- From: Claude Sweet <sweetent@home.com>
- Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 12:22:20 -0700
- To: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- CC: Al Gilman <asgilman@iamdigex.net>, W3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Charles McCathieNevile wrote: > > (This seems way off topic, but anyway) > > If you look at fortune 500 companies, most of them are companies that decided > that being in business in 5 years time was more important than short term > gain. And if you look at companies that stay in the Fortune 500 for ten years > it is even clearer - the picture is not distorted by the flash-in-the-pan > comapnies that are doing well at a given time. Companies survive because they produce a product or perform a service that they can successfully promote to consumers and achieve a profit that encourages their stock to increase in value. The value of capital assets and return to investment drives most, if not all, business decisions. Down sizing or retiring/firing older, higher paid employees is a favorite method of accomplishing increased profits. Lofty 5 and 10 plans are only successful if enough reserve funds can be diverted without effecting profits. This means IRS rules and regulations as to how items are expensed can affect business, both short and long range, planning decisions. > Do I expect all comanies to consider good structure as important? No. But I > expect that most of those that will make it do. (Some people will have dumb > luck. That's what it is for). Does "good structure" refer to the right of a business to determine job descriptions and duties as a requirement for employment? In civil service and educational institutions, the employee is protected by a very specific job description and employment contract. Negotiation of qualification and work related benefits are also spelled out in employment contracts. Management may amend employment contracts by adding new descriptions to new hires and voluntary participation by existing employees via stipends or bonus payments. > It seems to me that restricting the range of possible employees is a mistake > for most companies. In IT it is even more so, given the shortage of qualified > candidates and the high prpoprtion of people with disabilities who are > sufficiently qualified, skilled and experienced to do the work, and are being > forced into unemployment by short-sighted and narrow-minded business > practices. Most companies plan to growth, but successful ones also plan for > growth. I agree, that hiring the best quality person for any job should be the standard applied. No bonus points should be added to any score of a prospective job applicant - this includes credit for being in the armed forces, a civil service employee, a women, ethnic minority, or being physically disabled. "Quotas" should never be a factor in being selected for any job. However, discrimination and reverse discrimination are a reality. Threats of litigation without a real basis in fact and law is illegal, unlawful, and a criminal violation - blackmail. > Actually, this topic began somewhere else entirely- with the question of > whether it wzas apppropriate for an educational provider to rquire the use of > a paticular software combination. Which I think is a signifacantly different > question. > > Charles McCN Lets return to the question "What is the role of the teacher in K-12 and higher education? Are they hired to convey information of a specific nature outlined in course or class descriptions? Are students required to meet specific requirements to enroll in a class - have passed a prior course(s) at a specific grade? I believe most educators believe that students need to acquire a minimum level of word processing skills as part of their language arts/writing communication requirements. Part of this basic education is being expanded to include using the Internet as a part of performing research for class assignments. An increasing number of K-8 students have access to computers at home. The percentage of students increases in 9-12 and junior college. A student in a 4 year higher educational institution is at a disadvantage if they don't own a personal computer. Departments and schools generally establish a defacto operating system and specify software students are required to use while enrolled for credit or auditing a class. Individuals who are not enrolled in a class have not right to physically attend a class or participate in any discussions. An instructor may extend class/course information as a requirement of participation and base the students grade on their participation. Course outlines will discuss the instructors expectations of the students. Students who find the expectations are unsuitable are allowed to drop the class. With the exception of specific courses, most instructors are only required to be experts in their subject areas. They are not paid to be html experts or experts in accessibility issues. A student who is admitted to a school and eventually enrolled in individual classes/courses should expect assistance from a department in the school that has the specialized skills to assist the student. This means that the instructor provides a copy of course material given to each regular student. The mediation efforts must be provided by the school. For example, written materials can be converted into Braille, if enough lead time is allowed. Some schools pay someone to take lecture notes or provide a tape recorder for the student. Most larger higher educational institutions have a professional staff to assist instructors in developing instructional materials - powerpoint slides, Computer Assisted Instruction self paced tutorials, and intranet sites for individual courses. Smaller institutions have limited budgets to assist instructors in developing course materials. Assistance to disabled students is usually under funded too. The assumption that teachers should be held accountable for intranet access issues is not realistic. The claim that one type of solution will provide the needed assistance to ALL types of disabilities is off the mark. The same is true that ALL disabled students must have equal access to ALL courses and activities. For example, is it reasonable to have a blind student enrolled in a surgery class? A student in a wheelchair could easily be accommodated in an orchestra, but their participation in a marching band would pose serious obstacles. Does the band director/instructor have to right to not allow a flute player with poor musical skills to enroll in the school marching band? In the case of a student that can't march and play their instrument at the same time - can the director decline the student as a member of the marching band? Should a disabled student be provided privileges not afforded to other students? Disabled parking spots and permits are positive examples of access for a physically challenged student, but would the same solution be appropriate for a deaf student? I think the answer is obvious. Using a common sense approach to "access" issues needs to be the focus of this discussion. Claude Sweet Educational Technologist
Received on Tuesday, 26 October 1999 15:25:06 UTC