I have a range of experiences on which I base my thoughts, and those keep expanding, though I will admit that much of my activity follows patterns that don't vary a lot over time. I work the same job now that I started ten years ago. I watch much of the same shows on TV and streaming services. I don't go out much. Sometimes, either by my own will or at the invitation of others, I will do something new for me. Sometimes the same activities change because of unexpected events. I don't actively seek novelty much. There are things I think I would like to experience, but I don't make much effort to bring about such experiences. I feel I have enough challenges just bumbling along with what I must do. Sometimes the bumbling along is made worse by information that, though shared apparently in good faith, turns out to be inaccurate.
A year ago, my school switched from primarily paper tests to computer-based tests in our regular lecture courses. The explanation was that this would be more secure, would save paper, and would make it easier to compile data for classes spread across five campuses. There were probably other reasons discussed. Sadly, from my point of view, the faculty were not consulted in the decision-making process, but were simply informed that the change would be made between quarters. Faculty, including me, immediately asked a long list of questions. We were given answers, and were told to be satisfied with them, and get on with making the change work.
We did, for the most part, but the change would have had fewer bumps if we had been included earlier in the process, because then the people representing the company that markets the software system would have answered instead of administrators, who hadn't actually asked the same questions, and were doing their best to answer questions they hadn't really thought about and didn't really understand, it seems. We asked, for example, whether tests would automatically upload when the upload deadline was reached, and were assured they would. Then we gave our first tests, and students finished, closed their computers, and left the classroom, only to discover later that the upload process stopped when the computers closed, and after the deadline, the tests could not be uploaded at all. We found, with some trials, that we could still change the deadline and get the tests to upload. I don't think a student actually lost a score entirely, but quite a few had some anxious hours while we tried to figure out how to get their results into the system properly.
I'm pretty sure the people from the company could have given faculty proper guidance on how the software works had we been present to ask these questions. The administrators thought they understood what we needed to know, but they had it wrong. There were other issues with the transition that also could have been avoided with earlier faculty involvement. Getting the right people in the right places at the right times can help with avoiding problems of inadequate understanding. Getting the people in power, who are responsible for making decisions, to understand that, and to allow the right people to participate, is perhaps an eternal challenge. I don't know if they just think they know enough, or if they think adding faculty to these decisions somehow decreases their own power. I also wonder why they don't learn from mistakes. How many times do we have to go through problems like this before the decision-makers realize that they really could do better with help?
Banks, too. I created savings accounts from my grandsons soon after each was born. I also set up an automatic payment into those accounts from my checking account. After a couple of years, I noticed that the balance was big enough that maybe I could find some other type of account that might offer a greater return, as the basic saving accounts for children got some tiny return, less that 0.1%. Maybe more like 0.01%. So a thousand dollar balance would give about ten cents a year.
I contacted the bank, and asked for advice. I got investment accounts set up. I asked that they be set up so that money could be transferred from the saving accounts to the investment accounts when wanted. The investment accounts, I was told, could only receive deposits greater than $100, and as I was not putting that much in each month, a monthly deposit couldn't be scheduled. But a schedule could be made to transfer money in when the saving accounts would have received that much from the regular deposits I had in place.
After a few months, I checked the balances of the savings and investment accounts. Money was accumulating in the saving accounts. The investment accounts had shifted a bit with market fluctuations. There were no transfers. So I tried to transfer money from the savings accounts to the investment accounts. I got back a notice that the investment accounts could not receive transfers.
It's frustrating when one must discover that information one has been given by a professional, in the professional's own field, is not accurate. I'm sure there will be a way to move the money from the saving accounts into the investment accounts. But I don't know what it is, and I don't know what effort I will have to make to find out, and get it done. I haven't spent a lot of time or effort on solving this problem, but I have spent some, even though I was told there would not be any such problem by a banker and investment adviser from the bank. So, should I continue to trust them? Maybe I should take my business elsewhere. But I wouldn't know where, so I'll just go back, talk to someone else, or maybe the same banker, and find out what other steps will be involved.
I really wish people knew their jobs. And their limitations. I mean, if, in the end, I learn how and when I can move money from my grandsons' saving accounts into their new investment accounts, all will be more or less okay. But I will always know that the pros should have known how to do it from the beginning. Because I did ask. I clearly explained what I wanted when the accounts were set up.
Maybe they did the best they could. Maybe the administration at my school did the best it could. Maybe my expectations are just too high, and the misinformation that has been causing me frustration is a normal fact of life, even in the Information Age, and I should be patient with these flawed and limited beings.
Someday, the algorithms will become self-correcting, and learn beyond any human understanding, and then when questions come up, the wise and all-knowing algorithms will share the answers, and will actually get them right. I should live so long.
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