Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
On a regular basis, people who get to know me describe me as one of the happiest, most positive people they know (an assessment I agree with). Is this a matter of circumstance? Genetics? Blind luck? My cousin Stephen asked me to share my reflections on this topic, and I realized that I had never … Continue reading My Social Emotional Journey
A new study by Yale economists shows in numbers what we’ve always intuitively known: “Practical” majors like Finance, Engineering, and Nursing have a huge wage advantage over “impractical” ones like Art History, Drama, and Philosophy: http://nyti.ms/1qAaQvo During a recession, a Finance major, for example, earns 32% more than the average college graduate one year after … Continue reading The College Major Dilemma
These days, the institution of college is under assault. Critics charge that colleges fail to prepare students for the real world, other than by saddling them with overwhelming amounts of student loans. Just recently, I heard a number of my friends argue that too many people go to college (though I like to note that … Continue reading College Is For Trying
It’s always dangerous for old married guys like me to opine on college culture and relationships. It’s kind of like retired athletes arguing that the darn kids today don’t have any respect for the game. But hey, that’s never stopped me before. The New York Times just ran an extensive article about college women and … Continue reading The Smoking Gun of College Hook-up Culture
Affirmative action is a highly controversial subject. Its supporters and opponents are dead set in their positions, and it’s nearly impossible to have a productive conversation about the topic. Naturally, I’d like to add my two cents. I hadn’t thought about affirmative action for a long time. Obviously, it might have affected me when I … Continue reading Affirmative action is good, but it’s also a cover for racial discrimination
When I younger, I prided myself on my tireless work ethic. When I was in high school, I worked like a maniac to set a meaningless record for earning extra credit in my English classes. Trust me, I was already going to get an A+; all that extra credit was purely for ego purposes. When … Continue reading Forget long hours, work intense hours (H/T @rahimthedream @awesomeculture)
The New Yorker published an essay from Professor Louis Menand of Harvard, where he outlined the three implicit (and conflicting) theories of college in America. Theory 1, which Menand labels “meritocratic,” believes that college is means of testing intelligence: College is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test. Students have to demonstrate intellectual ability over time and … Continue reading 3 Theories of College (That Explain Why It’s Broken)
This is a study that simply cries out to be repeated at other schools across the country. A couple of statistics stand out: 1) The least shocking statistic is that 0% of studio art majors are virgins. The only major that might rival art for this distinction is drama. Not sure what it says about … Continue reading Geek Girls Are Easy, And Other Sexual Statistics