Tag Archives: Education

School Sucks?

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School SucksPayPal co-founder Peter Thiel predicts that the next major bubble following the housing market crash will be not be in tech, but instead in higher education. Like web technology in the dot-com bubble, college education is nearing over-evaluation quelled only by hiking tuition. Despite higher application rates, higher attendance and higher tuition than ever before, colleges are feeling economic pressure and encumbered by spending freezes. More graduates are dropping out, drowning in student loan debt, failing to enter the job market, and moving in with their parents than ever before. The value of university education against the cost of attendance is questionably worth the capital investment risk. College cannot promise you a competitive job anymore.

How can universities prevent an inevitable devaluation and bubble burst of its own?

Change the promise. Or change the program.

“Learning” in and of itself is hardly an incentive for teenagers who just spent thirteen years in school. After taking all of those miserable standardized tests, the last thing they want to do is take more tests. Universities sell education to youngsters as a step toward employment. Changing the promise would mean being realistic about post-college probability, which would invariably scare applicants away. Bad for business. I do not think colleges can afford to revise their promise.

So that leaves only one alternative: change the program.

I am hardly an expert on educational reform, but education is very important to me. I was a professional student from 1992 to 2009 and will continue to be a student of life until the day I die. As I continue with this blog, I will try to propose suggestions to teachers and schools for “changing the program.” Maybe we can discover healthy alternatives together. Stay tuned!

Fail

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The concept of failure as an educational tool is not new, nor is it particularly difficult to rationalize. Make a mistake and you are less likely to make the same mistake again. Touch a hot stove? Fail. Lesson learned. The human value of failure is obvious, right?

Easier said than done. Nobody likes to fail. More often than not, we shy away from the obstacles that may otherwise drive us to fail. Generally, we avoid risk. Consequently, we learn very little.

Former IBM president Thomas J. Watson once said, “If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.” In pursuit of a fulfilled life, we need to take more chances – and therefore prepare ourselves for a higher volume of failure. For what reason? Because every time we fail, we learn. The more we learn, the more equipped we are to iterate on our failure.  With enough iterations, we will unlock our potential and succeed.

Abstinence from action is abstinence of growth.

Do not sit still. Take chances. Fail. And love it.

If I Don’t Understand What You’re Saying, It’s Your Fault

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When peers or collaborators do not understand you, do not blame it on them (it’s counterproductive). Either you have not communicated clearly enough or they have insufficient background to understand. Take credit for the miscommunication and try a different approach. Be prepared to educate.

First, identify points of comprehension. What parts did he or she understand? Use comprehension as an anchor for the rest of your revised approach. From there, tackle the incongruities. Teach concepts, use metaphors, whatever it takes to spread the butter across the bread. Repeat yourself if you need to. Repeat yourself if you need to.

Some people simply refuse to listen. It is still your fault – for not claiming attention and for choosing to speak in the first place. Know your audience. Only then will you be able to connect.

Be patient. Take responsibility. What is the point of communicating if you are not understood?

Do You Shampoo Your Beard?

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Justin Hamilton asked me if I shampoo my beard. It struck me as a peculiar question. Not because it was inappropriate or unnerving, but because it had never come up in conversation before.

Should you shampoo your beard? Facial hair is still hair and warrants the same care as your scalp, right? No one ever taught me one way or the other.

There are many lessons about adulthood we are not taught growing up. Sex education comes early, but we are hardly taught extracurricular adulthood mechanics thereafter – until we suffer hard truths. Categories of insurance. The civil court system. Property ownership. Credit. Taxes! Taxes are a basic American responsibility and we are all accountable. Why do so few people understand them?

Tax education should be mandatory prior to graduating high school. As should many of these other things I mentioned, whether taught in school or the home. Many adulthood chores do not get discussed until it is too late and we are not prepared. Unruly beard hair is not as dramatic as providing proof of death for a life insurance claim, but they both fall into the same batch of conversation topics failing to surface until we have to waste time and energy decoding them on our own.

To answer the question, I shampoo my beard roughly twice a week.

[EDIT for the Ladies:  I soap my beard/face everyday. I don’t shampoo everyday, it seems like overkill.]