I’m specifically talking about BMW of North Snottsdale…oops did I say Snottsdale, I meant Scottsdale.  When it comes to anything remotely looking like customer service…gotcha there isn’t any.  So they get the whopping “goose egg” for any rating…they are very condescending and want to make you feel like an idiot for questioning their technicians.  Here’s my story…I brought the car in for a 4 wheel alignment back in Sept of 2009, I expected to get a 4 wheel alignment…in fact I paid for a 4 wheel alignment but it wasn’t done.  According to them the front tie rods were rusted and the tech couldn’t get them off.  They were told this car came from Texas and probably got that way from the salted roadways.  All he had to do was apply heat to loosen them.  Well the tech didn’t apply any heat to the tie rods and their recommendation was to just replace those tie rods with new ones.  Really!  New ones huh…and what would those cost?  Well it doesn’t matter because they didn’t need to be replaced in the first place!

My husband who was back and forth from our home and California was gone for a bit and just didn’t have the time to worry about this so we let the situation subside until recently.  Well this past weekend he got the garage cleaned up and found his torch and decided to apply heat, as he told the folks at BMW to do in the first place.  Voila!  in 10 minutes my husband had the tie rods loosened…go figure!!  So now we make an appointment for this past Saturday to go in and have this 4 wheel alignment actually completed.  We also explained the situation again to another person there and mentioned since the first one was not done properly or at all that we’d now like to have that 4 wheel alignment done…and they say of course “no”!  Then the service advisor proceeds to spew out technical language and flat rate hours that they pay their techs to diagnose problems…too bad that we actually know way more than he will ever know because my husband is a BMW certified technician!

They claim that too much time has elapsed and that we would have to pay all over again for another alignment!  Are you kidding me?  So since you didn’t do what you were supposed to the first time you now want us to pay again so that you can take a few minutes and align the machine to the wheels and walk away?  Holy crap…so really you felt that you got away with it the first time and didn’t perform the service that we came in for and since 6 months have passed, you get to have a “free pass”?  If you don’t do what you say you are going to do, then don’t charge us or don’t think that it’s okay after you get through several months of keeping your mouths shut!!  YOU STILL DIDN’T DO THE JOB AND YOUR TECH DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HE WAS DOING TO BEGIN WITH!!!!!

Here’s the scary part of this all…if you don’t have a basic knowledge of what you may need they will tell you to replace it!!!  You won’t even know how bad they stuck it to ya either!  Really…how many people know enough about their own vehicle to question the service…remember my husband is a certified BMW technician too!

Oh and I have many questions that I hope they answer…

• if you are not making positive results in your position whether that’s teaching or administration, how do you justify remaining in that position?
• How do you feel good at night knowing that students are not being educated and are leaving that school ill prepared for the road ahead?
• How do you make peace with students who do not succeed under your tutelage?
• Are you afraid  of not having a paycheck or afraid that you can’t make a difference?
• Why should we protect people that are not doing the job?
• Why should we keep the same people in the same positions and expect different results?

“I ripped the Obama sticker off of my truck,” said Zeph Capo, a midlevel official at the Houston Federation of Teachers who trains classroom teachers. “We worked hard for this man, we talked to our neighbors and our fellow teachers about why we should support him, and we’re having to dig the knife out of our back.”

Teachers and school administrators need to get fired up…

• at the fact that students are failing in this system.
• that something drastic needs to take place so that students don’t fail anymore.
• at the fact that it’s always easier to stand with a crowd even when the crowd is wrong than stand alone for something that is right.
• about a plan that helps to move students in the right direction instead of playing political hardball.
• about the fact that their own unions have perpetuated the long standing perception that as long as you stick with us…you won’t have to worry about being accountable to anyone.

So get mad!!!

When did chasing the all mighty dollar become myopic and the casualty then fell on the people?  Are we all living way beyond our means that we have to stretch ourselves so thin because we can’t even live from paycheck to paycheck anymore?  What happened to living way below your means in order to have that precious time back?  Is the trade-off worth it in the end?  If you die with the most toys folks…guess what you’re still dead and your toys go to someone else.

1.  This is about teamwork

2.  This is about hard work and setting goals

3.  This is about giving hope to people

4.  This is about celebrating skills and talents that most individuals only dream about having

5.  This is about remembering and paying tribute to all of those people who cannot be here (physically and spiritually) to experience this

6.  This is about both impending triumph and loss and still being able to walk away with your head held high

7.  This is about making friends with strangers and creating connections for a single goal

8.  This is about bonding

9.  This is about sportsmanship

10.  This is about celebrating life

Now there’s another article I came across written by Jay Mathews entitled “Class Struggle.” When you take into consideration the myriad of other factors, increased number of students taking the exam, the rigorous grading scale used to tabulate the grades, the varying criteria that each school, each district, or regions use in identifying which students should or should not take the exam you unearth the complicating factors which blur the lines between comparisons.

Here’s what’s taking place in my mind…

• 2thumbs up if more students are attempting to enroll in AP courses.
• We should applaud when students want to challenge themselves academically beyond memorization
• More students taking AP courses and failing isn’t a bad thing
• Failure from attempting the AP exam should be looked upon as success of students rising up to the challenge
• The greatest minds have had probably more failures in their lifetimes than the average person which helped them get much closer to their goals.

It looks like several colleges are now using the concept of quick ‘n easy!  Or is it quick ‘n easy?  Instead of drowning in those cumbersome layers of college application papers and essays, some have decided to make this part of the admissions process a breeze!  After I read this article, both of these books actually came to mind,  “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis and “Free:  The Future of a Radical Price” by Chris Anderson.  If colleges are trying to find new ways for potential candidates to learn about the school and streamline the application process then would could be better than making this process painless and best of all FREE?  No commitment, no risk taken yet the outcome could be very valuable, both for students and for the schools.  Shouldn’t we look at it as more of a transformation of ideas rather than a continuance of the same?  I say hats off to those universities who have taken the leap outside of their boxes to come forth and show a willingness to take a step in the consumer’s direction!  Now of course, it still makes sense for both students and families to do their due diligence in researching the school’s programs and majors as well as housing, outside activities, student body, etc.  In the end, the decision is still in their hands but I don’t see schools trying to circumvent the long standing application process rather trying to make the thought of college more hopeful and real to a wider audience.  What’s wrong with that?  The more we can ultimately educate our society, the better off we all are…don’t you think?

What lessons from your first job do you still use today?

1.  you are dealing with people not companies
2.  always be willing to learn more than you need to
3.  no matter what you do…make it count
4.  take criticism with grace; it’s not personal
5.  commit to your responsibilities; don’t just go through the motions

How about you?

• my 18 week old puppy will be graduating from kindergarten
• I’ve been dying to see “Avatar” and the plan is a matinee.  I’m so behind in my movies
• NFL conference championships!
• visiting our puppy’s 1st parents and siblings on Sunday at Legend Akitas…she’s going to have so much fun!
• lots of facebook time

Every time we change (and I mean lessen, lower, reduce) the standards established for students as to what is necessary for them to function in the real world, we don’t just cripple them, we put our entire country at a disadvantage!  I don’t think we should lower the bar because we, as adults and as the school system, haven’t been able to figure out how to raise students to the bar.  Let’s face it, technology is not going away and we know it’s getting more and more integrated into every aspect of our lives…regardless of the type of work we do.  If kids are coming out of school ill prepared…who ends up paying for that?  We are setting them up to fail; not to succeed!

It’s not about making life easier for kids or teaching them how to take an exam; or even making them more reliant on something other than themselves.  It’s about hard work, effort, learning to deal with challenges, overcoming obstacles.

I also know that an assessment piece is needed to tell us whether or not this student is ready and capable to move beyond high school.  Wouldn’t it be great if 100% of high school students entered college and graduated with a higher degree…we all know that in the real world we don’t see that.

Here’s an idea…why can’t we make more than one assessment tool for students?  For those planning on attending college, they can take the college assessment tool.  For those not planning on going to college, they can take the workplace assessment tool.  If we have ELL learners who are getting ready to graduate, why can’t we develop a standard ELL  assessment tool to indicate whether or not they are prepared to function in a real world environment and be able to communicate successfully at the same time?  Could there be other categories used for other students?  Why not?  I think we need to get out of the “one test fits all” mentality folks.

I really would love to hear from you on this topic…I know that many of you have good things to say