Re: Educating the colour blind - is this really a big problem, or, even, the optimum way of seeing things?

["Mike Woolbert" <mawoolb@charter.net>]

As the origin of the color blind post, I enjoyed Alan's message.  It is
always hard to tell the blind from those who haven't had the light of reason
shined on their area of their blindness.

As a teacher, (corporate type)  it is hard to believe that "incapable" is
not just laziness, inattention or boredom.  Most teachers I know have never
faced an academic hill that they thought was insurmountable.  On the other
hand, most teachers believe in IQ tests.  Their response is that lower IQ
means that the process of education will take longer.  Incapability is
reserved for the truly retarded.

The color blind metaphor was picked because color blindness is widely
distributed over the population.  As an IT manager I learned very rapidly
that color could not be used to differentiate data types.  Color blind
people are capable of living perfectly well, they just can't tell red from
green.  No amount of training or education will change their visual ability.
Abstraction skills follow the same track.  Computerized process controls use
computer images to represent pumps, towers and tanks.  Some people are
incapable of converting the dots on a computer screen to the physical
reality of the plant.  With this said, is it possible that some people are
not wired to understand the counter-intuitive parts of  Deming's philosophy?
Remember, most everyone that reads the DEN, "gets it".