Why on earth would anyone want or aspire to a career in politics. Is anyone arrogant enough to believe that they themselves can fix the political mess that we have going? Or is it just a “lifetime” of falling on grenades virtuously trying to make a difference for the “public good”? Continue reading
Author Archives: Rich
Is Community College A Good Option?
What is your opinion about community college? Is it “where you go” if you can’t afford “real college”? Is it a cheaper, easier way to get your general ed requirements “out of the way”? Is it “my only choice”? Is it better, because I can live at home, “where I don’t have to worry as much about distractions”? Continue reading
Its A Small World After All
This is a very personal story about how technology changes the way we live. I wanted to share it because I find it instructive as technology continues to effectively shrink our world and reduce our man made boundaries. These are changes that we should embrace, rather than fearing and resisting, because they will ultimately lead us to richness – not wealth, but fulfillment. Continue reading
Self-Esteem, Competence, or Confidence
In our US education system, we have become concerned with preserving or promoting the self-esteem of students. The educators who initiated this use the psychological definition of the term to mean a persons sense of self worth or personal value. As opposed to a merriam webster definition of self-esteem which is a confidence and satisfaction in oneself.
I would never say that it is not important for students to believe in themselves, to feel important or valuable. But it is the source and method of developing self-esteem that I have observed that I question. Students who gain competence, and through competence a sense of confidence, and finally a sense of value in their own capacity to accomplish – have a self-sustaining self-esteem. That is, it is natural and does not require outside assistance or bolstering. This is the state that we are striving to acheive in students. Continue reading
Do Colleges Produce Value?
Does our educational system, especially the university system, create value? Should it? If it does, what value does it create? If it should, what value should it create? My last two posts were about creating value and our relation to the value chain, and this is a continuation of the same line of thought. This is especially relevant, because my son is about to enter university, in Fall 2012. While we are agonizing over the decision of where he should go, what he should study, and how we will fund this endeavor, my mind always wanders back to the question of value – “Why is he going in the first place?” Continue reading
Do Any of Us Really Understand Value?
I was having a conversation with a colleague about “value” and what the financial “industry” does that creates value. I realized that he and I didn’t agree on the origin of value. He believed that value is defined by the consumer, and that whatever someone will pay for is inherently valuable. I believe that value is defined by need Continue reading
Creating Value – what the economy is supposed to do…
I am not an economist, nor am I a student of economic theory. I have a limited understanding of the theories of money, and as simple understanding of the principles of capital markets. But I do understand the theory of value. Value is created when humans expend effort toward the creation of a product, or towards the execution of a service. Those products and services have a cost (unit effort + material input + a share of (infrastructure + marketing)), and in a relatively unconstrained market (no such thing as a free market) the products and services have a value (how much someone will pay for it). Continue reading
The Media: What to do?
So everybody realizes that the syndication of media at a national or global level presents a challenge to the role of the media’s ability to hold our elected officials accountable. I have stated 5 issues or challenges surrounding our relationship with the media and media’s relationship with government below. But I want to start by saying what I think can be done about them.
Inaugural Post
I want to dedicate my first post on this blog to the Occupy Protesters. These guys and gals have been hanging out on the corner of the building where i work for a few weeks now. They are nice, and polite to passers by, even though in the evening on the way home, they make it hard to pass.
I don’t know what they are upset about, but they seem to be holding firm in numbers. Today they got a better drummer. Sometimes the drumming and chanting is loud enough that I can hear it in my cube on the 19th floor.
I have joined in making sport of them, and have been reading about their issues and methods with interest. Some of us in the office even made fake protest signs with slogans like “Soylent Green is People”… Not that funny.