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Black Black Consumerism

By lindsey on December 5th, 2013

When did Thanksgiving become a day of shopping and planning for Christmas? I was appalled this year that Thanksgiving became a holiday where people left their families to work and shop. And to be honest, I realized it a little too late. My turkey barely set in my belly, I chose to go out and about to get my amazing 30-peice tupperware steal for $6.89 (insert sarcasm here). My justification: I was shopping with some of my family, therefore it was ok, despite my earlier protest of the hate for consumerism during the holidays.

I feel like such a hypocrite. It wasn’t until I was in the trenches that I realized what a hoax this whole “Black Friday” thing really is. After witnessing mean and selfish consumers, the thought of the pending holiday being driven by prices and steals made me sad. It wasn’t until  I went back to my family’s house and saw the news that I realized the impact of what has become the worst and most selfish holiday. What happened to gratitude?

PEOPLE of the United States, look at us: Crazy Black Friday Fight

Investment Watch reported:

“It’s Black-eye Friday! Man stabbed in row over parking space and shopper shot for his new TV as violent bargain-hunters come to blows

  • The rush for Black Friday bargains has resulted in outbreaks of violence as shoppers clash over reduced price goods
  • Police in Virginia have reporting a stabbing incident after two men got into a fight in the car park over a space
  • In Las Vegas, thief shot shopper in his leg and stole his television, while cops in Chicago shot a man as he scuffled with a police officer
  • Shoppers cutting in line sparked a Black Friday Brawl at another Walmart
  • Several clips have already appeared on YouTube of the carnage at various Walmart stores
  • Some retailers opened their doors as early as 6am on Thanksgiving Day”

Shooting people for discounted prices, really??

In the USAToday article, We’re past Thanksgiving, time for Thanksgetting, I was blown away by how true this article rings about what it means to be ‘an American.’ Essentially, the article talks about how being a true American is one who doesn’t focus on the things that they have already, but the things that are wanted/”needed.” I won’t even go into how the average household has accumulated so much debt just to get what is wanted/”needed”, or how our nation’s idea of spending is intoxicating. I digress.

The article states it best:

“Thanksgiving is un-American. Thanksgiving is obsolete. Thanksgiving needs to be eliminated.

In our culture, we tell our children that it is o.k. to be pleased with what you have done, but never be satisfied. You need to keep your eye on the prize, do not rest content with what you have. To be content is to stop moving forward, to stop moving forward is to quit and winners never quit. Only losers are content and contentment with what you have is the basis of thankfulness.

Maybe in the Norman Rockwell mythological 19th century America we could be truly thankful, but in today’s America, we need to keep on needing. To reflect on how much you appreciate what you have instead of considering what you lack and thereby still need is to undermine the entire basis of our economy.

To stop and reflect on the sufficiency of what you have violates the true spirit of what it is to be an American which is to always need the newest, the best, the biggest. No matter what you have, someone else has more or better and to be grateful to be less than the top banana is unacceptable.”

I found myself hating this holiday where I should be remembering, giving, thanking, loving….

I wanted to know if anyone else out there felt the way I felt. I found this article, How Thanksgiving Really Makes Us Feel: The Verge. It said, ” The holiday [Thanksgiving] varies from person to person and family to family, causing real problems for anyone who wants to contemplate the True Meaning of Thanksgiving. Has the national celebration of football and shopping overtaken the giving-thanks part of it all? Is Thanksgiving kind of a downer? How would you even know?” The article dives into the psychology of how people view this holiday.

While the article spouted data complete with how many tweets said ‘grateful,’ it also determined the following, “It makes sense, given the long-standing correlation between gratitude and positive affect — but the study didn’t stop there. Once researchers controlled for gratitude, imagining a Thanksgiving-like day without the bump in that sentiment, things got messy. Levels of related readings like life satisfaction and “meaning in life” plummeted. Negative affect jumped up. This makes a certain sense too: Thanksgiving is filled with stressful factors, whether it’s travel, family conflicts, or high-stakes cooking, any of which could easily chip away at a person’s sense of well-being. The result is a kind of Thanksgiving parable in research form. Without all the gratitude in the air, the holiday stress became overwhelming.”

The article does acknowledge that the findings are flawed based on how it was gathered, but cultivates a sense of hope that people really are more grateful during the holiday, despite what we see on the news.

SIDE NOTE: I have been in a fight with media lately. I do not like the focus of gloom and doom, and all the bad things that happen in the world. What if we highlighted the good of Thanksgiving instead of the cat fight at Walmart? I know that stations report what they think viewers want based on viewership. The long internal debate continues – by my highlighting these things on my blog, I am also part of this “mediaship.” I am a a hypocrite for highlighting these things in this blog. I am just adding to the viewership….I get it.

Regardless,  I hope I have illuminated and stirred some caution when it comes to the holidays. My hope is that we will begin to recognize the true meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas by not buying into what the media or sales people portray as what is important at this time of year.

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Skype and Video Conference Interviews

By lindsey on November 20th, 2013

Skype or online video camera interviews are becoming more and more common. I thought I would write about how to have one successfully – perhaps something I should have researched before my very own Skype interview.

13 ways for nailing a Skype interview: USA Today

7 tips to nail a Skype interview: Forbes

I always thought I was a great at/with phone and in-person interviews. When I was unemployed, I had a lot of practice – and when I was the right fit, it all worked to my benefit. My confidence was right where it should have been, and I was hired! Regardless of my practice for in-person and phone interview, I have not have not had a lot of practice with Skype.

Perhaps if I were someone who used facetime all the time, or google video chat, I would be better. At the time. I was concentrating so hard on not looking at myself that it threw off intelligible responses and thought processes. Practice would have helped me focus on the questions being asked, and on the best responses. I also wonder if covering the screen would have helped me better.

There are a ton of other articles that cover similar tips. However, I read about one that is also important from Simplyhired.com’s article 5 Tips for Making the Most of your Skype job Interview: “Don’t forget to log off! This might seem like a no-brainer, but it bears mentioning here. No matter how professional an environment you’ve created, you can undo all your hard work if you “lift the curtain” by failing to log off. “It gets really funny because the other party can keep watching whatever you do,” says Deborah Sweeney of consulting firm My Corporation.”

I was going to put a list of pros and cons to Skype interviews and make the claim that I am absolutely against a 15-minute first online video interview. I can’t in good conscious knock the organization I wish wouldn’t have video-cammed (made up word) me before speaking with me on the phone or meeting me in-person. At the time, I felt like it was one more way an organization could profile me without actually meeting me in person. I also felt that video conferencing is an unnatural way to get the most out of an interview – particularly as it caused me insurmountable pressure; I couldn’t help but thinking “Not only are my interviewers judging my every word, but now I get to see myself do it too?” I am already hard on myself, why do I want to see myself perform in front of my own face? We are our own worst skeptics….I am over this video conferencing thing.

I was going to bust on organizations who use this as the sole mechanism to interview, but to be honest, I just need to learn how to deal with it, because this is where technology is going.

So, I turn to The Pros and Cons of Video Job Interviews – for Dummies that says, ”

  • Performance pressure: When it’s your turn to speak up, you have very little time to look away, down, up, or sideways to process your thoughts. When the “green light” goes on, the pressure on you is somewhat like a contestant at a quiz show: talk or walk.
  • Learning curve: Being judged in front of a camera takes some getting used to. Glimpses of awful screen tests of actors who later became famous confirm the point. While camera success may be ducks-to-water for a few people, more typically candidates start out feeling unnatural. Time and practice make them less so.”

OK, fine….I get it! It is ME, not THEM. I can’t blame anyone here but myself. I am sure by now you can guess that I bombed it. C’est la vie. I hope this post inspires you to do research on how to knock the socks off your Skype or online video interviewers.

Good luck out there! You can do it!

Additional Interviewing Techniques

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Socially Connecting is the New Future for Education, Success, and Progression

By lindsey on November 4th, 2013

I ran across this great article and project called Photographer Puts Two Strangers Together For Intimate Photographs, And the Results are Surprising. The article states, “Photographer Richard Renaldi takes random people he meets on the street of New York City and asks them to pose in pictures together as if they were family members, friends or lovers. The subjects are only asked to look like they are showing a brief amount of affection, but the facial expressions and body language within the photos make it seem like these strangers not only know each other, but also share some sort of genuine bond.”

I was sincerely touched by the following video:

I started thinking about the need for human connection., and why at the end of the film, these strangers all felt intimately connected. I came to the conclusion that even when strangers are thrown together to complete a task, the need for social and human connection is enhanced.

I ran across this article about research that proves the need for social connection, particularly as it relates to education. The book review/article UCLA neuroscientist’s book explains why social connection is as important as food and shelter, states “”Being socially connected is our brain’s lifelong passion,” said Lieberman, a professor of psychology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. “It’s been baked into our operating system for tens of millions of years.”"

The article continues, “Lieberman suggests that our institutions — from schools and sports teams to the military and health care institutions — would perform better if they were structured with an understanding of our social nature.

For example, Lieberman explains that middle school education could be dramatically improved by tapping the brain’s social potential. The book notes that U.S. students’ interest in school tends to wane when they reach the seventh and eighth grades — an age when humans become extremely social. “But our school system says to turn off that social brain,” Lieberman said. “We typically don’t teach history by asking what Napoleon was thinking; we teach about territorial boundaries and make it as non-social as possible. Too often we take away what makes information learnable and memorable and emphasize chronology while leaving out the motivations.

“Eighth graders’ brains want to understand the social world and the minds of other people. We can tap into what middle school students are biologically predisposed to learn, and we can do this to improve instruction in history and English, and even math and science.” Research also suggests that students are more likely to remember information when they take it in socially. Schools could apply that lesson by having older students tutor younger ones.

“If you have an eighth grader teach a sixth grader, the eighth grader’s motivation is social: to help this other student and not embarrass himself,” Lieberman said. “Getting everyone to be both teacher and learner would create enthusiasm for learning.”"

After researching this topic, I found articles discussing the importance of human connection to increase happiness, and how connecting is important when networking for a job. Below are some other articles that highlight the importance of human connection and how it helps people obtain a sense of accomplishment and success:

Stories of Humanity and the Power of Connection: “What connects all of us is the ability to connect and create community, the ability to share, and the ability to tell our stories. Humans are the only ones that engage in storytelling, and the ability to share the lives and adventures of others shows us what’s possible. If we don’t invest in our own humanity-and make whole people, and encourage complex communities and rich interactions among a web of talented, creative, eager individuals-what, then, are we doing?”

Networking: The Art of Human Connection in the Internet Age: “Whether it is Zig Ziglar’s saying “You can get anything you want, if you help someone else get what they want” or NBA Coach Pat Riley, writing in The Winner Within, “You can only receive what you are willing to give,” the karmic motto of BNI is “Givers Gain.”  By giving references and authentically helping others, the giver gains references and assistance in return. The “Givers Gain” pillar of the BNI approach rests on the belief that the more you share, the more you have.”"
Human connection is not something new. Most religious propensities focus on the need for “mourning with those that mourn.” More than just merely being a friend, this prophetic advice is seen today as helping people obtain success and happiness. As the internet age continues to spark wonder with the newest and best inventions, if used wrong, its interference hinders human connection, growth, stability, progression, and most importantly happiness.

To further illustrate my point, I read an article about the negative affects from people who lock themselves in their rooms and ‘withdraw’ from society completely. The article Hikikomori; Why are so many Japanese men refusing to leave their rooms discusses this wide-spread phenomenon of what happens to people when they ‘withdraw’ from society, and provides the example of several people negatively affected by this issue. The article tells a story of the man, Hide, and states, “Gradually, Hide relinquished all communication with friends and eventually, his parents. To avoid seeing them he slept through the day and sat up all night, watching TV. “I had all kinds of negative emotions inside me,” he says. “The desire to go outside, anger towards society and my parents, sadness about having this condition, fear about what would happen in the future, and jealousy towards the people who were leading normal lives.” Hide had become “withdrawn” or hikikomori.”"

The article also points out, “Hikikomori has entered the Oxford English Dictionary as “In Japan: abnormal avoidance of social contact. [And]…preconditions for a hikikomori-like problem are falling into place in Europe, with 50% youth unemployment in some countries, forcing young people to continue living at home.”

The Hikikomori is just one example of what can happen when someone withdraws and prevents or doesn’t obtain human connection.

In an earlier post, I discussed the possibility of providing emotional intelligence in schools, and how when teachers provide experience and try to understand students’ feelings, it increases the student’s capacity to do well particularly with their peers and educational development. Perhaps we need to take more time out to teach children by connecting with them instead of merely telling them what to do. I digress.

In follow up to all this information, I pose the following questions:

  • What human and social connection behaviors can we observe based on the example of two strangers being thrown together in the street?
  • How can we incorporate these behaviors in the way we teach children?
  • How can we incorporate this need for human and social connection in our everyday business endeavors?
  • What can history teach us about connection, and how can we implement that in our lives?
We should take a note from history and research that proves how social interaction and human connection are important for growth, and ultimately, happiness.
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Bored at Work

By lindsey on October 24th, 2013

I ran across this BBC article Too Much Time on Your Hands At the Office, and loved it. I work in an atmosphere that rarely lends spare time in the office. During the furlough, we were still employed even though our government counterparts were not, and it was hard for me to not be as involved with the kind of work I like, in that I thoroughly enjoy working on the challenges that come up in the office when everyone is there. I still had things to do, but it was easy for me to breeze through them and get rather bored along the way with mundane tasks like writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). I am not typically one who gets bored with my job because I like seeking the challenges in order to fix them, so you can imagine my consternation when I was faced with such a dilemma.

I remember an interviewer asking me, “What are your weak points,” as per typical during the interview process. I have never really liked this question, not because I don’t like sharing my weak points, but that there are far better questions to ask – case and point: “What areas or skill sets do you have that your feel you can improve, and what are your expectations for improvement in those areas should you be hired with our company.” Something like that (I digress). My answer is that I typically run faster than I have strength and expect people to keep up with me. Hence why I found myself being bored. At the end of the day, there are only so many SOPs I want to write before pulling my hair out, and only so many I can write that can be approved anyway since my approvers were out of the office.

While studying about different personalities and the inner self, it is not hard to hypothesize that there are several different kinds of personalities in the world. During the furlough, I was able to distinguish the 80 percenters and the 20 percenters personalities (I realized percenter isn’t a word, but my 8th grade teacher gave me a poetic license, so I’m doing it). There is the great About.com article Pareto’s Principle – The 80-20 rule in Management, that discusses the 80-20 rule when it comes to management and effective work. You can read the article for the more mathematical history and theory behind this rule, but I really liked these particular statements, “The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. The value of the Pareto Principle for a manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters. Of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results.”

Going back to the first article, it states, “Your responsibility here is to tell your boss that you have plenty of time to add more to your list of responsibilities. Let your superiors know that you’d like to tackle more challenges. It’s then up to senior management to give you more to do.” I think I would rather be a categorized as the 20 percenter that produces 80 percent of the results than just dragging my feet and being ok with the status quo. The article continues, “Even if your boss does not follow through with more responsibilities, you could take this opportunity to expand your profile within the company. Volunteer to take on some bigger projects, or ask for more duties outside your area. That would serve both your interests and those of the company.”

In another BBC article, When Professional Boredom Hits Is It Fair to Coast? it states, ” Regardless, it is a bad idea to slack off at work – both ethically and professionally, said Gail Golden, an organizational psychologist and leadership consultant in Chicago, Illinois.” There are always things employees can do to keep busy, and it is important to keep in mind that our companies are investing a lot in us. I understand that some companies take advantage of hard-working employees….and it happens way too often. My experience has been that if I play my cards right, with more responsibilities come more privileges. When I work close to 9 hours a day, I can work my way up to having a day off every once in a while, or negotiating what is fair. I do warn that this is not something employees can negotiate into their employment right off the bat, unless they are maybe an executive. Privileges need to be earned, and coasting or not finding things to do when I am bored is not going to get me there.

The first article concludes, “The best way to solve your problem — both ethically, and for your own career — is to see it as an opportunity. In contrast to most executives, your workday has some blank spots on the schedule. Now figure out how best to fill that time.”

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Social Media and Human Rights?

By lindsey on October 22nd, 2013

Since when did Facebook become a forum for the discussion of human rights? After reading the BBC article Facebook irresponsible over beheading videos, says Prime Minister, I was shocked to find out that Facebook’s social media platform and mission also includes allowing the public to create forums to discuss controversial subjects. The article states, “”Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they’re connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events,” said a spokeswoman.” Obviously, I see people choosing to post about controversial issues, and people can also choose to follow or “friend” whomever they please.

However, the article argues that the gruesome beheading content did not have warnings attached to the video of the explicit content. What happens when my 14 year old brother is browsing for a friend and stumbles upon this content? What happens when a bully at school decides to use obscene and graphic content to scare the living daylights out of the person they are bullying? Who’s to say that Facebook will start allowing other kind of material on their site, i.e. pornography, or obscene bullying videos because Facebook is a forum for people “to share their experiences”?

Facebook says it is working on putting controls in place to make sure people can control what they see….that’s good news. But I can’t get it out of my mind that Facebook is claiming that it has always been a forum for this kind of information. Perhaps I haven’t been readily exposed to it because I set my own controls. However, I was under the impression that Facebook was a well-oiled advertising machine, not a forum for demeaning controversial events that I have the right to condemn. What if I do agree with the content that Facebook trusts I condemn…what then?

The NBC news article Gory videos OK when posted for users to ‘condemn’ says Facebook, states, “”People share videos of these events on Facebook to condemn them. If they were being celebrated, or the actions in them encouraged, our approach would be different,” the statement said.” My question is how is this being policed? From the articles I have read on the subject, how do I know that Facebook has the right policies in place to prevent “celebrated” misfortune?

Companies whose ads are running may question whether to host their material on this social media website. I am sure some may think, “Well, why would these people pull their ads, Facebook is the largest social networking site ever.”  Point taken, but it is still a consequence that Facebook may face. By bending their former policy of banning graphic content, Facebook has subjected themselves to another dimension of online participation. They need to be ready to face the consequences of the companies’ decision in allowing this content, even if the content has warnings and is policed.

Other Articles on the subject:

David Cameron condemns Facebook’s beheading films: Telegraph.co.uk
Facebook lifts ban on decapitation videos: CNET

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Investing in Africa

By lindsey on October 15th, 2013

A couple years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Africa to build schoolhouses. The experience was one I will never forget. We were not able to complete the school house in such a short amount of time, but were promised that the nonprofit group would go back with other volunteers and complete the school. After meeting the people of the township, I grew to love them, and loved my experience. I was proud to be a part of a nonprofit that had such an incredible cause.

You can imagine my consternation when the nonprofit group terminated the volunteer program specific to the little town of Bumburi in Kenya. After venting about it, a friend shared with me that he rarely contributed to nonprofit organizations unless there was more proof regarding expenditures. He said that like the nonprofit I joined for me short stint in Kenya, some organizations carry a lot of overhead costs and give very limited means to the communities they support. Since my journey, I have been reluctant to join efforts with other nonprofits until I see follow through of promises.

On another note, I have been part of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee for my place of business. This is a strictly volunteer role that I am very excited about. Our company has already done so much when it comes to philanthropy, and I am excited about what is to come. That being said, I saw this fantastic article that reminded me again how much influence companies can have in a local, regional, and even global economy. Given the right messages, investing in Africa can be a great opportunity, and not just for nonprofits. Apparently, investing in Africa and Africans, particularly in the technology scene is ‘hot’ right now.

In the BBC article, Why the World’s Technology Giants are Investing in Africa, the reporter spoke with three executives from Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce.com about their recent surge in providing technological advances and opportunities for children in Africa to increase the tech footprint. The reporter poses the following questions, “So it’s no surprise that the big technology companies are investing in Africa. But is this the whole story? Is it driven by philanthropy or a desire to get in on the ground before their competitors? Or does Africa offer other opportunities?”

The executive from Microsoft talks about the motivation for driving technology for Africa, saying, “We said we want on focus on young people. We want to focus on skills, we want to focus on small and medium enterprises. We want to focus on access to technology.

There is a corporate social investment part of Microsoft which has nothing to do with Microsoft 4Afrika. And I think that that is a well-established process, we do a lot of donations in that space.

This is about being on the ground and creating huge consumers. There’s no debate about the fact that our objective is enabling economic development.

In proving the value of technology as the enabler for that development, it’s not just creating consumption of technology, but it’s actually more importantly creating the ability for knowledge to be developed, for technology to actually be built in Africa.

Because that actually drives the IT ecosystem, that drives the IT industry, that makes technology relevant.”

Other articles that talk about how investing in Africa and Africans, as well as country-wide potential technological aptitude include:

Investing in Africa’s Energy:, Bloomberg TV

Sweden invited to invest in Africa, AllAfrica.com: “It’s really Africa’s time to focus on development, investing in our people, and growing the economy. We feel that now is the time for our friends who have supported us all along to remain part of this growth. You can invest and get some benefits, while we develop. Investment, not grants. Investing in Africa is probably better than most places.”

Technology could empower Africans to hold their government to account, The Guardian: Technology – could it help Africans participate in democracy?

Opportunities Abound for Technology in Africa, Business Day Live

Seeing the philanthropic nature of these corporations and seeing the good that other nonprofits can bring enhances my faith that there is a way all of us can connect to this human experience – that when we share our prosperity with others, it helps everyone become more prosperous.

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Bullying Has to Stop: What One Student Did to Stand Up Against His Bullies

By lindsey on October 11th, 2013

Caine Stands Up from The Bully Project on Vimeo.

Discussions and news about bullying in school in not new. I remember watching a similar video where a boy was speaking out about bullying, only to be bullied more. The effect was that he and his family needed to move in order for him to be safe. After reading and watching some of the anti-bullying videos, organizations for anti-bullying need to be careful in how they approach the subject. In a recent study, reported on by all the national syndicates, schools that have certain anti-bullying campaigns actually provide students with ideas for how their bullying can reach new heights. In article Are Anti-bullying efforts making it worse? CBS: Schools who have anti-bullying campaigns and programs actually teach students how to bully better. It is doing more harm than good.

I am of the opinion that teaching children about how to conduct themselves in school, whether being bullied or being the bully, is the first step in attacking this trend. In the article, How to Talk to your Child About Bullying, Huffington Post: Anti-bullying campaigns begin in the home. “Whether your child is the target, bully, or merely a witness, your influence can help change the culture for the better.” Some argue that it takes a community. I saw – it’s both. There are several ways we can educate ourselves about bullying and the right way to fight it. A recent article Anti-bullying workshop will focus on adult-child communication gap highlights some key issues and ways parents and adults can speak to children about bullying. I found the links to the site provides a good background for how to address children of all ages.

Regardless, I hope the superintendent and council in Caine’s district have at least started the conversation about what they can do to help children who are being bullied. I also hope that we as parents and communities can educate ourselves on how we can talk to our children, whether ours or those we associate with, about what bullying is, and what we can do to help each other at school, at home, or online. We are here to help each other. Together we can stop this trend.

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Shutdown Education?

By lindsey on October 9th, 2013

I was interested in knowing more about how the shutdown was affecting education. I heard a news report on WTOP radio this morning saying that financial aid offices at the universities are on hold due to the fact that most funds are federal grants, which spurred my immediate interest.

In the article, Shutdown in the Classroom, Slate reports the bottleneck of financial aid, WIC, and Head Start programs. The shut down is affecting those persons struggling to make it through. It is disconcerting that the persons who use these programs the most are those struggling to gain education for better job opportunities. The article highlights a woman juggling cleaning jobs, and college education classes who has children participating in Head Start. Should the shutdown continue, and the Head Start program close up shop, this mom will have to become more creative in juggling the kids, getting her paycheck, and obtaining skills to get a better job. Not super easy! The article says, “The effects of the federal shutdown on women and the working poor have compounded consequences for students who are both. What’s lost in our coverage is the context of the daily choices college students face, and how they are different for different kinds of students. Institutions of higher education may have contingency plans to buffer the effects of the government shutdown, but many of our neediest students do not.”

Education Week covers some questions in the article Answering your Shutdown Questions, where it discusses some aspects of education that will be impacting including:

  • School nutrition programs
  • Districts that get federal Impact Aid
  • Head Start
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  • Certain offices at DOEd

Education Week also notes that International Research is also hindered by the shutdown. In addition, the shutdown is negatively impacting military education funds.

Rick Hess argues that instead of reporting on what education programs will be hit by the shutdown, people should really start thinking about the bigger picture. The article states, “The price of federal funding is entering this whirlpool, and more federal support means more federal rules and more exposure to all the currents at play in D.C. It means that anticipated funding is subject to national tides, and that federal lawmakers will have a raft of temptations and pressures to write rules about what schools and colleges should do with federal funds…..Today, K-12 is largely buffered from the shutdown because of its reliance on state and local funds. Of course, even so, in return for their ten cents on the dollar, the feds have subjected schools and systems to expansive, invasive rules governing use of funds, special education, teacher evaluation, school accountability, school turnarounds, and much else.”

Is it time for the bigger conversation: how much government is too much government?

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Researching the Labor Market: There is Hope for the Job Seeker

By lindsey on October 8th, 2013

Finding a job is a full time job. If you are picky, you could be without a job for months, even years. Most job-seekers move to DC with the perception that jobs are readily available because the market has not been hit as hard as other places. Yours truly did just that two years ago. The market is competitive enough as it is and now with the shutdown activities, it is darn near impossible to get interviews with some companies who work alongside or are federal workers.

Let’s not tip-toe around the issue, recent graduates are facing a tough market. Below I have included some recent articles about the job market, which is dismal, at best.

How are New College Grads Faring in Today’s Market, IMT Career Journal: “While entering the workforce is a particularly difficult task for new college grads lacking any professional experience, employment prospects tend to improve as graduates acquire more experience and education.”

Graduating into a Sunnier Job Market, The Courant: “The unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 averaged 8.8 percent over the 12 months that ended in February 2013, down from more than 10 percent in 2010 and 2011, according to an Economic Policy Institute study released last month. Happily, this year’s graduates have more reason to be optimistic than those who graduated two or three years ago, although the market has not yet returned to pre-recession health.”

What to Expect During a Job Search in  Today’s Market, USA News: This article is a little dismal, but worth the read. It helps align expectations….but don’t give up hope job seekers!

Is There Hope for Recent College Grads, Real Time Economics: “Labor market dynamics have changed in a pretty significant way for younger workers,” Mr. Dudley said. “Labor market statistics don’t match up with this change in the structure of the labor market.”

Putting the pessimism aside, there is still some hope for those job-seeking individuals.

The Financial Post published the article An Enterprising Remedy for Youth Underemployment, where they interviewed Marie Bountrogianni, interim dean at
Ryerson University’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Studies. The questions and answers provide valuable insight into what job seekers need to do to find their first job. The question I find most interesting is:

“Q: Employers often complain recent graduates lack “soft skills,” such as communication, interpersonal relations, critical thinking, problem solving, etc. They say they can’t put recent graduates in front of clients because they’re unable to articulate their ideas or communicate effectively.”

Ms. Bountrogianni offers some keen advice when she said, “While you’re studying what you love, also look at what the labour market requires.”

In addition, the article Hope Exists for Your Job Search, Despite Unemployment Spike, Psychology Today states: “Despite the recent doom and gloom, there is hope if you remember that: 1) There are still jobs available, even though they may not seem as plentiful. 2) A positive attitude can only help you. 3) You only need one job; it is a numbers game. 4) Your career destiny is most affected by one thing: your tenacity.”

I know that didn’t provide a lot of hope, but hopefully it will shed light on what is currently happening in the job market. The bottom line is that if you prepare yourself for what is ahead, understand the job market, and don’t give up trying to find a job, you will be better off.

Foundations of Education Comments turned off

Education: Worth Fighting For?

By lindsey on October 7th, 2013

YES!

Perhaps my resolve is too strong, but there it is….

In 2008, I attended a weekend course dedicated to teaching how participants can live the life filled with love, and live a life powerfully. One of the questions our instructor first asked was, “What is it in your life that you love the most? Something you really can’t live without? Something that you would fight until your dying day for?” I identified several areas: my family and my religious pursuits being at the forefront. When asked about something besides my family that I was so passionate about, that I would give my lifelong pursuit to, it was not hard for the light bulb to turn on: education. I remember feeling invigorated by this realization. From that time forward, I would be a part of something that helped all students everywhere – I would be part of giving equal education to all students of all abilities. While my journey has been side-lined by the reality of providing for my family, it is still my dream and my hope.

I am not the only one with this endeavor. Nor have I been exposed to life-threatening situations to test my theory. But there are some that have, and I honor them in this post.

Malala: need I say more.

Recap: shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking about a woman’s right to education. The BBC reports her story in the article: Malala: The Girl Who Was Shot For Going to School.

I remember reading Three Cups of Tea about Greg Mortenson’s journey to build schools in Pakistan in order to give the children of these villages an opportunity to learn in the classroom in order to promote peace. While there have been reports and allegations of the false nature of the book (timelines, what is happening with the funding, etc), the writing and the story is still inspiring – regardless of the fiction or non-fiction of Greg Mortenson’s organization. I was enamored with the idea of working tirelessly for the cause of educating children everywhere.

In fact, journalist Nicolas Kristof of the NYTimes said it perfectly in the article Three Cups of Tea, Spilled, that despite the allegations,

“He [Greg Mortenson] was right about the need for American outreach in the Muslim world. He was right that building schools tends to promote stability more than dropping bombs. He was right about the transformative power of education, especially girls’ education. He was right about the need to listen to local people — yes, over cup after cup after cup of tea — rather than just issue instructions.

I worry that scandals like this — or like the disputes about microfinance in India and Bangladesh — will leave Americans disillusioned and cynical. And it’s true that in their struggle to raise money, aid groups sometimes oversell how easy it is to get results. Helping people is more difficult than it seems, and no group of people bicker among themselves more viciously than humanitarians.”

I agree – education is just too important to leave to a country’s own devices without the help and support of families and communities, and something we as parents and citizens of our countries need to start fighting for. I am always amazed that education is the first things that is cut from any governing body budget (including federal and state). While some researchers and activists argue that money is not the answer to giving or receiving a good education, others see the feat of those like Malala and Greg Mortensen types and recognize that monetary resources are important. Some may use it for new technologies, while others may use it to purchase desks or school buildings. We are all at different levels of advancing education, and that is ok.

I had the opportunity to participate in a humanitarian excursion to Kenya to build a schoolhouse. When we arrived at the village, the townspeople welcomed us with singing and dancing that went on for 2-3 hours. Their chief and head school master headed up a welcome presentation for us and was more than honored to receive us as we were helping them do something their community hadn’t been able to do. Their children had been exposed to education by another humanitarian group and they had two school buildings that were falling apart, and needed a new school building that was sturdy and substantially larger since their population had grown significantly. They sacrificed all they had to build the first two schools. Their children proudly wore their school uniforms as their everyday dress. They had tears in their eyes when we came.

I don’t remember our schools shouting for joy when they received their last shipment of books. I don’t remember our students proud that they could go to school everyday in the clothing of their choice. Education is something we take for granted. I am not saying everyone is guilty of this, but most are. What are we willing to do to restore confidence in education? What can we do to continue to provide knowledge to the future leaders of our nation?

Consider the following quote from the BBC article about Malala: “It gave me a lot of courage and strength [a sense] that enough is enough, now is the time to speak against the enemies of education,” he says.

Perhaps we don’t need to pay the price Malala did, but we can do something.

Why is Education So Important

The fact that we can’t clearly define ‘quality education’ is evidence enough that  solutions for the best educational design is hard to find. One thing Americans and folks from other countries agree on is the importance of education. I did a quick search online, and found the following articles on the subject:

For those who are scared that educating women on foreign countries will corrupt their traditions, education does not mean fallen morality! For those who are scared that educating their citizens will impair their citizenship and loyalty to current politicians and leaders, shame on you, perhaps you need to educate yourself on how to become an effective leader. For those of you wondering if education is worth fighting for, I encourage you to read up on it and decide for yourself.

People around the nation are put in situations where they almost die for their education – what are we willing to do?