What is the value of a college degree?

Watch this video with an open mind.  This young man makes sense.  Most of us would not invest a hundred thousand (+) and not expect some minimum return on that investment. If the return were negative, we would consider it a very bad investment. Yet the average four year degree costs that much and yields either a very low return on investment or no return on investment.

Watch this and decide for yourself. What is the value of a college degree in today’s world? What changes should colleges and universities make in their curriculum and/or methodologies?  Are there majors/disciplines that should be shelved or perhaps mixed with other majors that make them relevant?

Emmett Till -Man’s Inhumanity to Man

Today I reviewed the account of the murder of Emmett Till as an adult and a mother.  Most of us read the account in history class as children or young adults. No mature human being White or Black can view this in its entirety and not be moved. This is one of the worst cases of man’s inhumanity to man – two grown men against a child. The saddest part of this event is that we see it happening again and again on our city streets. America (especially mothers) watch and weep with me. We as a nation of human beings can and must do better.

YouTube Links:

 

 

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Project

Ted (www.ted.com) is a non-profit organization that features presentations from some of the brightest minds worldwide. My birthday is nearing so the talk by Laura Carstensen, ‘Are Older People Happier?’ caught my attention.

Ms. Carstensen’s research had a positive outcome. Older people were more positive, engaged with sadness more comfortably and directed their attention and memory to positive experiences rather than negative experiences. This group also view injustice with ‘compassion not despair’. But why? Per Carstensen, humans can monitor time (life time). As we feel our time horizon shrink we change our perspective to focus on the positive. We live in the moment and see our priorities more clearly. She concludes with the following quote. “If we capitalize on the very real strengths of older people, then the added years of life can dramatically improve the quality of life at all ages.”

Watch the presentation and form your own conclusion. Go further and watch a TED talk each day. They are only 15 minutes long and are very thought provoking.

My Smart Phone – The New Must Have Accessory

Awesome, Great, Convenient, Necessary

This is a picture of my new BFF. It knows all about me, gives me information when I am stupified, plays music, keeps appointments, wakes me in the mornings and on and on. Our relationship is only three months old but we have bonded.I must admit that my previous phone was eight years old and was not ‘smart’. If you have followed by blog, must of you know that all things tech are new to me and this blog was started to chronicle my journey as I work on a degree in Information Technology. I purchased this phone out of embarrassment. My classmates could follow their Twitter, Gmail, and other social media accounts without firing up a laptop and they openly wondered how a geek even a baby one could do without one. Now I wonder how I did without one.

Pew research center, in a study done 7-11-11, (http://pewinternet.org), stated that 83% of american adults own a cell phone. 42% of those cell phone users have smart phones. 87% of smart phone users use their phone to access the internet or read mail. 68% use their smart phone to go on line each day. Android is the most common platform, IPhone and Blackberry follow.

So, if you see a middle aged lady walking down the street oblivious to the world, it is probably me interacting with my new BFF.

Girlfriend Shopping E-Commerce Style

Send the Trend is currently one of the hottest e-commerce shopping sites for women. This social shopping site is a mix of home shopping and Pinterest. Divya Gugnani, one of the co-founders, describes Send the Trend as “an online destination that offer curated and customized woman’s fashion accessories and beauty.”

Items are priced at $29.95 (some handbags go for $39.95 and $49.95) and user can purchase items specifically geared to their tastes monthly or they can opt out in any particular month. Shipping and handling is free and returns are accepted for a credit.

I went on the site and started by defining my style. I was then sent a board of available accessories that suited me. Users can apply for a board to create their own Send the Trend e boutiques. This is by invitation only – I am number 1,3–. Users can earn purchase credits when another user purchase items from their board.

View the site at http://www.sendthetrend.com/main.

Listen to Divya Gugnani describe her store and how the idea was conceived.

Reflections

The Spring 2012 semester is over and summer is in full bloom. It is a good time to reflect on lessons learned. C#, Java, Logic and Social Media were my scheduled classes last semester. I learned a lot from those classes. I did not have the prerequisites for Java and only completed two thirds of the class. Strange, I learned more from Java than the other three classes combined. I will complete C# two and take Java again. I still practice programming with Java so I should be more than prepared. 

The definition of education has long been debated. In an article, written by Steve Denning, for Forbes Magazine, education is defined as “a demonstrated ability to listen carefully, to think critically, to evaluate facts rigorously, to reason analytically, to imagine creatively, to articulate interesting questions, to explore alternative viewpoints, to maintain curiosity, and to speak and write persuasively.” The author goes on to define education as ‘having the desire as well as the means to make sure education never ends.’

If I accept this definition of education, then I experienced a high rate of return on my tuition last semester.

How do you define education? I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-educated/

 

 

 

Government Moni…

Government Monitoring of Social Media Sites

The FBI has recently placed a request to tech companies to develop software that can monitor the entire social media network in aggregate. The software would perform like a website scanner. It would monitor Twitter, Facebook, web searches, blogs and open source news networks. Information would be relayed to the agency in real time. The software would also geo-locate the source of the information. The FBI states that this software would not be used to target specific individuals or groups. It plans to monitor the media sites for keywords related to criminal activity.

Other federal agencies (CIA, Homeland Security, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are interested in data mining the social media websites to pick up information about public opinion or world events. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence wants to include the monitoring of Wikipedia edits and traffic webcams. The Defense Department wants a monitoring tool that tracks social media and weeds out information that could adversely affect troops in the field and counterattack enemy political campaigns that use social media.

CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act currently being debated) would require internet companies to turn over confidential customer records and communications to the government upon request.

I do believe that the government needs to take preventative measures against both terrorist attacks – (physical and electronic) and criminal activity in the United States. But how? Do these actions violate our fourth amendment rights? When and how should National Security override these rights?   Should we have any expectation of privacy when we use social media?

Sources:

Fourth Amendment

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/232500552

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Toolset-Twitter-FBI-Homeland-Security-Facebook,news-14176.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/12/us-government-looks-to-mine-social-media-to-combat-terrorist-attacks-uprisings/

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/212007-social-media-monitoring-is-critical-for-government-operations

http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/232500552

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Toolset-Twitter-FBI-Homeland-Security-Facebook,news-14176.html

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/12/us-government-looks-to-mine-social-media-to-combat-terrorist-attacks-uprisings/

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/212007-social-media-monitoring-is-critical-for-government-operations

My Adventures Through the World of Binary

Three years back when I lost my job in Mortgage Banking,I could not have  conceived of  writing this blog. Heck, I did not know the definition of the word Blog. My experience with the computer consisted of emails and working with canned programs. When I could not complete my resume in Word , I knew that I was in trouble. I decided that I would return to school to learn Microsoft Office. My plan was to  take  one course in Word and one in Excel. One thing led  to  the next and soon I had completed the series of Word, Excel, and Access. In Access and Excel 3  the class started working with   SQL and Visual Basic. I became hooked . I wanted more. This will be the story of my metamorphosis. I want to document my progress through the programs that I write, research done on topics in IT , and my feelings as I go through this process. Be advised that I am not a young student. I have spent twenty plus years in Mortgage Banking. I hope that you enjoy reading about my successes and failures. My progress and  regressions. This series is meant for those of you who are considering change  as well as for those of you that have already stepped into this land. Feel free to correct programming errors, tighten code and comment on articles written.

Why MATC?

Institutions of higher learning are divided into two basic categories – Technical and Universities.

Universities allow you to explore who you are as well as allowing you to explore a body of knowledge. They teach you critical thinking skills (the ability to apply reason to unfamiliar areas), research skills, and social interaction skills. Your reading and writing skills are honed here. These are valuable skills and I would not dissuade anyone from attending a University.  What they do not do well is to design undergraduate degree programs to enable you to find employment after graduation. Many of the degree programs require you to continue your education past the undergraduate level to find employment or employment in your field of study. Tuition at these institutions is steep and many times the payback does not justify the cost in terms of earnings.

Technical schools were designed to teach well defined employable skills. They are inexpensive and the opportunity cost is low. The instructors are not only well versed in their field of  study; they also work or have worked in their field.

If all goes well, I will be the product of both worlds. I have a B.A. in Economics from a University and I am currently working towards an A.A.S. degree in IT Programming .

The City of Milwaukee is fortunate to have both a good University and a good Technical college .

Author’s Note:  University and College are used synonymously in this article.