I recently viewed a video with Bill Gates,
He asked "How can we make better teachers", he went on to show the gap from "really good teachers to not so good teachers", he made a comment if we could raise the number of good teachers, it would dramatically affect the number of graduated, and more so the number of college graduates.
He mentioned a couple of great education efforts (one he mentioned was KIPP) in or around Houston Texas.
I got to thinking again, and really wish I could help the foundation try a variation on the most recent idea I blogged about. (see below).
What if we took that idea, and we were able to take the Good teachers, and exponentially expand their sphere of teaching? ie, instead of helping 150 students a day, what if we could expand that to 15000 students per day?
We would need to capture what they do on video, or better yet an interactive learning situation, where the great teachers are supported by teaching staff (either via the web, or at learning centers) across the nation. Remember back to my idea, where we expand the concept from people under 26, to incoming Freshmen in high school.
ie, we offer alternative (or maybe in conjunction with normal education) a way for troubled students to every day attend these "what I would call super classrooms" where they get both one on one support from the "Great Teacher and her staff", and go thru the various subjects that the student has trouble with. If the student excels in the normal classes, great...If they excel in the learning, but want to focus on getting a skill (ie, under 26 idea where by they get accelerated learning on specific skills), they can. It will take infrastructure, and Staffing assignments for the "Great Teacher's and Staff" For example, Take one Great Teacher, she or he teacher their class as normal, except they have the infrastructure to broadcast the class thru to the 15000 students, where the Teacher has a staff of say 50 that can answer the students questions, request one on one time, etc.
Again, a lot has to be flushed out about this idea, but imagine the possibility?? Exponentially expanding the great teachers capabilities to a much larger student audience. The results could be staggering if tried (maybe in small steps)?
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Another Idea
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation asked about ways to get young adults (under 26) into post education. I thought about this for a while, and came up with something while not completely new, maybe with some funding, could take off here in the U.S.
I thought about my nephew who is under 26. He graduated from High School with a passing GPA. He wanted to go to some sort of secondary education, but could not afford the schooling. He had to find work, have health benefits, and pay normal living expenses. He had two main obstacles, he could not just go to school, as he needed to make money, he also was not in the top tier of his high school class with respect to grades in order to get additional help from scholarships or grants.
What he does have; is some talent, but more importantly, some desires, that for the most part have been curtailed because he has to make a living. He is very interested in graphical arts/anime, and how it is done. He also has other talents that he might pursue.
What if there was a place, lets call it "Jump Start America", where young adults if they could not attend college, could go to and receive a more accelerated type of education. I would envision either 17in or 19in laptops given to each student, or abandoned schools set up with class rooms, where by the new students get connected via broadband where they receive direct instructions in the form of video, live classroom, or other educational means. Call it a type of remote schooling. Additionally, there would be live classrooms set up at the various centers of knowledge (as an example, lets say the student wanted to be a mechanic, the system would have a location to go to for hands on training, or a nursing student going to a local hospital for actual walking of the floors). Yes this would take on a rather large infrastructure, but at 1/100th the cost, why? Because the instruction would be from fewer instructors, they would be done via video, or interactive video, where you would not need as many also it would be greatly accelerated to the specific interest. It would focus on the specifics of the job, but do it thru distance learning, with the twist of local support infrastructure for the hands on piece.
As I stated, this probably isn't entirely new, but here is the twist. As we identify the types of trades/training to be provided (ie, a Plumber, a Mechanic, a Nurse, etc), we also decide what that type of profession would earn per year. Example, lets say a nurse would make on average $40k a year. We would give the student during the training and education a monthly "wage" to pay for living expenses/ Health Benefits, etc. The student would agree to pay 1/10 of their yearly salary back to the foundation for 10 years. True, it may or may not cover all the costs, but that is not what this is about, it is a way to pay back the system to keep it going.
So, as an example. My nephew wants to be a graphical artist, and with a slant towards CGI. He enrolls in a program for CGI training. He receives a large laptop and has a connection to broadband, or, he can get to a local center (old school, or some other type building) that has a classroom. He goes thru intensive CGI training, accelerated training, during his first say six months he learns the basics, and now is trained on how to produce CGI animation. He then interviews with industry (say Disney, or Lucus Films, etc) and he is accepted to go thru a 6 month internship (all while still being paid a wage from the foundation). After 1 year, he is ready to be a Jr. CGI programmer. He finishes the training, and is hired by one of the studios. His first year salary is $50k. Each year, he pays back $5k a year, or $417 a month.
Yes there is a lot more to this, as I have stated before, I have many ideas that need to be flushed out, and tested. But to the foundations request, this is a direct example.
I thought about my nephew who is under 26. He graduated from High School with a passing GPA. He wanted to go to some sort of secondary education, but could not afford the schooling. He had to find work, have health benefits, and pay normal living expenses. He had two main obstacles, he could not just go to school, as he needed to make money, he also was not in the top tier of his high school class with respect to grades in order to get additional help from scholarships or grants.
What he does have; is some talent, but more importantly, some desires, that for the most part have been curtailed because he has to make a living. He is very interested in graphical arts/anime, and how it is done. He also has other talents that he might pursue.
What if there was a place, lets call it "Jump Start America", where young adults if they could not attend college, could go to and receive a more accelerated type of education. I would envision either 17in or 19in laptops given to each student, or abandoned schools set up with class rooms, where by the new students get connected via broadband where they receive direct instructions in the form of video, live classroom, or other educational means. Call it a type of remote schooling. Additionally, there would be live classrooms set up at the various centers of knowledge (as an example, lets say the student wanted to be a mechanic, the system would have a location to go to for hands on training, or a nursing student going to a local hospital for actual walking of the floors). Yes this would take on a rather large infrastructure, but at 1/100th the cost, why? Because the instruction would be from fewer instructors, they would be done via video, or interactive video, where you would not need as many also it would be greatly accelerated to the specific interest. It would focus on the specifics of the job, but do it thru distance learning, with the twist of local support infrastructure for the hands on piece.
As I stated, this probably isn't entirely new, but here is the twist. As we identify the types of trades/training to be provided (ie, a Plumber, a Mechanic, a Nurse, etc), we also decide what that type of profession would earn per year. Example, lets say a nurse would make on average $40k a year. We would give the student during the training and education a monthly "wage" to pay for living expenses/ Health Benefits, etc. The student would agree to pay 1/10 of their yearly salary back to the foundation for 10 years. True, it may or may not cover all the costs, but that is not what this is about, it is a way to pay back the system to keep it going.
So, as an example. My nephew wants to be a graphical artist, and with a slant towards CGI. He enrolls in a program for CGI training. He receives a large laptop and has a connection to broadband, or, he can get to a local center (old school, or some other type building) that has a classroom. He goes thru intensive CGI training, accelerated training, during his first say six months he learns the basics, and now is trained on how to produce CGI animation. He then interviews with industry (say Disney, or Lucus Films, etc) and he is accepted to go thru a 6 month internship (all while still being paid a wage from the foundation). After 1 year, he is ready to be a Jr. CGI programmer. He finishes the training, and is hired by one of the studios. His first year salary is $50k. Each year, he pays back $5k a year, or $417 a month.
Yes there is a lot more to this, as I have stated before, I have many ideas that need to be flushed out, and tested. But to the foundations request, this is a direct example.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
About this Blog
I am an IT type by profession, so I will outline this blog in a typical engineering way. ie, I will identify the Problem/Issue, and then a possible solution with many sub areas. It is how my brain works, I am a dreamer as they say, I dream of things, and wonder "why can't it be done"? Sometimes these thoughts stick in my head, and I can't sleep, or concentrate on other things til I get them out of my head. This blog is because I see a really neat solution to a growing problem in America, and in other countries. The lack of educated / dedicated students to support science, technology and to a large extent education itself. Bill Gates asked on Linkedin.com the following question "How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?” I thought about this question, and some other issues, and thought I would write a blog about it.
The Problem
I have a step son who is a Junior in High School, and we recently went on a spring break trip to various colleges and universities that he had an interest in. I was in for a shock, basically, you had to have at least a 3.6 GPA and a high SAT (or ACT) score even to be admitted, and only then would they determine how much you would pay based on your parents earnings. While I may understand the rationale behind this, it fundamentally is flawed in order to get more students into higher education. What is even harder to swallow is the cost of the education, and the drive to make the parents fund the higher price of education. Many of the institutions were in the $40,000 per year range, and I found that to be way out of my price range. What was even more difficult is that above average students (ie, a 3.0 GPA) didn’t have a chance to get into these schools unless the parents funded the student fully.
I should digress here a bit to tell you that I had a 3.0 GPA in high school, and graduated from a State College with a low GPA, though I am not proud of that GPA, I am proud that I did graduate. Having said this, even with a low GPA, I think I have done ok for myself (made Captain in the USAF, and have been a Director of IT for a large telecom company and a large payroll company). So, bottom line, you don’t need to have near a 4.0 to do well in business, in fact I would share that while the GPA is one measure, it is not the only measure, the fact that someone graduated should amount for equally impressive accomplishment. The true worth of the future employee is not the GPA, but how they apply themselves in the workplace, and how they work with others, and to me, while they teach about team work, and work ethics, the individual is the one that has to apply them in the real world.
So here I sit,
1. With Bill Gates asking how we can get more students into the technology and science fields.
2. Parents facing a financial strain to get their children into college.
3. Colleges being very expensive (unless you have an extremely high GPA and SAT).
A Possible Solution
It dawned on me that there are many students with above a 2.0 GPA that want to attend college, but they can’t because of the funding, and that their GPA wasn’t in the stratosphere in order to receive grants or scholarships. Then I thought, “What if, there was a funding mechanism that would give out the “student loan” to pay for the full ride of the college”. Well that does exist, but it also puts the student in debt when they graduate, and it also causes undo pressure. Here is where the 2nd “ah ha” came in.
Bill Gates asked about “how can we”, that got me to thinking about the various companies out there (technology and science) that spend thousands of dollars on recruiting of new hires, and new grads. They also have to spend even more money on training, and on company projects. It also dawned on me and nearly all of these companies fund additional education (ie, dollars to employees to get more education) and this education can be in the form of completing a bachelor’s degree. Now the proposed idea: What if: A student with a 2.0 GPA or higher wanted to go into a certain technology or science field, and what if: a company really wanted more new employees in said technology or science? Why couldn’t the company agree to partially fund the student during their college education? Ie. Going to a VP of HR for said company, “What is one of your top problems”, answer “hiring qualified talent”. 2nd question, how do you get new grads into your company? Answer, we recruit, and hope for the best. 3rd question, “Do you have an intern program, so when interns graduate, they already have a feel for your company and the projects you have going on? Answer “yes, when we can find the talented students in the right areas of study”. This is where my “hmmmmmm” light went on.
Lets say, that there is a “grant/scholarship/loan” program, that funds up to 10,000 students a year to attend college. The program will fund the student, but the student agrees to study in a certain broad area of study (ie technology or science), and the student agrees at that when they graduate they will go to work for a company that will sponsor them for 4 years. During the 4 years, the student must maintain a 2.0 or higher GPA, and they agree to intern for ½ normal salary of a starting graduate at said company during the summer periods? The company then agrees that for the first four years of employment to pay ½ of the cost of the education (per year) of that new employee? They already have programs to pay for education, so this is not really anything new, except they are paying for classes that have already been finished. But, they get a new hire that they already know, that already hits the ground running, and is more efficient for them. Additionally, they didn’t have to pay recruiting costs.
I thought, that would be a great program, but would take a lot of resources to get up and running and to administer. It would have to be an ongoing program, and would need to be funded from the beginning. Over time (after the first 4 years when the first graduates enter the work force) the funds would be paid back ( ½ by the employer, and ½ by the graduate) (hence my thought of education paying forward). I then again thought about what Bill Gates had said, and I thought, there must be more foundations out there that could put up the funding for this program. 1. It is an initial outlay of funds, but over time, it is perpetual (with administration and constant planning). That 2. It helps out many of the foundational companies (ie, science, medicine, technology). And 3. It helps a Large population of students attend colleges that they could not afford. And 4. It gives them a job when they graduate which is always hard to break into the companies.
I then did a simple search of some large foundations; this is by no means a complete list, as many foundations could support this program. These foundations include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill Gates, Microsoft), The Ford Foundation (Ford), The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (HP Founders), Lilly Endowment Inc. (Lilly), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (HP Founders), The Ellison Medical Foundation (Larry Ellison), The Walton Family Foundation (Walton Children), Google Grants (Larry Page and Sergey Brin), The Dell Foundation (Michael Dell), and The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (Warren and Susan Buffett).
All of these foundations talk about technology, science, or education (to mention just a few of the great projects they accomplish). I wonder, would they fund such a program (yes with a lot more work to fully define, and plan for administration)?
This is where my next obstacle came in. I tried to reach out to these foundations to say, “Hey, I think I have a neat idea, yes it will take some work, but I think it would be a wonderful program for you to help fund and further define. To my surprise, I don’t know anyone at these programs, and when I email them, some either say, “we are sorry, but we are too busy to answer your email”, or some just don’t reply. I wish I knew a way to get this idea in front of them, for them to say “hmmmm”, maybe this is something we should look into. Hence my idea for this blog.
I guess deep down inside me, if I could pick my Nirvana job, would be to lead this program for these foundations. I have the drive to do this, and someone once told me, the best job you can have is to do something fun, and rewarding. I can think of no greater reward than to help children get educated.
By the way, notice I said education earlier. We have an extreme shortage of educators in America (and other countries). Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take a small percentage tax on the above program, and fund for students that want to be teachers as well? Ie, instead of companies paying back, we fully fund the students if they agree to say 8 years of teaching?
Anyway, as I mentioned, this is my first blog. I will add to it, but I had to get this out of my brain. If you should read this, and do know someone in one of those foundations, I would be really be appreciative if you could forward this blog. Maybe they will want to contact me for more details, or better yet, want to bring me in for full discussions (as I said, there are many things to consider, plan and administer that I haven’t fully thought of, or have the capabilities for at this time.).
The Problem
I have a step son who is a Junior in High School, and we recently went on a spring break trip to various colleges and universities that he had an interest in. I was in for a shock, basically, you had to have at least a 3.6 GPA and a high SAT (or ACT) score even to be admitted, and only then would they determine how much you would pay based on your parents earnings. While I may understand the rationale behind this, it fundamentally is flawed in order to get more students into higher education. What is even harder to swallow is the cost of the education, and the drive to make the parents fund the higher price of education. Many of the institutions were in the $40,000 per year range, and I found that to be way out of my price range. What was even more difficult is that above average students (ie, a 3.0 GPA) didn’t have a chance to get into these schools unless the parents funded the student fully.
I should digress here a bit to tell you that I had a 3.0 GPA in high school, and graduated from a State College with a low GPA, though I am not proud of that GPA, I am proud that I did graduate. Having said this, even with a low GPA, I think I have done ok for myself (made Captain in the USAF, and have been a Director of IT for a large telecom company and a large payroll company). So, bottom line, you don’t need to have near a 4.0 to do well in business, in fact I would share that while the GPA is one measure, it is not the only measure, the fact that someone graduated should amount for equally impressive accomplishment. The true worth of the future employee is not the GPA, but how they apply themselves in the workplace, and how they work with others, and to me, while they teach about team work, and work ethics, the individual is the one that has to apply them in the real world.
So here I sit,
1. With Bill Gates asking how we can get more students into the technology and science fields.
2. Parents facing a financial strain to get their children into college.
3. Colleges being very expensive (unless you have an extremely high GPA and SAT).
A Possible Solution
It dawned on me that there are many students with above a 2.0 GPA that want to attend college, but they can’t because of the funding, and that their GPA wasn’t in the stratosphere in order to receive grants or scholarships. Then I thought, “What if, there was a funding mechanism that would give out the “student loan” to pay for the full ride of the college”. Well that does exist, but it also puts the student in debt when they graduate, and it also causes undo pressure. Here is where the 2nd “ah ha” came in.
Bill Gates asked about “how can we”, that got me to thinking about the various companies out there (technology and science) that spend thousands of dollars on recruiting of new hires, and new grads. They also have to spend even more money on training, and on company projects. It also dawned on me and nearly all of these companies fund additional education (ie, dollars to employees to get more education) and this education can be in the form of completing a bachelor’s degree. Now the proposed idea: What if: A student with a 2.0 GPA or higher wanted to go into a certain technology or science field, and what if: a company really wanted more new employees in said technology or science? Why couldn’t the company agree to partially fund the student during their college education? Ie. Going to a VP of HR for said company, “What is one of your top problems”, answer “hiring qualified talent”. 2nd question, how do you get new grads into your company? Answer, we recruit, and hope for the best. 3rd question, “Do you have an intern program, so when interns graduate, they already have a feel for your company and the projects you have going on? Answer “yes, when we can find the talented students in the right areas of study”. This is where my “hmmmmmm” light went on.
Lets say, that there is a “grant/scholarship/loan” program, that funds up to 10,000 students a year to attend college. The program will fund the student, but the student agrees to study in a certain broad area of study (ie technology or science), and the student agrees at that when they graduate they will go to work for a company that will sponsor them for 4 years. During the 4 years, the student must maintain a 2.0 or higher GPA, and they agree to intern for ½ normal salary of a starting graduate at said company during the summer periods? The company then agrees that for the first four years of employment to pay ½ of the cost of the education (per year) of that new employee? They already have programs to pay for education, so this is not really anything new, except they are paying for classes that have already been finished. But, they get a new hire that they already know, that already hits the ground running, and is more efficient for them. Additionally, they didn’t have to pay recruiting costs.
I thought, that would be a great program, but would take a lot of resources to get up and running and to administer. It would have to be an ongoing program, and would need to be funded from the beginning. Over time (after the first 4 years when the first graduates enter the work force) the funds would be paid back ( ½ by the employer, and ½ by the graduate) (hence my thought of education paying forward). I then again thought about what Bill Gates had said, and I thought, there must be more foundations out there that could put up the funding for this program. 1. It is an initial outlay of funds, but over time, it is perpetual (with administration and constant planning). That 2. It helps out many of the foundational companies (ie, science, medicine, technology). And 3. It helps a Large population of students attend colleges that they could not afford. And 4. It gives them a job when they graduate which is always hard to break into the companies.
I then did a simple search of some large foundations; this is by no means a complete list, as many foundations could support this program. These foundations include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill Gates, Microsoft), The Ford Foundation (Ford), The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (HP Founders), Lilly Endowment Inc. (Lilly), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (HP Founders), The Ellison Medical Foundation (Larry Ellison), The Walton Family Foundation (Walton Children), Google Grants (Larry Page and Sergey Brin), The Dell Foundation (Michael Dell), and The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (Warren and Susan Buffett).
All of these foundations talk about technology, science, or education (to mention just a few of the great projects they accomplish). I wonder, would they fund such a program (yes with a lot more work to fully define, and plan for administration)?
This is where my next obstacle came in. I tried to reach out to these foundations to say, “Hey, I think I have a neat idea, yes it will take some work, but I think it would be a wonderful program for you to help fund and further define. To my surprise, I don’t know anyone at these programs, and when I email them, some either say, “we are sorry, but we are too busy to answer your email”, or some just don’t reply. I wish I knew a way to get this idea in front of them, for them to say “hmmmm”, maybe this is something we should look into. Hence my idea for this blog.
I guess deep down inside me, if I could pick my Nirvana job, would be to lead this program for these foundations. I have the drive to do this, and someone once told me, the best job you can have is to do something fun, and rewarding. I can think of no greater reward than to help children get educated.
By the way, notice I said education earlier. We have an extreme shortage of educators in America (and other countries). Wouldn’t it be nice if we could take a small percentage tax on the above program, and fund for students that want to be teachers as well? Ie, instead of companies paying back, we fully fund the students if they agree to say 8 years of teaching?
Anyway, as I mentioned, this is my first blog. I will add to it, but I had to get this out of my brain. If you should read this, and do know someone in one of those foundations, I would be really be appreciative if you could forward this blog. Maybe they will want to contact me for more details, or better yet, want to bring me in for full discussions (as I said, there are many things to consider, plan and administer that I haven’t fully thought of, or have the capabilities for at this time.).
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