Now Rees is stealing from kids with a disability.. has he no shame? #media #politics

First up, let me say that I fully support effective funding for programs that assist people with a disability to reach their potential as human beings in a caring society. (And by definition that means all of us, varying only by degree and by our own recognition - or not - of ours and others' abilities. ) That means removing cultural roadblocks to change, including any distortions or misrepresentations by politicians, lobbyists of various kinds and the mass media. With that in mind, let me press on...

This is a story about several groups trying to leverage an issue to achieve an end. The issue itself becomes burdened with hangers-on and it becomes hard to tell who's really wanting what for or from whom; but the nub of it is that kids with a disability will be 'missing out' because the NSW State government bureaucracy wants to reassign unspent monies (ie to other programs, elsewhere).

Well first of all, IMHO this happens every year, and indeed school principals have been accused of hoarding cash from year to year, possibly with a larger goal in mind, or simply through an inability to properly manage their budgets. I'm sure there are many highly skilled, competent principals in the State system, but I am equally sure that many others need help with financial strategy, planning and execution. There is no secret about this, or about the yearly "issue" of 'use it or lose it'. Every state government department goes about this practice, every year.

So today we read this: PRINCIPALS are accusing the Rees Government of a "grubby grab" for more than $12 million in unspent funds sitting in school bank accounts.. That's para one. If you go to that page online and search, you'll find that there is no attribution for the "grubby grab" remark. We don't know how many principals are involved, as all we have is a quote from the chair of a forum: Cheryl McBride, the chairwoman of the Public Schools Principals' Forum, warned yesterday the Government was slashing funding for students. Presumably the 'grubby grab' quote is an invention by the newspaper in question. There is, thankfully, an opposing view provided: However, DET Deputy Director-General Trevor Fletcher denied there had been a reduction in any school's allocation for 2009. He said some schools had built up more funds than they could hope to spend on programs for which the money was earmarked.

Whatever the truth, the headline is all about Premier Rees and his grubby grab, and nothing about addressing real issues for school kids with a disability. There are resources made available by both the Federal and State governments, and to my (admittedly limited) understanding the problem is more that the individual needs of students are not properly assessed and addressed by the schools concerned. Simply, the right approaches are not made by the right people in a timely fashion, leaving cash at the bank. I could be wrong, but that may be the real issue, not this supposed "grubby grab".

The more that I see the traditional media pour scorn on NSW Premier Nathan Rees the more I imagine that the public will see an underdog being kicked by bullies. (Not enough to save this government, perhaps, but surely it will be a factor over time.) Now Rees is ostensibly in power, but you'd hardly get that impression from the pack of hounds constantly baying for blood.

It's become a running joke. It sometimes appears that if any State government department does anything that upsets anyone, there's a story printed, and always it's a distortion, and always it's the fault of the NSW premier. I hope he is enjoying his time in the hot seat. The real power may lie elsewhere.

Business schools are the root of all evil... really! #MBA

One of the philosophical underpinnings of western society is individualism - the idea that we are free to do what we want, when we want, with the simple caveat that we don't hurt someone else in the process. OK, that's a short take on it, but the essence is clear. And clearly something has gone wrong right now, and people are being hurt. So logically we should look for the individuals who let us all down and expect them to take individual responsibility (rather than pay rises and termination jackpots). We have laws to enforce that, of course, up to a point.

However it rarely works like that. Yes, some brave souls will 'do the right thing' and accept that the individualism that fed their corporate lives and wealth should be paid back with the individual responsibility and integrity we expect or hope for. But others will blame the system, or the law, the lack of control or - would you believe - their education! Yes folks, it's the MBA system, the business schools that are to blame. Clearly courses like 'Capitalism without regret' and 'Greed 2.0 - the strategic imperative' don't help (and yes, I made those up, but you know what I mean); but it's really just blame shifting, isn't it? Unless we can all be reprogrammed so easily that the last school we attended is the only thing that influences us... in which case every school, business or otherwise, needs to take some heat right now.

There is of course some truth in everything, but no absolutes. We are not simply the robotic output of a failed school system, we are thinking beings that absorb, reflect, analyse and synthesise everything in our environment. Yes, business schools need to digest the economic crisis and adapt their courseware, if not their entire agenda. Indeed you'd expect that as a matter of course - this crisis will be high on their case study agenda anyway. And the truth is that business schools have actually been teaching concepts like the triple bottom line and corportate social responsibility for the last decade, if not longer. Perhaps the real problem is that the business schools - indeed all schools - aren't as influential as we think. Maybe peer pressure, group think and so-called 'individualism' are more to blame than we care to admit.