Ken Smith writes about what he calls Essential Fluency that I think relates to my reaction to Seth Godin’s call for the end of high school essays. Also related to these topics is another article that was sent via email, the gist of it calling for universities to be replaced by corporate-sponsored trade schools.
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that education in the United States is a mess. At the root of the problem is a belief that in order for one to obtain a good paying job in the United States one must have a college degree. I think this approach is a contributor to the huge wealth gap in the United States because not everyone has the aptitude, not to mention the financial resources, to get a college degree.
I think part of the answer to the problem is a increased emphasis on experience and skills, which I relate to Ken Smith’s post about fluency, and a decreased empahsis on degrees and certifications. Most corporate funded education looks more like certifications.
Using experience as a scale, you could put people in two categories of jobs: entry level and non-entry level. A person hired in to an entry level position would be expected to have the rudimentary skills (reading, writing, math) but the company hiring them would provide the full suite of training need ot fill the roles of the company. No-entry level would be direct hire in to the roles. In neither of these cases is a college degree needed.
Seth Godin says good riddance to high school essays. Apparently he doesn’t see the value in learning how to write, in how to construct a clear and compelling message that one reads. Apparently the fact that still more than the majority of what is on the Internet is in written form doesn’t matter. Ask any college professor about the quality of writing seen from students. Although, given that it’s so bad today, perhaps just not even bothering to teach kids how to write is the way. I mean, it’s not like we really care about education in the United States because that would lead to more equality, and equality impedes the liberty of those at the top of the pyramid.
ESPN CFP theme song: John Williams composes new song - Sports Illustrated
ESPN pulling out all the stops. Notice the part in the sheet music at the end?
It seems to happen every time there is a migration of people from one application to another. When the new people start using the new application they seem to expect that the features and functions of the previous application to exist in the new one. When they can’t find the function, they ask where it is, and if they are told that it doesn’t exist it seems they then start to complain or at least doubt the reasons for why the function doesn’t exist with the alternate application.
In my opinion, the idea that every application should work exactly the same is problematic. Micro.blog was created specifically to not be Twitter and Mastodon was created specifically to not be Twitter, and the value of these applications are that they are not Twitter!
And you know what, it’s ok! Life can exist without a “like” button and it can exist without a quote “tweet.” We don’t need to change the minds of those who disagree, we just need to figure out how to co-exist.
I track my walks in the Fitbit app on the Pixel Watch, and I’ve begun to experience what I think may be a bug that causes the distance from a prior walk be the starting amount for a new walk. The problem then is that if I don’t see this happen the distance for the new walk is not properly recorded. I have written the steps that I think trigger the situation so that I can determine the exact steps to reproduce, and I have posted a message in the Fitbit community forum with a link to the documentation that I have written.
Norway is on track to no more vehicles with internal combustionable engines in two years. It appears to be a story of a nation making a commitment and living up to it, and sadly that seems impossible in the United States.
I think that this article, titled “What even is an institution,” is over-thinking the topic. An institution is a corporate (as in more than one person) entity that has explicitly or implictly its continued existence as it’s goal or purpose.
There are not many days where I live that there is fog late in the morning. As I was walking today I noticed how serene it felt, and the shape of everything was softer.
The circus going on in Washington D.C. today is exactly what many “Republican” voters want. The party is not about governing, it’s only about politics and thus is ill prepared to handle real issues and real crisis. Americans get the government they vote for.
“It is virtually impossible to nurture the power of compassion if we are at the same time romanticizing suffering or imagining that God wills it “for our own good."”
— The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth by Wendy Farley
Finished reading: The Age of Acrimony by Jon Grinspan 📚 This book was an eye opener for me, to learn that the politics I’ve known in my life up until now are abnormal in comparison to how is has been over the time of United States history.
Below refers to the writing of Lincoln Steffens in 1904, and very apt questions at the end of 2022. Emphasis added
“After Steffens laid out the corruption of seven cities, his conclusion pointed straight at readers in their easy chairs. The simple truth, Steffens wrote, was that politicians were expert readers of public demands, and the public had not demanded good government. Instead, for decades they had been driven by outrage, alternately between political parties, throwing out one set of bums, then the other. Steffens asked: “Do we Americans really want good government? Do we know it when we see it? Are we capable of that sustained good citizenship which alone can make democracy a success?””
— The Age of Acrimony: How Americans Fought to Fix Their Democracy, 1865-1915 by Jon Grinspan
We had to go to overtime but the Huskies beat Sparty to get a split this weekend and a third place finish in the GLi.
In Grand Rapids for the 56th Great Lakes Invitational at a new venue. Unfortunately it was not a good night for the Huskies.
This is the warmest outdoor temperature that I’ve seen in four days. I did get outside yesterday.
We got a white Christmas 🎄
“Henceforth humanity has the right to know that it is good to be human, good to live on this earth, good to have a body, because God in Jesus chose and said “yes” to our humanity. Or as we Franciscans love to say, “Incarnation is already Redemption.” The problem is solved. Now go and utterly enjoy all remaining days.”
— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr
T’was the day before the blizzard and all throughout the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
All the the weather apps and TV stations are reporting winter storm watches, ahead of the “big” winter storm coming our way, and that this is happning on the Winter Solstice seems apt.