Treating symptoms instead of core problems

Right now I'm taking a grad class on how CEOs make decisions. One of the first steps is to accurately define the problem statement. It might be something as simple as "Do we buy computers, or lease them?" or as complicated as "How will we meet our 4th Qtr projections?"

One of the common traps that a manager will fall in to is that they don't identify the real problem that needs to be solved. They just look at the issues that are right in front of their faces and solve them instead (the symptoms).

Well, more and more lately I feel like our government does this. Or at least important people in the country try to do it.

1. In the past couple of days, a 9 year old boy in delaware was attacked by 2 pit bulls on the street. Now all these interest groups are proposing legislation to ban pit bulls from delaware. But that's not the real problem. What they need to do is crack down on who can own certain dogs and make sure that they are trained and housed properly. When someone is shot you punish the shooter, not the gun. Well this is the same. A dog will act how you train it to act.

2. Right around the Inauguration, there were a lot of stories about some groups trying to get a US law passed that would ban all cell phone use while driving. They say that cell phones cause distractions and cause accidents. Well here's a reality check - people cause accidents. Instead of wasting time on this law, let's put some money into actually teaching kids how to drive before we throw them on the road. I am constantly amazed at some of the bad decisions I see from drivers on the road. It should be much harder to get a license - and it should be hard to keep one. If we put better drivers on the road then we'll have fewer accidents.

3. How about safe sex? How many schools aren't allowed to teach anything but abstinence because they would lose their government funding? How many pharmacists refuse to dispense birth control because it's against their beliefs? How can a teenager make an informed choice about sex if they aren't given all the facts? Abstinence really isn't a choice if that's all you show them. If they want fewer teen pregnancies and STD-issues then teach people how to be safe. You can still tell them to not have sex if you want... but let it be their choice.

I guess the real point of my rant is that I'm tired of regulation before education. We spend so much time punishing people who do something wrong, and not enough time teaching people how to do something right.

ok I think I'm done.