Inspiration Through Information
Recently I was reading Richard Dowis’ excellent book, The Lost Art of the Great Speech: How to Write One – How to Deliver It, and I read something very wise that pertains directly to self-education and learning. In a section of the book that discusses researching when writing speeches, he bolsters an assertion I’ve made […]
This video utilizing a recording of the late Alan Watts is brilliant. It highlights something that I’ve been talking and writing about for quite some time. Our entire educational system is based on the constant grading (ranking) of individuals while at the same time dangling the carrot of supposed “success” in front of the students as […]
I am lucky that I live in a city, San Francisco, that has a great selection of world-class museums that offer wonderful exhibitions and learning experiences spanning history, science, art, nature and culture. Visiting my local museums, and museums in other cities when I travel, are among my favorite self-education experiences. When I visit a […]
What the technology industry icon, Vinod Khosla, says in this video interview recorded after his appearance at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference resonates with how I feel too. He says in this interview that if he sees a high school dropout who has done a lot, it tells him that that person is way better than a […]
Every now and then I randomly stumble upon a video on YouTube that I have to share. This is one of them. I wish every person on the planet would watch this. This is truly great wisdom from the late Alan Watts. It’s only three minutes long. Check it out. I think you’ll be happy […]
TED is my favorite online destination. It has been for years. Every now and then I stumble upon such a gem of a TED video that I have to share it. This is one of them. Shimon Schocken is a former dean at Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya and has taught at NYU, Harvard and Stanford. He […]
Today I read the cover story of Newsweek titled Is College a Lousy Investment? by Megan McArdle and I was jumping up and down with joy that this public discussion is finally starting to see some widespread traction. It’s a discussion we need to have. The default assumption that college is the correct path for every […]
Technology marches forward at an amazing pace. And it’s technology that’s going to continue to revolutionize the opportunities for self-education. What will continue to be the primary driver for the democratization and accessibility of education is technology. For example, examine a technology like MyEdu that lets college students design, manage and navigate their higher education […]
Informal learning is a concept that is quickly taking hold in companies and organizations everywhere. No surprise. Such learning often produces as good or better results than more formal training programs and at a fraction of the cost. But as with all trends adopted within large organizations, there can be a tendency to over-complicate matters. […]
I ran across this quote by one of my favorite playwrights, David Mamet, as I was reading Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? The quote applies to much of life, and it most certainly applies to self-education. If you wholeheartedly embrace the industrial model, including the industrial model of education that our current formal system […]