Interview with Eli Goldratt continued . . .
DW: That will do it.
EG: Please, one more. The jewel in the crown, at least in my eyes, is the
usage of TOC in education. Yes, in kindergartens and elementary schools.
Don’t you agree that there is no need to wait until we are adults to learn how
to effectively insert some common sense into our surrounding?
Interview with Kathy Suerken, CEO
TOC For Education,
An international nonprofit dedicated to teaching TOC thinking
processes to schoolchildren.
DW: You’re a middle school teacher, not a plant manager. How does
The Goal
fit with the work you do with children?
KS: Well, it all started almost 15 years ago. I was kind of a new teacher at a
middle school but I had been a parent volunteer for a while. I was running a
voluntary math program for kids and my husband was giving me advice on
how to manage it. The program was already a success; we had 100%
participation. I asked him, “Well, what do I do now? Go to a different
school?” And he said, “Kathy, you’ll have to find another goal.” Six months
later he said, “There’s a book you have to read, we’re passing it around at our
office and everyone’s signing the back if they recommend it.” That was my
introduction to
The Goal
. Within six months, I wrote a letter to Eli Goldratt
that began, “Dear Dr. Goldratt, if you were to walk into the office of Frank
Fuller, Ruckle Middle School’s principal, on his desk you would find a copy
of
The Goal
. . . and thereby hangs a tale.” I went on to say how I was using
the ideas and concepts to run this project.
DW: Did you hear back from Eli?
KS: Within four days, with a copy of his newly revised book. And then
within about a week or so I heard from Bob Fox, who was president of the
Goldratt Institute at that time, and they offered to send me to Jonah school on
scholarship. So I went through the course. Later I went through a facilitator
program on how to become a trainer of Jonah processes. And then I went
back and taught a pilot course to kids. By the end of the year my kids were
using the thinking processes, which they learned brilliantly. They were the
most Socratic learners and teachers of other kids that you ever saw. It was
pretty convincing evidence to me that this stuff works with kids, and it
launched me into the role I have now.
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