Page 255 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

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plan, organize, and present his or her information to peers and parents.”
Five-year-old Nathan told us about one of his class’s projects: “We went to
visit a bank and got a bank loan. Our class got the loan. We made up this
little jewelry shop in the mall and sold jewelry.” When we asked him what
they did with the money, he responded, “We paid part of it back to the bank
and still had some extra. We bought books for the new classrooms.”
We asked teacher, Renee Harmon, “What do you do with a child that
has little, if any, interest in the selected project?” She answered by sharing
this riveting story with us: “One of the projects selected was trucks and trans-
portation. One student had absolutely no interest in this project. He was very
bright and extremely creative but wasn’t real thrilled about the whole topic
and didn’t see what he could learn from it. Since this student was just start-
ing to get interested in the Internet, he was encouraged to do some online
research on truck designs. He was also very interested in the environment, so
he researched the gas mileage for different types of trucks. He also conducted
a sample to determine the most popular color of truck in downtown Des
Moines. He discussed and presented his findings to his fellow classmates.”
The benefit of this project approach can be summed up by world-renowned
educator, William Glasser: “We learn 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent
of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and
hear, 70 percent of what we discuss, 80 percent of what we experience, and
95 percent of what we teach others.”
You may be asking, “Why include an elementary school in a business
book?” There are several reasons why we chose Downtown School as one of
our seven featured organizations. First, Jan Drees and her team provide a
prime example of innovation and leadership exhibited by the creation of an
environment where students are self-motivated, and where mutual respect
and trust abound.
Furthermore, Downtown School is really much more than just a school.
Jan and her team are builders of a workforce that will one day be instru-
mental in upholding our nation’s claim as a leader in the global economy.
Recently, ABC’s “20/20” reported, “At age 10, American students take an
international test and score well above the international average. But by age
15, when students from 40 countries are tested, the Americans place 25th.
The longer kids stay in American schools, the worse they do in international
competition. They do worse than kids from poorer countries that spend
much less money on education, ranking behind not only Belgium but also
Poland, the Czech , and South Korea.” The business community at large can