Working Up

By Dwayne Phillips

Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring, “I’m just learning” does not allow us to do whatever we want.

Earlier this year, I wrote about using Emergency Flashers to gain allowance to do whatever I want (not). I’ve noticed something similar with stickers on cars that say something like, “Caution, Student Driver,” or “Student Driver, Please be Patient.”

In Virginia, Driver’s Education is no longer taught in schools. There are private companies that provide on-the-road driver’s ed. These are required for obtaining a license to drive. These private companies put these and other stickers on their vehicles to identify themselves—or something like that.

I was almost smashed by one such car recently. The student driver didn’t know how to turn left when there are several left-turn lanes. Oh well.

I’ve noticed that putting a “Student Driver” sticker on a car allows the driver of that car to do just about anything they wish. Everyone else will just have to abide by that.

Let’s extend this to the workplace and other areas of life. I’ll hang a “Student” lanyard from my neck.

If someone at Starbucks says, “Hey, there is a line here. Get in the back of the line.” I’ll smile and point to my Student lanyard. That will make going to the front of the line okay.

If I crash the computer network at work and everyone loses hours of work, I’ll point to my Student lanyard. That will ease everyone’s angst and make everything okay.

Of course these are silly examples. Being a student at something or other does not make everything okay.

Of course, however, there are cases of people being new to a job and needing some time and space to learn. Now the manager of the work earns their pay. Create learning situations. Create “sandboxes” in which learners can experiment, make major mistakes, and not adversely affect others.

Student drivers exist (I wish there were closed areas for them to learn to drive). Student butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers exist. Mistakes are costly. Let’s be sure to have places where students can make mistakes and learn and minimize the cost.