That’s what one of my dorm-mates used to say all the time (Jim, if you’re out there somewhere, drop me a line!). It was said in an “uncool white guy trying to hang with the way cooler homies” way, intentionally unhip, which was, of course, ironic and hip in its knowledge and flaunting of its own unhipness — predating Weird Al’s “White and Nerdy” by 20+ years. It had those layers of “with it” that somehow seem to thrive only in academic environs. But I digress….
The point of the saying (on one of those many levels anyway) was to remind the listener to figure out why something was done or was necessary. Yet another pointless Humanities chapter to read? “What’s it mean, bro?” Well, it means keeping a good GPA. And, the subject covered means something, somehow, about who we are and why we’re here — despite the frantic efforts of the Humanities department to obscure any potential value of examining the past. And it means that life is filled with things we have to do even if they seem pointless (septic tank pumping, anyone?).
I’m back in school, now, working frantically to keep up and to keep work running and to keep my family running. To be more accurate, most of the family and household duties fall on my wife. That’s why I’m asking myself “what’s it mean, bro?” Is there a point to this MBA quest? My oldest only has another two years of high school left. Am I using that time well? All my kids will be gone in 9 years. Should I be doing something else with them? So what if I never make CIO — I probably won’t anyway, even with my crummy piece of paper from my mediocre school.
Like much of life, I guess, I’ll keep on my current path until the pain becomes too great to ignore. Or until I have a brilliant flash of insight. But I’d bet on the pain happening first….
So I’m in a class called Organization, Leadership, and Environment. We talked tonight about an article in Time magazine about How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century. We talked about the challenges we face as a nation in keeping our children competitive. We score relatively poorly on science and math test scores compared with other industrialized nations; 14th or 15th I think.
Part of the problem, in my admittedly somewhat uninformed opinion, is that there isn’t enough variety. Until High School everyone basically learns the same thing. There are some levels, but these mostly relate to “smartness” rather than preferences or future plans. This has it’s own set of political problems.
That got me to thinking. Why the heck does it work this way? Why do we keep teenagers in school when they want to be out, yet make it prohibitively expensive and difficult for adults?
To compete, our workers need to have a basic foundation of common knowledge, the tools to learn and adapt, and, most importantly, an attitude of flexibility.
So here’s what I think. Give all kids an intensive basic foundation through grade 5. For grades 6-8, students are still required to go to school but can choose their concentration based on their interests: arts, high tech, mechanics, etc. From then on, anybody can go to school and follow any program they think will help them. To prevent abuse, students over 18 would have to provide for their own room and board. Maybe a mandatory stint in military service or the peace corps to help pay for the schooling.
