarily boost test scores and nab better funding, I'm proud as all hell. It's a phenomenal con, a gypsy trick. But this is not how it was presented in the Dallas Morning News, which is very gooey and tra-la-la this can work for everyone.
NOW ARE YOU APPROPRIATELY OUTRAGED?!!!!!!!!!!
In toto, this may have motivated me both to start a competing news daily and to rearrange Hole in the Wall. After all, two months is all I need.
This, I never do.
Before you start throwing stones, let me explain: I hate the Dallas Morning News. Its reporting is biased and inaccurate, and the Belo Corporation has a stated policy of not writing stories in which there is any controversy. Today's front page includes little mention of international affairs and none of military actions, state or federal congressional debates, the status of the nuclear test ban treaty, the docket of the supreme court, the current senate race, Dallas' transition to a new mayor, the scandal over the proposed highway project, or investigation of alleged voter fraud.
Instead, the headlines deal with co-workers battles for control of the coffee pot, and a high school choosing to go locker-free.
This level of investigative journalism is hardly surprising in a periodical whose chief pride is its sports section.
Thrilled by all my reading options, I plunged into the high school locker story.
Admittedly, it's an issue on which I have a lot of unresolved questions. Certainly, I never used my locker in high school, middle-, or elementary school, but maybe this was its inevitably inconvenient location. Maybe it had to do with the brisk 5-minute passing periods, in which I didn't even have time to stop by a water fountain. Who knows whether I would have utilzed them in a more favorable envionment and foregone the back strain that stemmed from the half-dozen books my teachers insisted I cart around at all times. (Thank God for block scheduling.)
I was ready for a spirited debate on the increased space, safety, and quiet of a lockerless school versus students increased loads and teachers' attempts to pare down or otherwise compartmentalize the curriculum.
This is what I took from the article:
"[School Principal Bartosh, who implemented the change,] took some inspiration from the old industrial psychology principle of the Hawthorne effect: "If you want to dramatically improve the production of your employees, you have to drastically change their environment."" The article goes on to breathlessly laud the students' suddenly high test scores.
::blink:: Excuse me? ::blinks again:: THAT's how they're intepreting THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::great exclamation and alarm::
Okay, okay, I realize that most of you don't know what I'm talking about, but if you did, you'd be up in arms. To wit: the Hawthorne effect dictates that when evaluating the effect of any change in a the workplace you have to wait for up to 2 years until the novelty wears off. Otherwise, all your data will be positively skewed, often to a dramatic degree. The Hawthorne effect is not a organizational reccomendation, but a warning against the premature lauding of improvement, since production often drops back to normal levels just a few weeks later. If the principal really did intend to exploit the Hawthorne effect to temporarily boost test scores and nab better funding, I'm proud as all hell. It's a phenomenal con, a gypsy trick. But this is not how it was presented in the Dallas Morning News, which is very gooey and tra-la-la this can work for everyone.
NOW ARE YOU APPROPRIATELY OUTRAGED?!!!!!!!!!!
In toto, this may have motivated me both to start a competing news daily and to rearrange Hole in the Wall. After all, two months is all I need.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2002-03-29 10:38 am (UTC)I am not outraged. It IS and elaborate con, and we should all feel vindicated that it worked on the Dallas Morning News reporters. They are idiots. We will certainly defat them with our news daily.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-03-29 10:46 am (UTC)::shakes head and finished packing::
(no subject)
Date: 2002-03-29 11:12 am (UTC)when i was in college, there was a blurb in our local rag stating that mars was closer to the earth than it would be for the next 100 years. it was 10 miles away. a friend of mine suggested we drive there.