Tell It Like It Is

Contrary to what most people have been told their entire lives ... they cannot necessarily be whatever they want to be.  What we should really be telling our young people that they can be whatever they want to be within reason.  Whether or not today's youth enter the profession of their choice depends on which profession they wish to enter, their abilities, and their willingness to work for it.  My good friend tells her students, "barring an act of Divine intervention, some people cannot be whatever they want to be."  Let's consider the students I have that wish to play professional football, something I often get when I ask my students to identify some of their long-term goals. Now, do my male students have the ability and drive to make it to the National Football League?  I'm not sure about their ability; I have never seen any of them play football.  I work at a community college and we have no football team.  As for their willingness to work for what they want, I don't think so; many people are only willing to "pay their dues" if someone gives them the money and another someone holds a gun on them to make them pay their dues.  Even if they have the ability and the drive, let's consider the mathematical probability of some of them entering the NFL  – no I won’t really work out the mathematical odds, but think about these tidbits: In 2011 the NFL had approximately 1700 players, and according to the 2010 census there are nearly 11,014,200 males between the ages of 20 - 24 (1.5%) and that is not including any of the 10,635,600 males aged 25-29 who may want to be in the NFL as well.  Over the last 5 years, the NFL drafted an average of 254 players per year.  The odds of becoming the next Payton Manning would be, what I think most gamblers would call, a long shot.  So ... should we discourage (not disencourage – a word I heard a high school student use when she was being interviewed on television by a journalist the other day) someone that could possibly become the next Tim Tebow? I do not necessarily think so, what we should do is encourage our students (and other people) to have a "back-up" plan; unfortunately, many people have no plan at all.  The truth is people can be whatever they want to be, within reason.  Every semester I tell all of my students, "find what you like to do, then figure out a way to make money doing it; then when you get that job that allows you to do what you like to do and earn money, it will be like getting paid to have fun."

Instant Gratification

Instant gratification, that thing that requires our servitude, steals our money, and enslaves us to our desires.  I am always amazed at the number of people that buy those cold beverages in the refridgerators next to the checkout lines.  Just today I saw a man and woman with their child each grab a bottle of cold soda from one such refridgerator.  For the amount of money they shelled-out for those 3 sodas, they could have purchased a 12 pack and still had money left.  I am sure they did not buy those sodas because they were dying of thirst.  To my knowledge not one single person has ever died from thirst between the check-out counter at the local grocer and their refridgerator at home.  So one might wonder why people (especially in these economic times) don't purchase a 12 pack of sodas, take it home, put it in their fridge, and then it will be available when they get home.  I am sure the answer is instant gratification .... people want to have what they want at the very moment they want it.  It's not that they can't wait; it is that they don't want to wait.  Of course, then they wonder why they have no money.  Credit card companies have bilked the general public allowing them to buy things they don't need, can't afford, but want. 
     Today people don't enjoy anticipation, they skip right past it.  One of my favorite things is the growing anticipation I feel at the beginning of the Christmas season: anticipating the friends and family with whom I will be able to spend time, contemplating the face of each loved one as he/she opens a gift I selected especially for him/her, and looking forward to curling up with a cup of hot tea and that book I have been wanting to read.  (I know this sounds all "Norman Rockwell," but it is what I like.)  I rather like the words of Star Trek's Spock, "You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. This is not logical, but it is often true."

Utilitarianism

I never thought of myself as a utilitarian, but I find that I am becoming one.  My state has created a task force to try and convince vocational schools (tech centers), colleges, and universities to develop an educational program for intellectually disabled (speaker's term) persons to attend college classes.  Two of my colleagues and I were sent to a one day conference during which the presenters tried to convince us that this is a good idea.  Further, the speaker said that if we develop a "meaningful credential" program these intellectually disabled students would qualify for Pell Grant monies and other financial aid (except of course loans).  The presenter went so far as to point out that "meaningful credential" is vague enough that we could develop whatever program we like.  The hope is that higher education will mainstream these intellectually disabled persons into existing classrooms. 

WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???  Oh yeah, right, mainstreaming worked out so well in K-12.  I am sure the people pushing this are either the parents of these intellectually disabled persons or special education teachers.  I have some concerns: the safety of these intellectually disabled students (especially the females that are easy targets for some unscruplous males); the institutions' liability when something less than desirable does happen to one of these students; the emotional safety of these students when they are unable to perform the way their peers perform; and the classroom changes that may have a detrimental effect on typical higher education students.  My question is this: at what point does the 'needs of the many' out-weigh the desires of the few?

Education: mile wide, inch deep

If we truly want education reform ... so the employability of our youth does not continue to TANK like our economy ... stop using the teaching method mile wide, inch deep!  We are doing this at all levels of education ... We have automated education, and the schools have become nothing more than mere factories pumping out students that have been taught to pass the tests but not to "think" for themselves.

Greed

We have all become too greedy.  What we really need is food (and not a lot of it), shelter (a small relatively warm/cool and dry space to protect us from the elements), and 2 sets of clothing (one to wear while we are washing the one that we wore) ... everything else is "gravy".

Undisciplined children

Discipline your children while you are bigger than they are; it is much easier then.

Don't bring your undisciplined children out in public; we don't want to see them!   :(