Rejuvenating Higher Education Institutions as Places of Greater Thought Through Student Confidence

Students don't always come into college confident of themselves, the material, or their abilities. Nevertheless, they may have something important to say even if they don't feel confident in saying it. Empowering students to take control over their academic learning experience and personalizing it to themself is important. There are some things that professors should never never do in the learning process and that includes brow beating opinions they disagree with.

Decades ago I was taking an experimental psychology course in graduate school. We were at a round table with the professor discussing issues as they relate to genetic enhancement and adjustment. Most of the conversation was around how we are now capable of impacting the genetic abilities of some people and fix some of the diseases that people suffer from.

We then began to discuss the issue of ethical and legal concerns of doing so a thought popped into my head. The professor, a polished psychologist, was adamantly advocating that ethics and morality have no place in science. I raised my hand because I saw a different point of view on the topic. She called on me to talk for a moment.

I cleared my throat and said, "I agree that it is helpful and important to change those genetic deficiencies that cause people to suffer but I'm not sure it is wise to change the genetics that don't live and die with the person receiving treatment." You can tell by her changed tone she didn't like what I said but in an attempt to "pretend" to be egalitarian she asked me to explain.

Collecting my thoughts, I stated that a few generations, or even hundreds of years down the road, we don't know the full impact of these genetic changes on the species. That as we breed and have hundreds of grand and great grand children these implanted genetic changes may cause additional problems down the road as our environment changes. There isn't a way to tell what would happen so we should not run hastily into making changes to DNA that could be passed on.

Most of the table started to agree with my beliefs but the professor seemed to get visible upset and began to be more confrontational in her discussion. The tone and demeanor switched from an open dialogue to an intellectual assault. She then challenged me further stating, "Do you have any idea what your saying, do you have any facts to support your arguments or are you just talking to talk.".

In retort, I responded that no one has facts because it hasn't happened yet. She doesn't have facts either. We can't contain everything in science and we can't control all the variables. So what I am saying is a legitimate concern. We don't know if people will die more from health issue because of the long-term genetic changes we make today, or they will turn out purple, lose pigment, or die of diabetes because we changed something today.

There is wisdom in natural selection and if we don't know the long term consequences then we should be careful about making inter-generational decisions that could impact the lives of people later on. Sure...lets make changes that solve a problem for this person but lets not make genetic changes for the next 10 generations. Genetic science was still in its infancy and it is still underdeveloped.

Because most of the students wanted an A, and view a professor as a authority figure, their viewpoints switched back to supporting the arguments of the professor. Yet, now as a professor, I realize how wrong she was and that the concerns I raised then are part of our current discussion and will likely be part of future discussion on inter-generational genetic enhancements. I walked away from that class thinking I said something terrible, but now I realized I was right for saying so.

Universities should be about empowerment people and helping students come to their own conclusions. Questions are for drawing out greater depth in knowledge but not about forcing people to adhere to a particular dogma for fear of getting a poor grade. That is called "group think" and is part of why we sometimes fail to solve important problems. Raising confidence in students and providing a solid learning environment is helpful in developing fully functional people. That lesson has taught me how even "educated" people can be limited in their thinking. Piling more layers of regurgitated information on an already warped mindset only helps people confirm a false sense of superiority. It isn't about the professor or their viewpoints. It is about the students. Bringing back higher education into a open dialogue where great ideas are pondered is part of the solution of saving higher education from becoming irrelevant as a place where higher thinking occurs.

The Need for Student Loan Forgiveness: 3 Unanswered Questions

More student loan forgiveness is needed in the U.S. while lawmakers consider removing it altogether. Does it make sense or is it counter productive? Here are a few thoughts that you may or may not agree with depending on where you lean on this issue. Yet there are important questions because we must address those issues in the future.

1.) If college education is getting more expensive how does a high student loan interest rate and the discussion on removing student loan forgiveness impact future education?

While it may seem to be a money saver we may need to consider that it will become increasingly more costly and while the need for education in a high tech world is increasing the ability to obtain such an education will decline.

2.) Are student loans a drag on the economy?

Somewhere around a trillion dollars is locked out of the economy by student loans. This money is not spent on products and services. Of course government revenue is important but we should consider the other costs associated with pay back issues as they impact home ownership, childcare, etc...

3.) Do people have a right to higher education or not?

We must wonder if the highest paying jobs are reserved for those who attend elite institutions in certain fields. Making it more difficult to for others to attend school simply says, "If your parents are wealthy we have an education and job for you, but if you are poor you are going to have to fight the whole way". Lets also consider the middle class that will need to consider cheaper programs with the least amount of debt.

We have a problem of the have and have nots in society now. The movement is growing and economists are warning of the potential catastrophe in the future if we don't allow for more mobility. Reducing student loan forgiveness at this time sends the wrong message. It also perpetuates a problem and we may end up paying the price 20 years down the road with political instability and other other issues when we "lock out" some of our labor force from a better life. Instead of removing student loan forgiveness we may want to expand it to more college students regardless of whether or not they work in the non-profit sector.

Bag Boxing Workout

It is hard to find good videos on bag boxing. This is one of the better ones with combination punches, some exercise, and enough cardio to get a workout. I tried it and will likely do it again. They did a pretty solid job. While videos are great for home practice there is nothing like going to the gym.

Mental Diversity in Higher Education

A few higher education industries define the goals of education for the rest of us. As "gold standard" institutions they have created the mental framework for other universities. Whether that is through example, political capital, or the type of people they have graduated, the rest of the world seems to want to emulate their success.

An article in the Maine Wire discusses what is diversity of thought. It isn't what you might think but it can have an influence on university outcomes if it reflects the student population but yet still changes the way student's think.

Higher education isn't about creating clones but more about creating independent thinkers that view the world in new ways. Having faculty from the same indoctrinated educational background does student's a disservice. They are not exposed to new and unique ideas or ways of thinking needed in the Information Age.

The more "educated" we get the more difficulty we have coming up with unique ideas. Our thought process follow the paths that others have blazed before us. While this works great most of the time it isn't beneficial all the time. The next economy will need people that can reconstruct data in more holistic frameworks.

In business we learn diverse teams help generate the most unique and useful ideas. In higher education we learn there are predefined ways of solving problems. Geniuses often violate these predefined ways of thinking but in higher education we still shun from full diverse creativity. Making sure we have people of different backgrounds and thinking patterns leads to a better reflection of the full scope of human intelligence and problem solving creativity.

Getting Small Towns to Connect to Higher Economic Growth

Rural and small towns are often disconnected from the growth of larger cities through geographic distance, cultural difference and industry supply needs. The cause of this over the decades has been partly due to globalization and through industry shifts. There are ways to "reconnect" them to the economy.

1.) Resources: Many of these towns formed around the extraction or mining of resources. With globalization raw resources were cheaper overseas and declines in farming, mining, and other industries started to dwindle the economic base of these regions. Rejuvenating these industries will allow for growth in these towns and an influx of new people.

2.) Suppliers: Just like natural resources, small production also moved overseas and companies in the U.S. assemble plug and play parts built overseas. Potential micro manufacturing facilities are rotting away as companies do not offer start-up support for small towns that need these industries.

3.)Virtual: As online work increases there may not be as much need for closeness of workers in some industries and occupations. Virtual work would avoid forcing people to move to bigger cities. People could work at home, live, buy and shop in town.

4.) Environmental: Some people enjoy small towns and the outdoors much more than living in a city. There are families that desire to raise their kids in close knit communities. Finding entrepreneurs and professionals places in rural America can be helpful.