I just finished watching the President’s speech tonight and I liked it. I think the first part was a little weak but toward the end it had some real substance. I don’t know if it had much impact in student’s lives overall but I also don’t think it hurt anything either. I loved the examples at the end regarding failure. Everyone is going to stumble at one point in their life and you aren’t always going to be good at everything you try. I think people give up on things too easily. I had a preacher in Oregon who didn’t teach me much (sorry but you didn’t) but the one thing that did stick is every Sunday he would tell his congregation to “stick and stay and make it pay”. What he meant by that is you are going to get your feelings hurt at one point or another but if you let others take you away from your true purpose you will lose out on learning and fellowship.
Let’s take a look at America’s education system:
American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in mathematics achievement and 16th out of 21 nations in science. Our advanced physics students rank dead last.
Since 1983, over 10 million Americans have reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level. Over 20 million have reached their senior year unable to do basic math. Almost 25 million have reached 12th grade not knowing the essentials of U.S. history.
In the same period, over six million Americans dropped out of high school altogether. In 1996, 44% of Hispanic immigrants aged 16-24 were not in school and did not hold a diploma.
In the fourth grade, 77% of children in urban high-poverty schools are reading “below basic” on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Average per-pupil spending in U.S. public schools rose 212% from 1960 to 1995 in real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) dollars.
In 1960, for every U.S. public school teacher there were approximately 26 students enrolled in the schools. In 1995, there were 17.
The average salary of U.S. public school teachers rose 45% in real dollars from 1960 to 1995.
In 1996, 64% of high school seniors reported doing less than one hour of homework per night.
I had to have some blood work done about a month and a half ago. I’m not big on needles and I’m certainly not big on blood so when you combine those two things together I am a complete wreck. I somehow managed to gather enough courage to get my blood drawn and let me tell you the guy who took it was super nice about the whole thing. I was a big baby and made sure to communicate that I am squeamish around needles and blood and was really hesitant to give him my arm. I felt super light headed but miraculously somehow survived. I even got a nice cold Gatorade in the process. Some poor lady who came in with crutches beside me must have laughed seeing a 31 year old guy in a shirt and tie moaning and groaning like a big baby. Seriously I thought I was going to pass out there for a while. Why am I talking about all of this? Oh yeah…healthcare…yeah don’t really like it sometimes. I ended up paying $194 for one of the tests which evidently wasn’t covered by my insurance unbeknownst to me. If you ever followed the Show 30 Day from Morgan Spurlock (the man who produced SuperSize Me), he did a show on minimum wage. It basically showed if you are poor in this country and can’t afford insurance you are pretty much forgotten about which is sad and we need to take care of the people of this world not forget about them. I’m not saying what I embedded above is perfect, I’m not saying Obama’s plan is perfect, but what I am saying is we need to at least do something because what we are doing isn’t working.
A new report from Forrester Research estimates that approximately 2.2 billion people will be online over the next few years – an increase of over 45 percent. Analysts at Forrester forecast that, by 2013, 43 percent of that 2.2 billion will be based in Asia, with 17 percent in China alone.
In 2008, the United States was home to the most Internet users, followed by China, Japan, Brazil, and Germany, Business Journal reports, quoting the Forrester research. By comparison, in 2013, China will be in first place, followed by the US, India, Japan, and Brazil.
“While per capita online spending is likely to remain highest in North America, Western Europe, and the developed markets of Asia throughout the next five years,” Forrester Research Senior Analyst Zia Daniell Wigder wrote in a statement, “the shifting online population and growing spending power among Asian consumers means that Asian markets will represent a far greater percentage of the total in 2013 than they do today.”
Forrester also predicted that Middle Eastern and African countries, which currently represent only 8 percent of the global online population, will have very high growth rates in coming years. In that region, Nigeria, Iran, and Egypt are expected to see the biggest increases.
I’ll admit I am a fan of Dog the Bounty Hunter (Duane Chapman). When I was in Kona, HI a few years ago I saw one of his offices but I think the one in Honolulu, HI is much more famous. If you haven’t watched the show you should check it out on A&E. Chapman is a former criminal who turned his life around (was in prison for murder), rededicated himself to God, and is now one of the most successful bounty hunters in the world fighting crime instead of causing it. Being that he is a former criminal, it is amazing to watch him use his street knowledge to hunt down fugitives.
It is always inspiring is to see how big Chapman’s heart is and how kind the criminals really are once in custody. You think these drug dealers are hardened criminals until you get them handcuffed in the back seat of his Suburban and grown men start crying and want to talk to their mothers and kiss their babies. It is always nice to see people getting a second chance at life and although Chapman himself still isn’t perfect (like us all), he is a good guy for treating people humanly and giving them a second chance at life. I’m also a huge fan of Tony Robbins the motivational speaker and wasn’t aware the two had teamed up in Chapman’s past so I enjoyed this article and hope you do as well.
Reader’s Digest profiled Kevin Rose this month where he talks about how he started Digg.com and his recommendations for everyone to follow their dreams and passions. You can read the full article here.
