Conan O'Brien is getting lots of kudos for his commencement address to the Dartmouth class of '11, and rightfully so.
Here's the highlight version:
Here's the whole thing:
I'm a big believer in providing students with a well-rounded liberal arts curriculum. I also believe that we made a critical error with our education system when we marginalized the "industrial arts." Not that I think every kid needs to learn how to fix an engine, anymore than I think every kid needs to write poetry on a daily basis, but I do think that our education system is letting down our kids and our industry by not finding a healthy balance between what could be called a "practical education" and a "liberal arts education." Thus you may understand why I found this post by Fred Wilson so interesting:
I've been thinking about what happens at the intersection of science and art, how science impacts art, and how art impacts science, how New York City has been blessed to be at the intersection of science and art for at least two centuries, and how much of what is interesting to me in the technology revolution of the moment, the Internet, is at the intersection of science and art…
Science and art are seen as two very distinct endeavors and I suppose they are. But I see science and art as the yin yang of creative culture and innovation. To quote from Wikipedia, science and art are seemingly contrary forces that are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and they give rise to each other in turn.
I was talking to a longtime reader of this blog, Chris Dorr, last night. Chris has been working in the film industry for a long time and blogs at the Tribeca Film Festival Blog. We were talking about changes in the film business and Chris blurted out that "filmakers and software developers need to start sleeping together and it is starting to happen." Filmmaking is art, particularly great filmmaking. But the art of filmmaking has always been based on a number of fundamental scientific inventions. And Chris' point is that the art of filmmaking will continue to be impacted by scientific inventions that are happening in real time…
I was at a meeting yesterday with an economic development group in NYC. We were talking about 3D Printing, an important new technology that was "science" a decade ago. The economic development types were explaining to me why 3D Printing technology is so important to NYC. They explained that our artist and design communities need 3D Printing technology because it allows these artists to turn their ideas into objects rapidly and at lower cost. It is a game changer for artists, designers, and architects. Our portfolio company Shapeways and other innovators like MakerBot are doing just that right here in NYC.
The oldest had kind of a big day on Saturday. I'm proud to write that he's officially a 2011 graduate of West Forsyth High School:
One thing about being the parent of teenagers is that you're rarely bored. Mad? Often. Exasperated? Even more often. Bored? Very rarely.
One reason is that they lead lives that can best be described as bizarre which leads them to regale their parents with stories. Disturbing stories. Frankly we often dismiss their stories as gross exaggerations based on our long experience with hearing grossly exaggerated stories from them, but lately we've discovered that our three teens will corroborate each other's stories at different times and that's caused us to come to the conclusion that every once in a while our kids aren't full of crap.
An idea that's entered my head is that it would be great if we could have one of those tiny cameras, the kind that all the TV stations use when they're doing undercover investigations of tanning salons, attached to our kids so we could see what they see during the day. The idea flies away as soon as I remember that I really don't want to know everything my kids are up to since I'd likely ship them off to military school or a convent as a result, but there's one part of their lives I'd really like to see from their perspectives and that's the classroom. Based on the stories they tell about their classes I'm fairly well convinced that they have some outstanding teachers, some average teachers and the occasional nutjob thrown into the mix. Their classmates are equally diverse, ranging from your classic honor roll student to your honorary members of the Charles Manson Club. I'll be the first to tell you that it takes a special person to get teenagers to sit up and listen, and I'd love to be able to see the teachers from the kids' perspective since we all know that the presence of an adult would skew everyone's behavior. I'd love to be able to see how some teachers really get the kids engaged and how others bore them to tears.
I'm writing about this now because I recently sat through a business seminar that was being run by two professors from a local university. It just astounds me that anyone who is a "professional" educator could be that unengaging or that bad at relaying information. And let's be honest – if you're handed an audience of adult professionals who willingly enlisted for a seminar that's about as easy as you're going to get as an educator. Hell, one of the guys played about five minutes of a CD of a fairly prominent business speaker as part of his presentation. What next, a film strip? I haven't been that bored since college and unfortunately this experience reminded me that in my four years of college I could count on one hand the number of professors who truly inspired me. The rest should have gone into business as sleep therapists because their greatest talent was their ability to put even the hardiest souls to sleep.
From a parent's perspective the fact that teachers can be that boring is particularly galling because our kids feed us a regular helping of some variation of this line: "I'm not doing well in <fill in subject here> because the teacher is SOOOOO BORING! And he doesn't even know what he's talking about – when we ask questions he can't help us understand and he just says what it says in the book." Of course our first reaction is to say something along the lines of "I'm sure you're exaggerating, but even if it's true you need to find a way to learn and you need to focus harder on the subject." Obviously they could be, and often likely are exaggerating, but there's also a grain of truth to what they're saying.
Teachers are no different than the rest of us – some are good, some aren't – but I'd argue that the consequences of a teacher's ineptitude are more far reaching than most other peoples'. How many of us directly influence the development of hundreds of kids each year? How many of us can directly impact the future success of hundreds of kids if we don't do our jobs?
As a parent I'm more than willing to take responsibility for my and my kids' shortcomings; if my kids get bad grades I know that we have a hand in it. On the other hand I think educators (not just teachers, but everyone involved in education) have to take responsibility as well. The education of our children is too important for us to continue to treat teaching as just another job and education as just another industry – in my mind it's a profession as important as the law or medicine and I think it's about time our society starts treating it that way. Frankly I think it's a miracle that we have as many good teachers as we do because we sure don't treat teachers as anything special. We send them kids of all stripes – motivated learners, stoners, jocks, products of abuse, products of broken homes, etc. and ask them to perform the miracle of preparing them to compete in the global workplace. That would be fine if we gave them the necessary resources to do it, but we don't.
I don't have the answers, but I do have the benefit of seeing the little corner of the educational universe that my kids populate and it worries me. My kids have the advantage of going to one of the better public schools in the area, but they have classmates I think hardened criminals would steer clear of, and teachers that I think have a hard time inspiring themselves to get out of bed much less inspire dozens of kids to learn. My kids also have the benefit of two parents who are willing to push, cajole and aid them as much as possible in order for them to succeed and learn. What happens to those kids who don't?
Education is too important for us to keep on keepin' on, so I think my germ of an idea – put hidden cameras on my kids to see what they see – might actually be the way to start this whole process. What I mean is, let's look at education from the end user's perspective. I honestly don't think you could put a bunch of adults in classrooms to observe because of the observer-expectancy effect, so I truly think it would be of great benefit to get unobtrusive observations' from the kids' perspectives. This might not be a possibility due to legal/privacy concerns, but if it is possible I think it would provide incredible insight into the reality of our education system.
Now that I've written all this I have another thought – maybe someone's already done this and I'm just blowing a lot of hot air. Wouldn't be the first time, and it's probably not the last.
The New York Times has an article that highlights the percentage of college graduates that each US religion has, and the percentage of members of each religion who have a household income greater than $75,000.
The least educated or affluent? Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptists.
The most educated or affluent? Hindus, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, Anglicans/Episcopalians.
The most average? Mormons, Lutherans and Catholics.
From the article:
The most affluent of the major religions — including secularism — is Reform Judaism. Sixty-seven percent of Reform Jewish households made more than $75,000 a year at the time the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life collected the data, compared with only 31 percent of the population as a whole. Hindus were second, at 65 percent, and Conservative Jews were third, at 57 percent.
On the other end are Pentecostals, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptists. In each case, 20 percent or fewer of followers made at least $75,000. Remarkably, the share of Baptist households making $40,000 or less is roughly the same as the share of Reform Jews making $100,000 or more. Overall, Protestants, who together are the country’s largest religious group, are poorer than average and poorer than Catholics. That stands in contrast to the long history, made famous by Max Weber, of Protestant nations generally being richer than Catholic nations.
Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs dude, testified before Congress about the lack of skilled labor we have in the US and the related problem of the marginalization of vocational education in our society:
I believe we need a national PR Campaign for Skilled Labor. A big one. Something that addresses the widening skills gap head on, and reconnects the country with the most important part of our workforce.
Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant positions. There are 450,000 openings in trades, transportation and utilities. The skills gap is real, and it's getting wider. In Alabama, a third of all skilled tradesmen are over 55. They're retiring fast, and no one is there to replace them.
Alabama's not alone. A few months ago in Atlanta I ran into Tom Vilsack, our Secretary of Agriculture. Tom told me about a governor who was unable to move forward on the construction of a power plant. The reason was telling. It wasn't a lack of funds. It wasn't a lack of support. It was a lack of qualified welders.
In general, we're surprised that high unemployment can exist at the same time as a skilled labor shortage. We shouldn't be. We've pretty much guaranteed it.
In high schools, the vocational arts have all but vanished. We've elevated the importance of "higher education" to such a lofty perch that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled "alternative." Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as "vocational consolation prizes," best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of "shovel ready" jobs for a society that doesn't encourage people to pick up a shovel.
I think he's absolutely right. College isn't for everyone. Desk jobs aren't for everyone. Our society needs to get back to the point where we applaud and appropriately reward hard work, whether or not it takes place on a computer or in a ditch.
By the way, my favorite part of his testimony was at the beginning when he was talking about his grandfather, a jack of all trades, who inspired him to create Dirty Jobs:
I remember one Saturday morning when I was 12. I flushed the toilet in the same way I always had. The toilet however, responded in a way that was completely out of character. There was a rumbling sound, followed by a distant gurgle. Then, everything that had gone down reappeared in a rather violent and spectacular fashion.
Naturally, my grandfather was called in to investigate, and within the hour I was invited to join he and my dad in the front yard with picks and shovels.
By lunch, the lawn was littered with fragments of old pipe and mounds of dirt. There was welding and pipe-fitting, blisters and laughter, and maybe some questionable language. By sunset we were completely filthy. But a new pipe was installed, the dirt was back in the hole, and our toilet was back on its best behavior. It was one of my favorite days ever.
I loved this part because, quite frankly, I've held the role of Turd Man of Alcatraz for far too long and I'm in the midst of a long-term land war with my septic system. Let's just say my appreciation and admiration of those who do the dirty jobs is quite high.
The image I'm sharing here is of a letter sent to Rep. Michele Bachmann by a high school sophomore in which the student essentially calls the Congresswoman an embarassment to all women:
Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.
Then she goes on to challenge Rep. Bachmann to a public debate or fact test on the US Constitution, US History and US Civics. As the parent of three public high school students who revel in making me look/feel like a fool via such stunts I feel compelled to strongly urge the Congresswoman not to do it because I'm certain the kid will eat your lunch.
Not much to add to the video other than to tell you it's incredible. The part about ADHD really hits home considering we live in NC (you'll know what I mean when you see the map). I'd love to have this shown at the next WSFCS board meeting or, even better, I'd love to have Sir Ken Robinson invited to speak to them.
The goings-on at the Wake County school board probably hit close to home in Forsyth County, what with our county's move to the zoned school choice (or whatever it's called) a while back. That happened before we moved to Lewisville so I'm only personally familiar with the current system, and I have to say that as a family we're pretty happy with having our kids go to school just a few minutes down the road. That said, I don't necessarily think that neighborhood schools are better by default.
To help give you my perspective let me tell you that I grew up in Northern Virginia in the 70s and early 80s. The first school system I was in, Fairfax County, at the time was evolving from rural to suburban, and even with busing there wasn't a lot of integration to be had. When I was in 7th grade my family moved to Arlington County, which was a much more urban area, and you really didn't need to do much to integrate because it just kind of happened naturally; racially mixed, middle class, wealthy and poor neighborhoods existed in every geographic school zone. The one thing they did do is bus all the English as a Second Language (ESL) kids to one school so that they had all the ESL faculty in one place, and my middle school happened to be that school. Oh, and the move happened in the middle of the school year so one Friday I got off the school bus from my 90+% white, middle class school and on Monday I got on a bus to go to a school that was probably less than 50% white, 50+% every other race you could name, and Lord knows what economic breakdown. I learned more about people in the subsequent years in the Arlington County schools than I had before or have since.
So while I don't think you should discount the importance of community, and some of the inherent advantages of having kids go to school close to home, I also don't think you should discount some of the advantages of providing kids the opportunity to spend their days with a cross section of our society. I'm not smart enough to have all the answers, but I do know that we need to make sure for our kids' sake that we make decisions with all of their best interests at heart. I think that one of the reasons the Wake County board's move is creating so much controversy is that many folks think that might not be the case. I'll leave it to the comedian to explain:
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Disintegration | ||||
|
||||
North Carolina is facing a massive budget deficit and as a result all government institutions are looking at making some rather large cuts to their budgets. The state's education system is no exception, and while people are rightly focusing on job cuts at the K-12 level, as the father of a high school senior, junior and freshman I'm more than a little interested in what's happening at the higher ed level.
Over the past weekend I sat with my son as he sent in applications to five North Carolina institutions of higher learning. I, of course, provided the one tool he needed: ye old credit card. A few keystrokes on the computer and couple of hundred bucks in application fees later he'd submitted his applications and the waiting game is on. Sure I'm excited, but I'm also filled with trepidation as I see stories about potential cutbacks at the schools he's applying to, including NC State.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's the end of the world. I know at least one retired professor who thinks higher education is reaping what it sowed over the years and that maybe the current crisis is providing a much-needed house cleaning for the industry. I'm also of the belief that the benefit of someone's education is more dependent on that person's input than on the class size he's encountering, but that doesn't change the fact that a professor's ability to do his job is directly impacted by the number of students he has to teach. And then there's the issue that Patrick Eakes brings up in a comment at Ed Cone's blog referencing the NC State article mentioned above:
It was already hard enough to graduate at State on time for some technical degrees when I was there. Undergrad engineering degrees required about 17 hours per semester, often with required labs that offered no or almost no credit hours toward that goal.
It was also pretty challenging to get the few sections offered in some classes to sequence properly semester after semester. Reductions in class offerings will almost certainly officially turn the engineering degrees into what they have unofficially been for some time – a five year degree.
Patrick makes a great point, although I must say I didn't need any help turning myself into a five year degree guy…in English Lit!
As far as tuition goes I'd love for my kids to enjoy the low current tuition rates, but even with the proposed tuition hikes I think the students lucky enough to get into North Carolina's public universities are getting a pretty good deal. That's assuming, of course, that they don't become professional students and stay in school until their 30, move home, live in the basement and play Xbox Live for 18 hours a day while eating Twinkies. That vision of my own kids' future, however unlikely, is my newest recurring nightmare.
Befuddled 