Was working late yeasterday, had to miss skating and therefore was in a gloomy mood; then this wierd thought occured to me and lightened me up:

If MBA schools were teaching figure skating….

…. You would have paid $50K to have the likes of Tarasova, Carroll and Nicks to talk to you about the greatest skaters in history, their own coaching experience, the mechanics of jumps and spins, and what they like and dislike about today’s skating performances. You would have a few off-ice classes there they would put you on a lounge and ask to imitate an axel. You would watch endless tapes with skating performances and then have group discussions lasting way past midnight so you can produce a lengthy paper with a detailed critique.

Then after two years of this rigorous training they would give you a pair of skates, put in front of a crowd and ask you to land a triple….


Anyone wants to have a go at "if computer programmers were teaching figure skating"?

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My other car is a Zamboni

Hmmm. You're a little close to home here: I have an MBA and I've been a computer programmer, (still keep my hand in) but here goes:


If *BAD* computer programmers were teaching figure skating, many useless meetings would take place before any lessons were actually given. A 400-page document would be sent, outlining all of things the student didn't know yet. The student would (of course) be expected to pay extra to master those skills.

In a program, unexpected falls would be tolerated, provided lots of cryptic messages were displayed afterwards. No skaters would submit program lists in advance or afterward for that matter. There would be no order to the elements and some maneuvers would be unique and "undocumented."

Now, how about a school teacher teaching figure skating?

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If it was a major research institution, the study to learn figure skating would be stuck in the Institutional Review Board for a few months, then in contracts, then the FDA would call and have a 1/2 hour conference call on the skate's laces. By the time the study was approved the ice would have melted and everyone interested gone.
In one study we actually had a lenghty conference call with the FDA on rubber stoppers.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I worked for the USDA back when they did home loans and closing on one person's loan was held up for 3 weeks because they couldn't agree whether or not it was ok that their handicap railing was off by 1/2 an inch (even though it met the state requirements)......ah, government bureaucracy!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

And you'd have to get competitive bids for your skates and blades, and/or be required to go with a GSA approved vendor - funny how government funded research projects have to go to these lengths, often for a very minor cost savings, while Hurricane Katrina reconstruction contracts go out without any bids and usually not to local companies who would stimulate the local economy.

LOL!! Thanks, sceptique. I have an MBA (finished last May) and I needed a good laugh!

Hey, I used to be a teacher (in one of my previous professional lives). I can probably make some snarky comments about a "bad" teacher teaching skating, referencing some idiots that I worked with at one school where I taught, but I probably shouldn't at the risk of offending anyone.

Now, if I were to ponder what it would be like if education schools were teaching skating, well....it would sound a lot like sceptique's story, except the professors would probably require some specific type of skate that they would forget to tell you about until the last minute, b/c you were expected to discover that on your own by mindreading, apparently. You would have observers at your performances to evaluate your progress, and the observers would likely cancel at the last minute or just never show up, so that you would risk not getting credit. The skating instructors wouldn't actually teach you skills, but would quote theories to you from people who have researched skating w/o making a connection between the theories and what you are actually doing, and then you would later discover that the theories have actually been disproven by other researchers, but your instructors never told you this b/c the institution's philosophy keeps it in the headlines.

Like the judges who have never skated?

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I loved this and laughed SO hard. Needed the humor! Why does it so remind me of my former work life?????????