A College Education is OVERRATED!!!

     Don't ask me why my blogs make such inflammatory remarks.  It's just that my opinions are not congruent with the social norm.  Now that I have said that...I'M GOING IN!

     Anyone who has known me closely in my professional life since I turned 28 knows the title of this blog has been my motto.  Once again as always my logic is undeniable.  Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying that an education is not important.  I absolutely believe that being educated should be top 5 in a persons life goals.  However I take issue with the education system as it is today. I will break it down for you into smaller more manageable bites, that way you may digest my points in sample size bits.  My first point will cover the cost of a college education and the financial burden it creates.  Second, we will discuss the meaningless courses and how course completion does not coincide with job requirements .  Lastly, I will contrast the differences between college learning and life experience.

     

     According to a study done by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics in 2010 using 2009 figures, the average cost for undergraduate tuition, room, and board was estimated to be $12,283 at a public 4 year institution and $31,233 at private institutions.  So just to be clear this means that the average graduate, roughly 22-24 years old, is left to embark on their pursuit of the American dream already burdened with somewhere between $50-120k of financial debt.  The rising cost of education and the burden it creates leads young grads to run out to try to snag any job to off-set this unfortunate circumstance.  It is due in large part to this sad fact that most grads do not venture into careers that will make this country, better yet the world a better place, fields like science, technology, agriculture, medicine, or any research field.  Instead they get sucked into less honorable professions like, investment banker, politician, or corporate executive who will trade their soul for a fast buck.  This trend of degrading talent keeps us from reaping the benefits of having the best and brightest working in industries and career fields that would lead to a better quality of life for us all.

     Is Ballroom dance an important course at a college university?  Alright, so that is a little outrageous, but a real course at some universities.  How about Arts History, we all had to take that one no matter what degree program you were in.  Unless you are pursuing a career as a critic, museum curator, or an artist yourself then chances are this course was of little use to you.  I know, I know there are several forms of artistic expression but my point is that unless you were planning a career in one of those fields, which would make this course a core requirement, then what good is just knowing this information?  I say all of this to say that there are classes that can be deemed worthless when it comes to completing your degree program.  I previously spoke about the large amount of debt that comes with a college education and I feel that excess classes contribute heavily to this ballooning cost.  To better illustrate my argument I will use an example to highlight my points.  Lets take a common concentration like Bachelor of Science in Accounting and dissect the course load as well as getting a job upon completion to support my claims.  Now, the course itself requires roughly 125 credit hours for to satisfy the syllabus.  That is a combination of core and elective courses.  I will concede that all of the core courses make sense and are necessary, however I take issue with the elective courses.  The degree program requires 6 hours general electives, sure take whatever you want, ballroom dancing anyone?  Then there are the 7 hours of scientific understanding electives, yeah go ahead and try to make the debate for the need for science for an Accountant.  Finally there is the 9 hours of cultural enrichment electives.  Remind me again why I should care if my accountant is culturally enriched, just make sure my money is making me more money!  Simple math says that all totaled the electives equate to 22 hours of non-essential course hours, which is almost a full year worth of meaningless courses.  This is the universities' way of getting paid a little extra, keep you in school, collect more on the tuition, room, and board...cha-ching!  God forbid you get bogged down with the work load and have to take a core subject over again because you failed it...mo' money, mo' money, mo'!!!  I'm sure that there are more expenditures from college life that I have failed or forgotten to list here but I think I have made my point.  So what about getting a job?  Lets say you complete the degree program as it is.  It will still be darn near useless to you.  You still need a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license, which requires that you complete 150 course hours before you can even take the exam.  This means you will probably have to take the Masters program.  Did I mention something about more money?


     Finally we come to the soul of my hypothesis.  This ideal is what led me to postulate my entire theory.  I am going to admit this right up front, the following is heavily opinion based.  However those opinions are derived ENTIRELY from experience.  Here we go!  Experience trumps a college education every time.  Now I am not going to debt that I am in the minority when it comes to that sentiment, but if you know me even a little then you will know that my arguments are primarily based on angles.  The angle that I am taking my approach to this particular blog rant is that I don't believe that a college education as it is structured today is as effective as it needs to be to develop young minds.  To aide me in this to paint clearer picture I will us the military as my example of experience.  For those of you unfamiliar with the military, all service members have a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) which means they have a primary job skill.  Each MOS has a structured training program that equips the trainee with the core skills necessary to perform their assigned duty.  From this training service members go straight to putting these skills to work.  The advantage this has over college is the hands on experience and the focus on the core aspects of the skill to be acquired.  Soldiers also get to make mistakes in a controlled environment and receive immediate candid feed back which empowers them to take action in the future with confidence, as oppose to college where the TA grades your assignments and all you can gather is that you got a passing grade so you must have done something right.  Another advantage of education by experience over college learning is the method of teaching.  It is a proving fact that true sustained learning is aided by involving as many senses as possible.  The military has this covered on all fronts!  Sight, sound, taste, smell, and feeling all come into play in almost all military training.  I use to personally subscribe to another principle of learning which was create a Significant Emotional Event (SEE).  This is where you use emotions to cement teachings.  I have found that there is no better way to induce this response, without causing any physical harm anyway, is vigorous physical exercise.  The good stress this creates on the body stimulates the mind therefore the learning curve is accelerated.  I would say this is a far better principle than classroom settings, lectures, and lack luster class participation.  Now, now don't bash me over the head just yet because I will concede that it has worked out fairly enough thus far, I'm just saying it can be better.  Ultimately you can just look at the difference between someone coming out of the military after 4 years versus 4 years spent in college.  I guess it's unfair because of the discipline that goes hand and hand with military service hence maturity is also a result.  


     Everyone please understand that I do not have a problem with "Higher Learning" I just think there is an over emphasis placed on colleges.  If you can't see that institutions in this country are becoming more and more a business with the focus being more on making money than about the education students are getting then you can't see the forest for the trees.  I mean think about it, news about cuts in teachers pay and jobs are constantly in the headlines meanwhile the CEO's, politicians, and Wall Street types who nearly ruined this country get bonuses, lavish salaries, and get to vote on their pay raises (Politicians).  I have my opinions and they are not void of recommendations of how to improve things.  First you can reduce the cost of a college education by merely cutting a year out of the current curriculum, thus getting rid of unnecessary courses.  Then improve the way lessons are taught by using more of a hands on approach, call it apprenticeship, internship, on the job training, whatever.  This will give students the experience they will need to be successful in the workplace.  I have other suggestions that I will share but not expound on, increase teachers salary, reduce class size, and lastly give teachers and students a personality profile test and match students and teachers by compatibility.      


         


  

Kill Santa Claus

Let me start by saying I know this is going to piss some people off...the truth is funny that way!  Now that the friendly disclaimer is out of the way lets get down and dirty.  Black people must kill the myth that is Santa Claus as we know him today.  Nevermind the fact that you are teaching your kids that it is alright to lie, we will get to the psychology of that later.  I want to first talk about the existential psychological trauma that the vast majority of black people have.  This trauma invariably causes them to have a dependency on "D. Whiteman" that is ingrained in them from birth.  Right about now is where people usually think that I am nuts or some kind of radical racial extremist, but hear me out.  True or false, a child is very impressionable, especially by their parents and at such early ages that they are learning things for the first time.  Think about how hard it is to unlearn something that you have know to be one certain way for a long period of time.  I often like to prove my point by giving examples so here we go.  Lets take it slow, we will use something very simple like the year.  Every new year it takes the average person 3-4 months before they stop writing the previous year.  Just think, if this is so for something that we learn in just a year imagine how difficult it would be to adjust to something that you have spent years believing.  Still not convinced?  Lets get a little deeper.  How about this one?  Lets try one where you know the truth but you have been conditioned to think one way for so long you just can't change your mind.  Most people know who "Steve Urkel" is.  His real name is Jaleel White, however we will always see him as the nerdy kid in suspenders even though we all know it was just a character.  Now do you see how easily the mind can latch on and not let go once it is conditioned?  This is precisely the trauma I am talking about with the Santa Claus lie.  So now that we have established a baseline effect let us dive into the psyche it creates.

         
For the sake of this blog lets say that the average kid believes in Santa Claus until the age of 10.  That gives us roughly 7-8 yrs of development to work with.  To really get down to the nuts and bolts of the psyche and how it's affected we must dissect each aspect of the myth.  I will start by examining the nursery rhyme.  First will break down "he knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake".  This creates a mindset that he is God like, ubiquitous.  Someone who can be so well informed could be seen as extremely powerful and intimidating.  Second, "he knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake".  Talk about fear and intimidation, is it me or is there an "OR ELSE" implied?  Third, "he's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out who's naughty or nice".  This is surely a classic example of influencing behavior through fear of reprisal.  Now these two lines combined we are teaching that he holds the decision making ability to impose punishment.  Lastly lets examine the gift giving.  So let me get this right, after I abide by all of his rules he rewards me with gifts.  Wow!  What a great guy.  Not such a bad trade off.  I do what he wants me to do and he gives me things...harmless right?  Or is it?  For a child this could send the wrong message.  They need to be taught that you do the right thing because it's the right thing not in hopes of getting something in return.  To me this is the beginning of a corrupt value system.

Now lets take an in dept look at the long term effects of this conditioning.  Over the course of time the culmination of these effects create a serious complexity of ideals, morals, and values.  Examining the lasting effects now relates primarily to the sub-conscience because now that we know that it was all a lie we do not readily deal with the effects left behind.  However, rarely can we control our sub-conscious mind so we suffer the lingering effects with very little notice. So it goes without saying that we pay little attention to those things around us that may seem to be the norm.  For example, we all know someone who think that there is nothing wrong with being on welfare.  The sub-conscience reverts back to when Santa Claus gave them gifts in exchange for good behavior.  In this instance the good behavior is continuing to be lazy and goal oriented so that you won't be a threat to his wealth.  Try this one on for size, "go to college and get a good education so you can get a good job making a good salary".  The break down of this one is tricky.  Yes being educated is EXTREMELY important, college we can debate later, but a good education is a must.  Once again he has a hidden agenda.  One of the goals of education is to learn to think for yourself, however the logic of going out and FINDING a good suggests that you work for someone else (Santa Claus, aka D. Whiteman).  I guess sub-consciously you are still concern with him "making his list, and checking it twice".  I can't name more than a hand full of Black Americans who own major companies.  So few of us have the courage to go into business for ourselves.  You would be foolish to think this to be coincidence.  I can go on and on about examples that we face everyday in our current society that support my argument about this psychological trauma, but I think my point has been made.  Throughout my adult life I have delved into the issue of being psychologically affected by the years of conditioning to love "D. Whiteman".  The Santa Claus theory is but one part of my hypothesis's.  Now we all have a decision to make.....  
                       

**D. Whiteman - aka the white man; the establishment.  The "D" is for discernible because it does not refer to all white men but the ones who are bent on ruling the world.  The men who are driven by money, power, greed.

The Obama Trick

Look at them, the American Dream realized!  Never has there been a more picturesque representation of a real life African-American family.  This particular photo was taken on the night of one of the most monumental events in American history.  Needless to say it felt like the ultimate victory for the black community in particular.  This moment was celebrated by blacks as if it were the end of all of our problems in the WORLD!!!  It was wasn't it?  Doesn't this excuse slavery?  Isn't this sufficient acceptance and a balance of power?  This has to be the reparations we've heard so much about.  Letting one black family live in the White House has to make up for hundreds of years of free labor.  Alright, by now my facetious tone should be more than evident.  My point is this...we have only made a dent in the armor of inequality and we can not be content with this one victory.  My intent is not to marginalize this major accomplishment, but to fan the sparks that it created into a full blaze of consciousness.  I feel we need to capitalize on the momentum of the election to continue to push for fair play, balance, and equal opportunity.  Time and time again we as a people celebrate the mini wins as if we have achieved the ultimate goal.  We tend to be satisfied with just being able to take the step rather than completing the journey.  Please understand that I am not saying do not be happy or do not rejoice, by all mean enjoy the moment.  Since I got behind him as a candidate (after finding out what  he was about not because he was BLACK) I have enjoyed every minute.  I cheered him during the debates, I was nervous when Palin gave McCain a spike, I cried when he was named the winner and again when he was sworn in.  Despite all of that there is yet more work to do before we can breathe a sigh of relief.  We must put our heads down once again until we can achieve another significant victory and accomplish the ultimate goal, EQUALITY!!!  So what do we need to do to make sure we accomplish that goal?  The plan is simplistic.  We need to abide three fundamental principles:  Unity, Organization, and Activism.  The principles are simple but implementing them into the everyday life and culture of our communities proves to be a far tougher challenge.  However, I will expound upon each principle individually and HOPE that my explanation will inspire the understanding needed to create real CHANGE.                                  









UNITY
-noun, plural -ties

1. the state or quality of being one; oneness
2. the act, state, or quality of forming a whole from separate parts
3. something whole or complete that is composed of separate parts
4. mutual agreement; harmony or concord

I thought it was important to include the definition because like so many words people seem to not fully understand their meaning.  Too often is this principle over looked amongst our community.  We seem to be obsessed with terms like "hater, baller blocker, jock riders, scrubs, and groupie" that we are void of any sense of UNITY.  The UNITY we need is the kind that bounds us to our common goal of equality.  This UNITY will require us to break the "Crab" mentality.  We must understand that some sacrifices must be made for the greater good.  This is where we must each understand that we all play a part in the grand scheme of things no matter how small our role is.  We need to get beyond the "keeping it real", "sellout", "uncle tom" mindset where we believe that someone owes something for their success.  Instead we should teach and instill the mindset that it is a natural service to give back to our community.  One of the major reasons we find it difficult to unite is because we do not take pride in our community, therefore those who can and do "make it out" never look back.  The essence of UNITY has to be taught and established at an early age if we intend to rid ourselves of the animosity that consumes our communities today.  The number one rule in defeating any enemy is divide and conquer.  We must realize that if we can not come together and exude true UNITY we will continue to struggle.

   

ORGANIZATION

-noun

1. order or system; method
2. something made up of elements with varied functions that contribute to the whole and to collective functions.
3. a structure through which individuals cooperate systematically to conduct business.
4. the condition of being arranged in a certain order         

ORGANIZATION is an important principle because everything must have structure.  Planning and focus is paramount to being successful in this ordeal.  Resources needed to be pooled, evaluated, delegated, and monitored.   Strategic planning will be necessary to achieve the desired results, therefore our ORGANIZATION will dictate how others are affected by our actions.  What I mean by this is, if we start being responsible for our own we should already be prepared to handle the outsiders who inquire into what we are doing.  This will be a change in behavior and we all know that "change" is a common fear and is especially disturbing to those who like when you are predictable (the oppressors).  Thus ORGANIZATION will be displayed in the form of being prepared to answer questions, influence other communities, handle the media, and defuse any unease of government agencies.  Be clear that being organized as a black will be view as a threat and we must be prepared to handle that.  This is precisely how the FBI dismantled the Black Panthers.  Imagine if we could organize to the point that we have Doctors, Lawyer, Teachers, Police, Bankers, Contractors, Printers, etc all volunteering their services back to the community.  Let's take this fantasy a little further and see what it could yield...so a Dr gives back through volunteering and after a while he is able to open a private practice near the community that he is volunteering in.  This practice brings jobs, directly he hires nurses, nurses aides, and receptionists.  Indirectly the Banker gets to open new accounts, the Teacher gets to train some of the employees, and the Contractor gets to build the new building.  This all improves UNITY through ORGANIZATION.  Lastly the Dr has a business to pass down to his children.

ACTIVISM
-noun

1. the doctrine or practice of vigorous action or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes  by demonstrations, protests, etc.
2. a policy of taking direct and often militant action to achieve an end, esp a political or social one              

This last principle needs to be executed with finesse.  ACTIVISM will be impossible to achieve with the desired effect if you do not have a firm foundation in the other two principles.  ACTIVISM if implemented improperly will stir up fear and recourse from the oppressor or their agencies.  Black people standing up and fighting for their rights is always frightening to the establishment.  However action is very necessary to reach our goal.  True committed and sustained action, action that endures the test of time because change will not come easy and it will not come over night.  It saddens me to think that we could come together for "Million Man March" yet it proves my point that we can not sustain it because it was a one and done event.  That should have been annual, and should have been the platform to demand change.  Hell the Mexicans protested for change and won...and half of them aren't even suppose to be in the country in the first place!!!  Unfortunately our track record for endurance isn't that great, remember that Martin guy and his "DREAM" and no I'm not talking about Martin Payne sleeping with Pam!!  I'm talking about the mountain top.  That brother got shot and we saw that white folks wasn't playing, we dropped that idea like a hot potato.  Hell we even let Arizona buck at giving the brother a holiday.  Every negro in Arizona should have been in the streets marching and if enough didn't live there Oprah should have flown some in!  ACTIVISM!!!  Don't talk about it be about it!  Ultimately some of us may have to die to get what we DESERVE!  (As if enough of us haven't died already)

So what's the "Obama Trick"?


Well I'm glad you asked.  I thought you weren't paying attention!  The "Obama Trick" is simple.  It is sort of like magic, like an illusionist, smoke, mirrors, and misdirection.  Plainly put, they gave us this small victory to throw us off our guard.  While we were in the streets dancing, hugging, and drinking (they own all alcohol by the way) they were raising gas prices, making business deals surrounding a made up war, and dividing up $700 Billion that they stole from us!!!  Yep no one was happier then they were when he won...the worlds biggest diversion!!!  Oh they gave us Bernie Madoff but do you really think that only one person thought of a multi-billion dollar scheme?  He is the first, last, nor only one to do this.  If they gave us one to me that means they protected hundreds...Bernie just drew the short straw!  This country was built on greed, corruption, and taking what you want.  You got to know the rules if you want to play the game or if you want to play to win anyway.

    

True Lies

I will start this by saying that I will be making changes in the New Year based on the feelings I express in this blog...

People we all lie!  Lets get that straight from jump.  The thing that frustrates me is when people won't acknowledge that the lie that they admit they told is really a lie.  Let me explain.  A person will admit that they told an untruth but try to justify it so that it can not be labeled as a lie.   I call this the "HYPOCRITE DISCLAIMER STATEMENT" .  This is when the LIAR uses a statement to rationalize the lie that they have told.   Examples of such statements are, "I was just joking", "oh that's different", "I didn't want to talk about it", "I didn't lie I just let you believe what you wanted", "It wasn't that big of a deal"...             


Let me help clear this up.  If you say something that's not true it's a LIE!  Omission of the truth is a LIE!  The fact that you believe what you said doesn't make it true...IT'S A LIE! {EXCEPTION BEING THAT YOU WERE LIED TO.  THIS DOESN'T INCLUDE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THEIR OWN BULLSHIT}.  Providing misleading information because you don't want to talk about something is a LIE.  Because you feel like you can justify a non-truth doesn't make it ok...it's still a LIE.  You can't make it true by getting mad at the person for not believing it...IT'S A LIE.

Now that I have established a baseline standard of what a LIE is {believe me there are more examples} let me continue with my rant {after all this is my page}.   My motivation for this is you, yes you!  All of you who have LIED and refuse to admit it even after being caught.  To me it is very insulting.  I am not saying all of this because I want an apology or for you to fully confess what you have LIED about.  My only hope is that I might convince at least one person to join the ranks of the "Radical Truth Tellers".  Maybe at least then they can say to themselves, "I did Lie!"  From there we can move forward into the New Year if you agree that you will try to do better.  By doing better I mean I personally would prefer that people say "I don't want to talk about it" "I'd rather not say" "none of your business" "I don't want to lie to you" or even "I plead the FIF!".  

I know that by now there are those of you thinking "who does he think he is" well allow me to retort ....I'M ME BITCH!