50 posts until 500

i am 2 weeks into preparing for my dissertation defense and have the rest of this month to prepare. it's been going well, and i am eager to go into it. i really wish my shipped goods would get hear. i need the printouts of my references to expedite the review process.

outside of my phd, i have really turned up the heat on a couple other side projects that will be launching in the next 6 months or so. i am very excited about this and can't wait to share with you all. this includes a new blog and website!!!

sine being home, i have gotten a lot of practice speaking to young people, and i have a huge engagement next saturday (~150 young men). this is the start of something great! you heard it here first.

p.s. - these next 50 posts are going to be interesting as things are not going to get any less hectic over the next 3 months. it will be interesting.

e-trade baby outtakes.......hilarious

a little humor to get you through the day

back to the phd grind

it's back on the phd horse as i prepare for my defense next month. i cracked my dissertation open a few days ago and am trolling through it. i wish my shipped cargo would hurry up and get here because there is a box of research papers that i have referenced that i really could use in the next phase of studying. i made some notes on these publications, and it would be helpful to see what i wrote on those papers in summary. reading all 130 references again is probably not the most efficient option.

success

i was just flipping through the channels during a late lunch about an hour or so ago and came across this news segment (headline news) reading facebook comments from individuals about how graduating high school students are not prepared for college. my experience has confirmed this amongst my peers. this whole 'no child left behind' mess for k-12 of the previous administration was one of the worst things done in the school system that i can remember. as one of the facebook commenters (a former college educator) wrote in "there isn't a success story for everyone."

upon reading this initially it sounds harsh.....very harsh. BUT, the problem is that it is not incorrect or false. it is just incomplete. what should have been stated is that "there isn't an IDENTICAL success story for everyone IN THE SAME FIELD IN THE SAME WAY." i am in no way trying to state that education isn't for everyone because i believe whole-heartedly that it is. however, what i am saying is that 'success' in formal education will be different and is relative for each student. there is no catch all program for education to make everyone a straight 'A' student. that is not everyone's path. and most importantly, that is not success for every student. that is not what education is about. the educational system in america is so screwed up, and it is only being exaggerated by educators that do not realize (either by choice or by ignorance) the intense responsibility that they possess.

school has become this institution to teach memorization and not how to apply the knowledge that is being gained. true success is being able to take what you learn and synthesize it into something useful.......NOT simply to be valedictorian.