Building an Entrepreneur

If you are from the Northwest then you would be silly to pass up the amazing hiking, snowboarding, kayaking and other outdoor activities this area has to offer. When a few of my friends decide to go hiking we often catch our unsuspecting site-seers by surprise. Check out this hilarious video featuring Blair Underwood. Although an exaggeration, we have had our share of  awkward experiences.

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Although I do not know Elizabeth Betterbed I can still take some pride in a local winning the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. The $50,000 scholarship allows students to study at Oxford University for two to four years. The criteria of the award are “high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor.”

Once again Congrats to Elizabeth

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Only 48% of white British boys eligible for free school meals achieved the expected level in English and maths.

Level 4 English and Math, Free School Meals

All pupils: 53.3%

White British boys: 48%

Black Caribbean boys: 49.7%

Asian boys: 58.7%

White British girls: 55%

Pakistani girls: 57.4%

I am curious as to know more about these students family make up as well as economic level. Rarely do you hear of White students being the least performing, even more so, male White Students. I am curious to see what is the common theme with these students as well. What are their parents views on education? Do they come from vocational or trade backgrounds.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker stated” Let’s face facts-primary school standards have been transformed over the last 12 years with 98,000 more 11-year- old’s now reaching expected levels in English and maths regardless of their backgrounds.”

I wonder if that was his way of saying  ”but we are doing this correctly.” I just once in a while would love to hear an educator say “we dropped the ball”, “we are failing miserably.” I don’t pretend to know the UK school system or how it operates, but it is clear that students from low income are the ones struggling the most.  They are expanding the ‘Every Child early intervention programmers’ I imagine similar to America’s ‘No Child left behind’ program.

When I cross the pond one day I will have to check out the school systems myself.

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Science and technology teach us what we can do. Humanistic thinking can help us understand what we should do.

Ok…… well doesn’t this article sound idealistic? Everybody should go into the humanities as well as science. Yes, I wish we all had the social or academic acuity for such an en devour, however we do not.  I have some very real life values we can look at in terms of what people should and shouldn’t do. If you want to have a great social understanding then yes, the humanities are the right move. With that though, please be prepared for the real world challenges. Sadly humanities tend to mean less paying jobs, less opportunities for career growth and overall lack of marketability. I am not talking from a academic standpoint, we can all study the effects of  selecting the humanities versus going into the harder sciences.

Simply log onto your facebook account and look at a few of your friends profiles who decided to major in the liberal arts. Now go under employment and look at the jobs they have.  Now, I would like you to conduct the same “research” with friends who selected a the harder sciences such as engineering, or business. Its a harsh reality but it is something that is often ignored, the success a person has AFTER college.

The balance that the author of this article discusses can be shared by simply studying the humanities through real life experiences. Studying the softer sciences are courses that students should take but do not require a degree in. We need more students going into the sciences and with an understanding of why they are going into them as well. Courses should focus more on what are the social, cultural impacts that their new found professions can have.

Being an immigrant, it has been ingrained in my mind that I go to school for something that I can market, that is currently why I am getting my masters in information Management. As we become more dependent on information technology I know that this is a secure area that will allow me to explore things that I am passionate about such as the Humanities, but not something I need to go to school for.

Getting a degree in the STEM disciplines (Science, technology, engineering, and math), YES.

A degree in the Humanities and liberal arts? Not unless you are double majoring in something from the STEM……..

I usually don’t discuss entertainers when making examples of entrepreneurship but I think Ryan Leslie has a great story. Not your typical hip hop artist as he is a graduate of Harvard University and has become somewhat of a youtube phenomenon right up there with the Lol cats. His journey to the top is still one to come but by utilizing social media and self-promotion he has done a great job of marketing himself. Check out the video below of Ryan as he has fully integrated with his new community in Harlem.

Thanks to Jordan Wong, one of my mentees for forwarding me the video, check out his blog when you get a chance.

Yahoo Presents “Sound Decisions” – Ryan Leslie Doc from Ryan Leslie on Vimeo.

Dave Eggers gives an eye opening look at education and how the right environment and personal attention can change a students performance and overall feeling about education. This 24 minute video shows how a tutoring center morphed into an idea that spread across the world. Truly Inspiring.

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Washington leaders are working to become more competitive in winning a share of $4.35 billion in education grants through an Obama Administration program called Race to the Top. Some think the state’s chances are, at best, a long shot.

Since the announcement of Obama’s 4.35 billion in educational grants  many states have IMMEDIATELY changed policy in order to become competitive for the funding.  Now this is where I am going to go off a little bit, Governor Gregoire told U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that, while Washington does not have charter schools, the state does have many schools that are every bit as innovative and successful.  She must be referring to the schools in Microsoft territory, schools where children of Microsoft and other affluent communities. She surely is not referring to any of the schools in Seattle or Tacoma, the most highly populated minority  areas.

However, I am obviously not the only one that feels this way. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that Washington’s lack of Charter schools certainly won’t help its chances to become one of a dozen or so states to win between $20 Million and $700 million each, depending on their size.

I hope this is a wake up call to Washington! Mainly my focus is on students coming from lower social economic areas but in all of Washington. Obama is rewarding schools that are doing a good job in preparing students for college and I can say that many schools do not even come close to that within the state of Washington.

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It seems like it’s close to impossible to raise a normal child these days, what with the violent video games and the 4chan and the childhood obesity. But if the latest research is to be believed, even the good stuff we thought we were doing for our kids is ruining them.

Cezary Jan Stusiewicz

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