Student as Hunter/Farmer

Yesterday I posted a Tweet considering using the metaphor of hunter or farmer for the student. @lauradoggett responded "Stephen Covey uses the metaphor of school as farm- very powerful. There are no shortcuts to deep learning." Based on Laura's response I did some additional research and found that Covey makes the argument that in school real learning often doesn't occur because students cram for their exams at the last moment. On a farm, however, there is no cramming. Every seed and animal must be nurtured to the fullest extent or they don't develop and produce to their potential. According to Covey, schools should ideally be treated as farms.

My main point in wanting to compare students to hunters or farmers is because I want students to be seen as the key actors. Hunters must chase their prey just as in an ideal educational setting students would chase knowledge. (Students cannot simply be spoonfed or the information won't be as meaningful to them.) After hunters catch their prey they use it in a variety of ways (sometimes the prey is put on the wall, other times it is barbecued, other times it is roasted). Similarly, after students acquire information they should use it in a variety of ways.

Though I unfortunately think that some people will be turned off the hunter metaphor, the farmer metaphor seems to neat and orderly to me. Learning is not a neat and orderly process. Instead it is the process of following clues from one point to another, just as hunters, and hunting dogs, often follow the scent of the quarry.

By the way, this idea is not meant to be fully fleshed out. It started as a Twitter reply to @lauradoggett and then I realzied that I could never convey a meaningful message on this topic in 140 characters or less.

GM's New Unveiling

Yesterday I was invited to participate in a General Motors event for consumers. The event started at the GM Tech Center in Warran, MI. We then moved across the street where we watched pilot assembly of the new Volt, an electric car that can get up to 40 miles on one charge and 300 miles on a single tank of gasoline, giving it a total distance of 340 miles. Later in the day, we visited the GM Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan. While at the Proving Grounds I had the opportunity to drive in a Volt. The New York Times is running an article on the Volt today entitled, "G.M. Says Volt will Get Triple-Digit City Mileage."

1. Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of GM, explained that GM has been developing innovative, green friendly cars, for years. One of their largest problems is getting the word out to the public. If you could advise GM on three successful strategies to most effectively get the word out to the general public at the beginning of the Twenty First Century what would you advise? Why?

2. Bob Lutz explained that the federal government does not want to control GM operations, as a socialist government might. Instead the government simply wants to get its money back that it invested in GM. Based on your knowledge of the GM bailout, do you think that Mr. Lutz is correct? Why or why not?

3. In the introduction to this blog post, I explained the information that I learned about the Volt, yesterday. The information contained in the linked article contains some discrepancies. What can we learn about the written word from the differences in these two accounts? Is it really ever possible to verify the accuracy of written/spoken words? Why or why not? What questions would you ask in an attempt to verify accuracy?

4. What three industries do you think that it is most important to learn about in order to understand the United States economy? Why these specific industries?

Fewer People Laid Off

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "247,000 Jobs Lost in July; Rate Falls Slightly to 9.4%." The article states, "Although businesses are expected to keep cutting jobs through the rest of the year, the Labor Department’s latest figures offered some faint signs that the sinking job market was approaching bottom."

Perhaps there's some faint signs of hope in a macro-sense but from a micro-perspective it still hurts to be unemployed. Karen Triplett, 61 of Atlanta said, "I’m beyond down to basics...My daughter’s tried to help me. My son has given me money. But what I can’t do, I can’t do.”

1. Is it easier to look at the economy from a macro perspective or a micro perspective? What does the word easier, even mean?

2. What do you think is the single most powerful thing that you can say to somebody who is down on thier economic luck? Why is this powerful?

3. If you had $1 Billon to spend to improve the economy, what would you do with the money? Do you think that you could make a different with $1 Billion? Why or why not?

4. Do you think that the U.S. economy is ever going to return to its previous heights? Why or why not? If you believe that it will return, how long will it take? Why will it take this amount of time?

Yahoo and Microsoft

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "Congress Concerned About Microsoft, Yahoo Deal." The article states, "The companies have been talking for months about a partnership after a failed attempt by Microsoft to acquire Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo last year. In the deal, Microsoft's search engine, Bing, would be the exclusive search tool for Yahoo's sites. The companies would also combine their advertising sales forces. Together they would have about 30 percent of the search advertising market, compared with Google's grasp of 60 percent of online search advertisements."

The article concludes, "Google won't say whether it will protest the partnership to regulators, saying only in a statement: 'There has traditionally been a lot of competition online, and our experience is that competition brings about great things for users. We're interested to learn more about the deal.'"

1. What questions would you ask in order to become more informed about possible anti-trust violations associated with the potential Yahoo - Microsoft partnership? How would you find the answers to these questions?

2. What do you think that Yahoo and Microsoft would have to do to overtake Google in search? Is it possible for this partnership to overtake Google? Why or why not? Do you think that the partnership wants to overtake Google? Explain!

3. Ten years ago very few people had heard of Google. What type of web application do you think might have the same impact as Google has had, ten years from now.

4. Which of the following companies would you most like to own: Microsoft; Yahoo; or, Google? Why?

Swim Suits?

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Biedermann Stuns Phelps Amid Debate Over Suits." The article states, "Biedermann shattered Phelps’s world record with a clocking of 1 minute 42.00 seconds. Phelps, who owns four of the five all-time fastest swims in the event, finished in 1:43.22. Phelps had set the world record that Biedermann broke, a 1:42.96 that he recorded on his way to Olympic gold last summer in Beijing."

The article adds, "After the 400 freestyle, Biedermann acknowledged that his Arena X-Glide suit was an advantage. He said it makes him 'really fast; honestly, about two seconds in the race.' He added, 'I think the suits are destroying a little bit the sport. It’s just, put on a suit, and you’re really, really fast.'”

1. Why do you think that some suits are faster than others? Speculate!!

2. Do you think that swimmers should be allowed to wear bathing suits that enable them to swim faster? Why or why not? In what ways could such bathing suits help the sport of swimming? In what ways could they detract from the sport of swimming?

3. Do you think it is fair to compare certain bathing suits that enable swimmers to swim faster to steroids that enable athletes to perform better? What are the similarities? What are the differences?

4. Does it ever make sense to discuss/think about non-significant current events, such as this one, when other far more significant current events are occurring around us? Why or why not?

Traders Profit with Computers

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds." The article states, "Powerful computers, some housed right next to the machines that drive marketplaces like the New York Stock Exchange, enable high-frequency traders to transmit millions of orders at lightning speed and, their detractors contend, reap billions at everyone else’s expense."

The article addds, "The rise of high-frequency trading helps explain why activity on the nation’s stock exchanges has exploded. Average daily volume has soared by 164 percent since 2005, according to data from NYSE. Although precise figures are elusive, stock exchanges say that a handful of high-frequency traders now account for a more than half of all trades. To understand this high-speed world, consider what happened when slow-moving traders went up against high-frequency robots earlier this month, and ended up handing spoils to lightning-fast computers."

1. If the old adage is true that it takes money to make money is it fair that those who can afford faster computers can make more money on the stock market? Why or why not?

2. Could an argument be made that individuals who hire traders to trade for them stand a better chance of earning profits than those who trade for themselves, therefore people should not be allowed to hire traders to work for them. Why or why not?

3. Is it important for all individuals who want to trade stocks to have complete equality with one another? (What does complete equality even mean?) If it is impossible to attain complete equality, in what kinds of inequality would be acceptable?

4. Today people have an advantage if they use faster computers to trade. Think one hundred years into the future. What kind of technology will give people an advantage over others in the marketplace?

Obama Weighs in on Gates

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Obama Wades into a Volatile Race Issue." The article states, "In response to a question at his prime-time news conference about the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black Harvard professor, in his own home over the weekend, Mr. Obama declared that the Cambridge, Mass., police had 'acted stupidly.'”

The article further adds, "Mr. Obama’s response was his most animated performance of the hourlong news conference, and represented an extraordinary plunge by a president into a local law-enforcement dispute."

1.Why do you think that racism exists in the first place?

2. Do you think that there is still a problem of racism in the United States? Do you have evidence to back up your opinion? Is the fact that Barack Obama is President enough evidence? Explain!

3. Do you think that the President should have said anything about the Cambridge Police Department's handling of the Henry L. Gates situation? Why or why not?

4. Why do you think that President Obama mentions Latinos every time he mentions the problems that have plagued African Americans? In what ways is the U.S. experience of Latinos similar to the U.S. experience of African Americans? In what ways is the experience different?

5. If you could say one thing to the world in an effort to eliminate all forms of racism what would you say? Why do you think this would have a chance of eliminating racism?