In Massachusetts, the latest user-generated crisis has centered around the evaporation of low-cost student loans due to the credit crunch. Families are scrambling to find ways to pay for their children’s university and college education, surprised by this sudden disappearance of what had been seen as a very deep well.

I am not here to comment on the causes of the credit crunch. My thoughts turn, instead, to the revenue foundations that the US higher education system built on. The primary question is: Have institutions priced themselves out of relevance?

Other thoughts also come to mind. Is it time to move away from teaching certain skills/fields in universities and colleges, and consider moving to specialized apprenticeships. This idea is one that conjures up images of the guild system, and it is not a dissimilar idea. Certain areas would benefit from a system led by leaders and experts in the field, teaching real-world practices and implementations, rather than theoretical concepts.

In today’s society, the cost of higher education makes people indentured serfs, chained to a bank loan that they thought would afford them the opportunity to get ahead, to make a difference. If we are going to make people indentured serfs (harsh imagery, but how long have you been paying off your student loans?), then why not put them through an apprenticeship, where they can work their way through their education while learning the skill they have entered into.

Work-study and co-op programs have made a stab at that. But I am thinking of learning and working simultaneously. Developing skills, and paying your way in the same place.

Before you classify me as some Luddite or elitist, you have to understand my perspective. I have a liberal Arts degree (History) and found my place in the business world by learning my primary skills on the job. I have played both sides of the fence, and I would say that many others have as well.

And where a theoretical foundation is good in some fields, it needs to be heavily supplemented by real-world practice.

To circle back to the idea of cost, how much of what we require of people in a higher education is directed at the skills that they are most interested in learning? Does a university or college provide the skills needed to support our economy? How do we most effectively and economically ensure that we have an educated and knowledgeable workforce?

These are not for reasons of nationalism or core political beliefs. Every reader here should know I am a Canadian by now. The idea of rationalizing higher education to deliver what people want/need in a way that is effective, efficient, and economic without compromising the fundamental need for a free and open society to have centers of higher learning that foster debate and new idea is one that should be part of the debate in the current election cycle.

How do you deliver an education system that is open to all, and serves the needs of all, without bankrupting the people in the process is one that needs to be addressed.

Tags: bank loan, college, education, Massachusetts, reform, student loans, United States, universities

I try and avoid the “me-too” factor that has dominated the land of blogs for most of the time I have been involved in it. Simply aping one persons comments with a slight variation, or personal interpretation doesn’t add much to the initial thrill of finding the original germ of an idea.

Kathy Sierra, someone who has been quoted and analyzed multiple times in this blog, has hit another double to the wall. She talks about the value of serendipity, randomness, in exposing us to new ideas and concepts, ones that we would not have run across in our siloed, standardized lives.

Yesterday was a great example of this for me. Something I read a post on Notebookism that spoke of outsider art or Art Brut. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and spiralled into a 90-minute voyage of discovery into this genre of expression, fueled not by training and ideology, but by a raw, unchecked need to express the world in an artistic way.

I would have never gone down this path unless I had read the Notebookism post, and would have been hard-pressed to find structured explanations (whatever you may think of them) of the topics without Wikipedia.

As I explore myself, and examine the foundations that support my cracked mental structure, I find that I appreciate the random explorations far more than a formal education process. I don’t learn the way that we have been taught.

I prefer to discover.

And when you get right down to the basics of Kathy’s post, that’s what she is saying. People are far more enthusiastic, receptive, and amazed when they discover something for themselves.

It may be an old idea to you. I may not interest you. But when a person gets that gleam in their eye, that rush in their mind, when they get the “WOW!“, then they are committed.

Personally, I am finding that I am having a lot more WOW! moments lately. The combination of therapy, and my medications, has forced me to look at the world that I live in, and the world that I have created, substantially different than I have for the last 15 years.

I am re-discovering the joy and awe of discovery. There is so much out there that gets left behind when your mind is absorbed, consumed, by a single devouring purpose. I am awakening from that period, and finding that my mental indigestion requires the soothing relief of the new and unexpected.

Tags: API, app, blog, book, content, cro, EAD, education, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, ISP, it, LAN, live, Om, One, personal, pr, run, Technorati, the Origin, variation

Just read a story on the BBC site where the chief Latinist (new word to me) bemoans the death of Latin. [here]

Although I would be the first to admit that the teaching of Latin has little relevance in today’s world, I found my lack of Latin a serious hindrance when I was considering the study of Medieval English History in graduate school.

It was offered as a course in high-school, by correspondence only. I often dreamed that I attended one of those brutal old English boarding schools, if only to receive some semblance of a highly impractical liberal and classical education.

I share Father Reginald Foster’s despair over the loss of Latin to our culture. The foundations of who we are, our political and legal structures, are found in Latin (Roman and Medieval; and yes there is a difference), and in Classical Greek. And those items that the Catholic Church tried to hide or destroy, the cultures of the East, and Islam held on to.

Losing the base languages of our global cultures leaves us with poor translations, interpretations of what was said, filtered through the passage of time.

Tags: bbc, content, EAD, education, Europe, HTTP, IE, IM, ISP, it, LAN, leave, Om, One, pr, Technorati

I reported that Feedster’s performance had suddenly improved yesterday. [here]

In the aggregated graph, the classic “runaway CPU/memory leak…OOPS!…REBOOT!” performance pattern appears.

Is anyone at Feedster willing to go on the record about this, just for the education of the group?

Technorati: Feedster, Web Performance

IceRocket: Feedster, Web Performance

Tags: app, blog, education, feeds, HTTP, IM, media, Om, One, performance, PHP, pr, run, Technorati, web, Web Performance, Web+performance

Back in March I commented on some things that Dave Winer said about California Schools. [here]

The main point of the discussion was that the California Public School system is in a near third-world state (with apologies to the oppressed in the third-world) due to the short-sightedness and greed that grew out of Proposition 13.

Today, Tom Foremski chimes in with pretty much the same point. [here]

It is shocking to me that the world’s sixth largest economy can have a public education system that is the shame of the nation. When I explain to people in Massachusetts, when they complain about schools here, that teachers have to ask parents to supply paper towels and toilet paper, they are shocked.

California has a beautiful veneer over a core that is disintegrating and changing rapidly. This morning, I heard a story on NPR [link to follow later] about a South LA school torn apart by racial conflict — latinos against blacks. Many will chalk this up as a city issue, one unique to LA. It’s not. The latino population of California is growing, and the public school system is failing these children.

What to do?

It comes down to one thing — avarice. Until the people of California can overcome their greed, the children of California will wallow in a public education system that is the shame of the industrialized world.

Tags: API, children, economy, education, HTTP, IE, IM, IP, it, Massachusetts, Om, One, PHP, pr

Dave Winer notes that Silicon Valley isn’t what it used to be. [here]

Now, with Yahoo getting its mojo back [here and here], and a few other happenings in the Valley, there are some signs of life.

But there is still a lot of vacant real-estate. The office buildings that housed Webvan are still vacant after 3 years, and they have a great view of the Bay and the San Mateo bridge. There is still a vacuum there.

I can’t speak of the lap dogs, as I am a mere prole.

However, I do disagree with the comment Dave W. makes about schools. If he is referring to Colleges and Universities, ok, I agree. But the public school system in the Bay area, and in California in general, is one of the reasons why I was not too upset to move to Massachusetts.

My kids were going into the highly underfunded, if not malnourished and dying, system of non-education in California that resulted from one of the greatest breeders of inequity in the modern world — Proposition 13.

I love this statement from Warren Buffett:

Buffett cited the inequity of property taxes he pays on his homes in Omaha, Neb., and Laguna Beach, Calif., and said the California cap on property taxes imposed by Prop. 13 “makes no sense.”

His $500,000 house in Omaha has a tax bill of $14,401. His $4 million house in Laguna Beach has a tax bill of $2,264. The taxes on his Omaha home increased $1,920 this year, compared with $23 on the Laguna Beach home, he said.

Complain about the other taxes; then remember that your kids are going to schools that are 40^th in the US by funding.

I miss the great garden we had. But my kids are learning more by not being in California Public Schools.

Tags: blog, California, college, Dave Winer, education, Laguna Beach, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Omaha, pr, San Mateo bridge, United States, universities, USD, Warren Buffett, web, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Inc.

SOGrady notes that a number of the large bellweathers in Tech are announcing hiring. [here]

I have noticed that, after a 3 year absence, my inbox is seeing slow trickle of recruiters, mainly those looking for low-hanging fruit in tech-support and junior development positions. *YAWN*

If recruiters actually took the time to read my resume, instead of the work and education experience areas, they might notice that I am so far from what they want that asking me if I am interested in a position like that lowers their company’s brand in my opinion.

I would love to see some quality enquiries; not because I want a new job, but because it shows me that someone took the time to find out about me before contacting me.

Tags: brand, EAD, education, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, it, Om, One, opinion

See Here.

Congrats Russell. I miss the valley and the cool companies that are there. But I am also not willing to move back to a place which is so hideously expensive, where the public education system is awful (parents are asked to supply basic supllies such as pencils, toilet paper, etc. because Propostion 13 has destroyed the California Education system), and the business ecology tends to be very inward-looking.

However, if Yahoo! made me an offer…

Tags: book, business, cool, education, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, Om, pr, Yahoo!

In an e-mail I had with Scott Jones last night, I talked about how I was getting an business and marketing education through some of the best minds in the world…those in the blogosphere.

Then Kathy Sierra weighs in with some comments on upgrading your users/customers.

That is how I am using the blogosphere. I have gained more insight, mentoring and information on sales and marketing in the last 3 months of reading and writing a blog than I likely could have through an intensive MBA program. I have been easily able to transfer this new knowledge into my day to day working life, and see what I do, what my employer does, in a whole new way.

I have been upgraded.

Now, imagine if you do the same with your customers. Expose them to people who are passionate about your products, people who use your products and services in innovative and exciting ways. They will see you in a whole new light.

Tags: blog, business, customers, EAD, education, HTML, HTTP, IE, IM, information, it, marketing, Om, One, pr, users

Link: Powell and Three Other Cabinet Members Resign.

The White House also released letters of resignation from Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and
Education Secretary Rod Paige.

Wow! This is a shocker!

And the office is starting a pool for when Cheney leaves…still the worst kept secret in Washington. Consensus is that he will go after the first 100 days.

Tags: education, HTML, HTTP, it, leave, Om, RSS