To "miss the boat" is to miss the
point of or fail to understand:
Several years ago I was working
for an employment agency in Salt Lake City, Utah. The agency had
sent me on a temporary assignment to state's Department of Family and Child
Services (DCFS) - a department seemingly to be more dysfunctional
than many of its clients. I was told the assignment would be for
only a couple of months - but I was there for almost two years and off and on
for almost the next five.
As
I recall, I made a suggestion of sending out letters to newly adoptive parents
or potential adoptive parents - I can't remember the reason - but in my mind it
seemed like it would be a start for whatever it was the department was trying
to accomplish. I was asked to write the letter and send it to the
chair of the department who actually worked in a different building (I think
there were three locations for the DCFS workers who were supposed to function
as one, but that didn't happen) to meet his approval.
I
printed the letter on the stationary with the departments letter head - the
same stationary I had used in the one-two years I was assigned. I
explained to the chair why I was sending the letter and what I
was trying to accomplish. And did it meet his approval? His
feedback was less than productive. His response was to the
letterhead itself. (As if I really had control over that - I wasn't even a
state employee!) The letterhead on stationary bore the name of Governor Norman
Bangerter who had served as governor from 1985 to 1993. I don't
recall what year it was. 1994? 1995? Mike Leavitt was the
governor from 1993 to 2003.
It's
true that I hadn't bothered reading the letterhead at anytime I had
ever sent anything out. I had no reason to. The
stationary had always been handed to me along with a list of instructions on
what was to be done with it. It didn't even occur to me that I might be using
old stationary. Apparently, it was never updated. Again,
that was not my fault. I had no control over the stupid letterhead.
I
remember feeling annoyed by his response - totally missing the boat on the content of
the letter. The words that needed to be sent out - regardless of the
stationary! I took this matter to the secretary who laughed at the error that
had been made for well over a year and a half. In this post I
said it had been two mayors. Perhaps the mayor's name had appeared
on the letterhead as well. I don't remember. All I remember was
feeling frustration as the issue at hand was not addressed. And
okay, I was a little bit amused by the error of the department.
Recently
there has been a similar situation which triggered this situation. But
first let me back up a bit to set the stage. As I mentioned in this post, online
schooling hasn't appealed to me. I would like to get a part time job
just so we have a bit of extra income. However, jobs seem hard to come by in
this particular area where I live. I've applied to be a cashier at
several places, but the idea of being on my feet all day does not appeal to
me. I'd rather have a desk job. So I have decided to go
back to school (online) to get my degree in accounting.
Roland
signed me up to start classes on June 27 - even though I said I wanted to wait
until after school started for Jenna. Nevertheless, I was
told that my classes would start June 27 - which they did - without me. A
glitch in the system put me two days behind.
The
courses run for only for weeks. Each week the student is expected to
participate in discussion, turn in an assignment and fulfill an assessment
(which is usually a quiz or sometimes another assignment) Thus there is much
reading material and/or video required. I am a visual person. I
like someone to show me what keys to punch and explain why. It takes
me a lot longer to process words from a manual than just one week. So
the classes do move quickly. Thus far I seem to be doing well,
but still frustrated with the reading part.
So
I'm taking this required Philosophy class because knowledge in one's major is
not enough (in my case knowing how to do bookkeeping or spreadsheets) is not
enough. A student (potential employee) needs soft skills to be part
of a team (employer, co-workers) and so we have to learn all of that - which is
a good thing and probably should be addressed at every college. Employees
need to learn how to work with one another and maintain professionalism in the
workplace.
There
is no video. There is this article given as a reading assignment. I think it reads almost like
Dr. Seuss (except without the humor) I have not even made it
to stage 4 and my brain hurts. What the heck are Richard Paul and
Linda Elder even talking about? There have been many times during my adult life
that I have asked my brother, Corey, to read something for me and then explain
it to me in English. I emailed him the website and pleaded that if
he had the time, would he please read and explain. He did. Corey
has helped me out of binds a countless number of times. I feel like
I owe him more than just gratitude.
The
instructor does a live lecture each week and then makes the video available to
whatever students couldn't/didn't attend and also a refresher for those of us
who did go live but still need to stop and rewind. As I had a ton of
questions, I tuned in for the live lecture and asked and answered some of the
questions. The session was very helpful. Corey called
right after the session and gave me even more insight - which I really so
appreciate so much.
Corey
found the article dry and hard to get through, but he was able to explain it to
me. We were both able to give examples of TV or movie characters or real live
examples that we know. That's how I wanted to do my assignment - by giving the
examples that helped me to better understand what the each stage
represents. I was hoping to find just one movie or program to base
my characters on, but ended up using examples from many sources. I picked
examples of what I thought each stage represents for stages 1 to 3 but somehow
felt stuck finding an example for number 4.
There
were tears in my eyes over the frustration I felt in not being able to convey
what I wanted in a formal assignment. I know that my posts are often
too wordy and I fly off the handle and move on to non-related subjects, but my
writing on this blog is informal. I still didn't know if my
understanding was accurate.
Roland,
who tends to have a great understanding of many things, asked if he could
assist. I told him that his explanations are often more confusing
than what I am trying to understand - which I think is why I was so excited
about his comparing underwear to primer (which I mentioned in my last post) as
it seemed such a simple explanation. I told him what it is that I
was trying to accomplish and he made suggestions on how I could better format
the paper or correct the grammar (he likes to change as he goes; I wait until
the entire document is finished to do a spell check) and not to put the
assignment in first person (which normally I don't, but was asked to include my
belief about which stage I think I'm in and why - meaning it would be in first
person) and giving me critique that yes, was necessary - but I had planned on
correcting all of that after my thoughts came out. I was looking for critique
with the content and not the format itself. That is what made me
think of the first story that I shared. I have felt like a
failure at communication for so much of my life.
I
ended up going a different direction altogether. I still don't know
about the accuracy of my understanding, but I did the best I could with my own
comprehension. I am waiting for my assignment to be graded. Perhaps
I will share the results.
Meanwhile,
I have finished submitting everything that needs to be graded on for this
week. Instead of waiting until Monday (which starts my second
week of class) I decided to pry into week 2 to see if there was anything I
could try and process in my mind to perhaps make myself more prepared than with
this week (in case it was/is as confusing as the "Critical Thinking"
article) One of the suggested examples given for the discussion was to assess
this test or one like it.
I
didn't realize the detail involved. 341 questions! Glad I got that
early start! The great thing about having taken the suggested emotional test
was seeing the growth and change that have taken place in my own personal
life. The website did not give me the end results, nor do I plan on
joining the site or pay for the results. Just knowing what my
answers would have been less than two years ago as opposed to what
they are now is a revelation to me. I have grown more than I had
thought and have become a better and happier person and continue to strive upon
improving myself. I'm certainly a lot more relaxed. I like who
I am.
