Monthly Archives: April 2013

Baby Boomers & Graduate School Student Loan Debt

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The following link is for a recent article from the Houston Chronicle regarding student loan debt. According to the author of the article, student loan debt is having an increasing affect on adults from the Baby Boomer Generation who have returned to higher education within the last 20 years for advanced degrees. Stories and statistics show that these students have not had a good return on their investment, and unlike the younger generations of college students and college grads, they will not have a “lifetime” to pay back their debt. See the article below for more information and details:

http://chronicle.com/article/I-Fully-Expect-to-Die-With/138507/

http://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/FRG8YQTX7?:display_count=yes

In fact, student-loan debt is growing fastest among adults ages 60 and older, with more than two million people in that age group now owing an average of $19,000, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Their default rates are rising, too, and increasing numbers of retirees are seeing their Social Security checks garnished because they fell behind on student-loan payments.

The Article “I Fully Expect to Die with this Debt” was posted in the Chronicle of Higher Education Online on April 15, 2013

Realism Vs. Racism: The Mexican Barbie Doll Scandal

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Mexico Barbie 2012 “Dolls of the World” Collection

One of Mattel’s most popular collections of dolls the “Dolls of the World” collection, is meant to pay homage to various countries around the world. However, the latest release (June 2012) of the Mexico Barbie has brought forth the issue of realism vs. racism . Pictured above is an image of the doll adorned in “traditional” Mexican garb holding a chihuahua under her arm. I not sure if it is racist, but…when looking at photos of the other dolls, one thing does become abundantly clear to me, and that is the way that regardless of what “country” or “nationality” each doll is associated with, they all seem to still have traces of the classic white Barbie Doll that has been plastered in our minds for over 50 years….It would seem to me that if Mattel seeks to make a diverse array of dolls, they can work a little harder to make the dolls more closely resemble the native women of their respective countries. Additionally, since the US is a diverse nation, it would not hurt to throw in some dolls that depict the many hues, shapes, sizes, features, and other various traits of US born women. As a collector of Black Barbie Dolls, this same issue has been in my mind and the source of my frustration for many years, as the “Black” versions of many of the other collections of popular Barbies seems to resemble women like me, less and less each year. It seems interesting to me that this is just now being called into question.

An honest letter from a professor to a student

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From what I understand, students these days seem to believe that they are infallible, they behave in class the way they do in life, evidenced by the following:

I was disappointed that you dismissed me from class considering (1) there is no way I could have been aware of your policy and (2) considering that it was the first day of evening classes and I arrived 1 hour late (not a few minutes), it was more probable that my tardiness was due to my desire to sample different classes rather than sheer complacency.

I have already registered for another class but I just wanted to be open and provide my opinion on the matter.

There are a great many professors who though they may not like the way students act, they tolerate it, some do not:

In addition, your logic effectively means you cannot be held accountable for any code of conduct before taking a class. For the record, we also have no stated policy against bursting into show tunes in the middle of class, urinating on desks or taking that revolutionary hair removal system for a spin. However, xxxx, there is a baseline level of decorum (i.e., manners) that we expect of grown men and women who the admissions department have deemed tomorrow’s business leaders.

This is how I remember all my best professors being:

The entire letter

Please read.

 

 

Programming is for you

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the top 10 programming languages in 2013

It may seem like I push programming a lot to my friends and other people I know, and they are right especially for minorities. See the computer field is not like other fields, where you need to have degrees and there are lots of barriers to entry. For the majority of the to 10 languages (including 4 of the top 5) all it takes to get started is to download the program and get started. perl, python and php, ruby and javascript are free to download, free to learn, all the documentation is free, there are tutorials that are free, videos, support groups, etc, etc. So there is no reason why anyone cannot at least give it a try. The most common and wide spread language in the world HTML, is simple and easy to use and can introduce the basics to anyone.

The gap between facebook users and facebook producers is widening faster than the gap between the 99 and 1 percent, and the real shame of it is that unlike the 1% no one is trying to stop you from learning a skill that is not only in demand, but fundamental to the way we live our lives and will continue to be more integral in the future. As for minority youth who have fewer and fewer opportunities to get ahead, this is the big welcome mat to a better life.

P.S. I signed up for a free course in python from Coursera so I’m not just talking.

Bad Grammar

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Thoughts on hiring those with poor grammar
“Everyone who applies for a position at either of my companies, iFixit or Dozuki, takes a mandatory grammar test. Extenuating circumstances aside (dyslexia, English language learners, etc.), if job hopefuls can’t distinguish between “to” and “too,” their applications go into the bin.”
Kyle Wiens of iFixit.com
I am not surprised by this at all, but its a bit of a diss, just because you have poor grammar doesn’t mean you are not intelligent, but it surely sounds that way. And we all know it, though we may not realize that when it comes do doing business there is a vernacular to every kind and you have to be fluent or at least familiar with it. Without that fluency, you might not even make it to the door… as if you needed another barrier towards gainful employment.