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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Want a decent life?



“Work hard and play by the rules.” --Bill Clinton in 1992

That was then--before the Internet and globalization.

This is now... these are the New Rules...


"The truth is, if you want a decent job that will lead to a decent life today you have to: 
  • work harder
  • regularly reinvent yourself, 
  • obtain at least some form of post-secondary education
  • make sure that you’re engaged in lifelong learning
  • and play by the rules." 
--Thomas Friedman in 2012, emphasis added.



“We have to prepare more Americans for the new jobs that are being created in a world fueled by new technology. That’s why investments in our people” — in more community colleges, Pell grants and vocational-training classes — “are more important than ever.”
--Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, 2012, as quoted by Friedman




Questions:


  1. Are you prepared to work harder to earn a decent life for yourself and your children?
  2. What have you done to reinvent yourself, lately?
  3. How are you fostering the value of life-long learning within yourself and those closest to you?
  4. Should we be teaching computer programming to our elementary school students?



Read Freidman's NY Times article here: New Rules/

6 comments:

  1. Equipping students to be strong, competent and innovative candidates in their futures, all who can work and succeed playing by the new rules in our global society/market game is the very mindset and goal that drives my, and many teachers', planning, teaching and modeling in the classroom every day.

    The challenge is there, the demand in strong, the stakes are high...education is key.

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    1. Well said, Melanie. More power to you, and to others like you! I assume your answer to Question #4 would be YES! Correct?

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  2. Darn right we should! MIT (Scratch) and Carnegie Mellon (Alice) already have that one figured out!

    My computer programming heros? Seymour Papert, Randy Pausch and Wanda Dann...inspiring young minds to think in, out and around the wonderful cube (box) of imagination, creation, construction and solution! Empowering the young...that's the stock we should all be investing in!

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    1. I know of Randy Pausch through his amazing Last Lecture video (now also a book) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo. What a great example Randy lived!

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  3. Great post - simple, yet invigorating. Now I have to think about reinventing this oldself!

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    1. Angelo, the best things often are simple! Glad you enjoyed this and please share your reinvention thoughts!

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