The debate about SpringBoard, a controversial English curriculum school trustees adopted earlier this month, has elicited fears of disgruntled social critics everywhere, including myself.
Mainly, the fear is that we are losing our youth to the insidious fragmentation of television, the Internet, and the unremitting barrage of eternally redesigned electronic devices.
Whether SpringBoard is the right tool to reverse this trend is another argument. How real the trend is in the first place is also subject to debate.
In all honesty, Douglas High grads seem much brighter now than they did a decade ago. I would know; I was one of those fatuous half-wits standing on the threshold of the new millennium in 2000.
Nonetheless, the fear is out there that we're losing our kids to pop culture. Serious reading and writing are going the way of the typewriter, critics warn.
From a business standpoint, what exactly would this look like?
I envision some insane Terry Gilliam movie where the vast majority of workers resemble unskilled dupes locked into sinuous grids of numbered cubicles. They mumble nonsensically to themselves while performing menial tasks for the powerful few who somehow have retained sole control of the English language.
Of course, this vision is ridiculous. Or is it? No, it's pretty ridiculous. However, the bottom line is that kids need to be able to write effectively to compete in the real world.
If knowledge is power, and assuming, for the purposes of this article, that knowledge is language-based, then it follows that a mastery of language is the first step toward self-empowerment.
Voicing opposition at a recent school board meeting, Carson Valley Middle School English teacher and novelist Liz Leiknes said, "I fear that we will be sending our students to swim in shallow waters, yet setting them up to drown in the academically competitive deep sea of the real world."
Wow! Where did that woman learn to write? It doesn't matter. The concern is that our students won't be able to bring the necessary skills into a world that is more competitive than ever, thanks largely to record unemployment in this country and the rapid marketization of developing countries once thought far behind.
I would contend that writing is the most important skill to have in the business world, and I don't care what business you're in. My relatively short adult life has taken me into several part-time jobs and colorful careers, some wonderful and some not so pleasant, yet each requiring basic English skills and some level of proficiency in good-old-fashioned longhand communication.
Upon saying this, I know kids who would ask me, "But Scott, can't I just be a math whiz and profit from my understanding of numbers?"
"Maybe," I'd respond, "if you're a genius working in isolation."
But how can you draft a budget if you don't know the difference between subject and predicate? How can you entice investors if you can't write a complete sentence?
"But Scott," I can hear my mother say, "don't you use fragments all the time?"
I do. I love fragments. I love fragments the way a painter loves certain brushstrokes. Some nice bristly chevrons. A flick of color here and there. I can use fragments, darn it, because I spent years studying grammar and literature. I also love asinine aphorisms such as, "Know the rules before you break them."
In America, we carry the romantic notion that a simple idea can change the world. And it can. But no idea, no matter how brilliantly conceived in the wee hours of the night, will ever see the light of day without the hard work of writing.
Bagel Burger - that's my idea. Ever had a juicy sirloin patty on a freshly baked bagel? It's delicious. But how can I create a restaurant chain around this concept?
R-C Sports Editor Joey Crandall has long talked about Joey's Cheese Shack. He envisions some kind of roadside kiosk loaded with sumptuous, sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches and steaming-hot tomato soup. That's called a business model. He's even thought about setting up shop right outside the high school during lunch hours. "Got a hankering for grilled cheese? Well, then come on down to Joey's Cheese Shack!" That's called a marketing strategy.
All joking aside, how does one turn a business idea into a business blockbuster? The answer is simply to write it out.
The most important business story I've ever written for The Record-Courier was perhaps the most boring. It involved long block paragraphs as dense as Derrida with an MBA.
After attending a Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce "business builder" seminar, which focused on developing a business plan, I felt compelled not only to write about the subject, but to include a brief outline of a business plan in my story. It was tedious but important. I still keep the outline by my desk, so when I get fired from the paper, I can run to the nearest bank with my Bagel Burger pitch.
If you're a small business owner, a business plan is essential. It's essential in the same way the Bible is essential to Christians, or the Constitution is essential to Constitutionalists.
"Starting with a business plan couldn't be more logical," chamber executive director Bill Chernock said. "Whether you are a single service shop or a retailer, you need a blueprint."
Chernock laid out the fundamentals of a written business plan as follows: Section one should include an executive summary or overview; section two should include the mission statement, vision, goals, objectives and a general description of the business; section three should entail background information on the industry and how the business fits in that industry; section four should describe the business structure, management, personnel and operating controls; section five should include a marketing plan, products/services, market analysis and marketing strategies; and section six should detail a financial plan, profit and loss, balance sheets, cash flow projections and whatnot.
"You want to update your financials each month and revisit the plan at least annually," Chernock said. "A plan creates the value of thinking ahead, to get out of the day-to-day coping mode."
Chernock said a good business plan also reflects reality.
"Walmart is a reality, the economy in 2010 is a reality, and the current lending climate is a reality," he said. "A good plan will have a contingency plan that allows for a worst-case scenario before it arrives."
So there you have it. I hope it wasn't too painful. As students continue to struggle with essays on Shakespeare, so should small business owners struggle with the details of their business plans. My advice is to read as much as humanly possible, write as much as time allows, and perfect the language of your goals. Your business plan should be such a forceful, fine-tuned document that investors weep and call it poetry.
