MORE THAN LOGICAL

Left Brain Thinking Inadequate

Do you find cell phones fascinating? The advanced technology that those little communication devices have is amazing. I can remember the time when a “cell phone” was the size of boom box. Now, you can barely tell that someone has one in their palm. I suspect that we have not seen the end of “small and powerful” in our lifetime.
I am also amazed at the prices. A high end sleek phone may be pricey but otherwise, units are giveaway items. I have one of those phones that carry a pay as you go plan and the phone was less than $10! I can’t imagine that phone being built in the US; the costs would be ten times or more per unit.
Here’s the point: the US cannot compete in manufacturing when things like cell phones can be sold at less than $10 per unit. Electronic devices have long been the domain of the Pacific Rim. Actually, there’s no money/profit in electronics; it’s the software and accessories that make companies profitable. Last year, the ringtone industry sold over $14 billion in downloads!
So people have under-$20 phones with a $100 worth of add-ons. Left brain thinking dictates that people learn to make phones. Right brain thinking dictates that people compose ringtones. Which group will stay in business longer and make more money?
Unfortunately throughout the American public school system left brain education dominates mainly because it can be easily measured. That’s great for school districts attempting to show improvement or maintaining standards. They get their annual government subsidies. But it’s not good for thousands of students that have their creativity squashed because of the self-interest of school boards and administrators.
Further, left brain education limits what people can do in the future. People are “tied” to the facts and knowledge of the time. Workers’ thinking ands skills become obsolete as new information becomes available. Companies have already turned off employee education as part of their mission. Instead companies close or outsource their work to those that can provide products at cut-rate costs.
Creativity can be enhanced in everyone just as math skills can be improved. Everyone has a creative side; it just needs to be “refined” to be more useful. But, as long as the money chasers are in control, left brain education will dominate.
So our problem as educators and community leaders is the loss of jobs in manufacturing and agriculture, once over 86 percent of the workforce. Replacing those jobs are service industry jobs now over 90 percent of the workforce. The US economy needs people who are creative and personable. These kinds of people will create new jobs and new wealth in our communities.
Businesses that are 5 years old or less created 20 percent of the new jobs every year since 1980. Older businesses remained flat in growth. Over 85 percent of the companies in the US have 25 employees or less. Small and creative businesses dominate the economic landscape. As teachers prepare students for the future, it is essential to teach diversity, interpersonal relationships and provide outlets for creativity.

This may be related to the above: 37 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys in grades 9 to 12 felt sad or hopeless for at least two weeks during the previous school year. Help them find hope in the future by listening to their fears and providing coping mechanisms.

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GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE
© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC

PROGRESS

WIN-WIN

The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory but progress. --- Joseph Joubert

Argument and debate are ingrained in America, its education system and its citizens. The central part of democracy is the freedom to have opposing views. Debate has its origins in ancient Greece and has been part of the American fabric since its independence.
American public school systems follow the philosophies of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. In their minds, debate was part of learning and added to new thinking. Today, debate is an excuse for a shouting match, with each side believing that the louder they can talk the more important their words are. Richard Nixon said in 1970, that people need to stop shouting at each other in order to be heard. Unfortunately, some talk-TV shows, with their overpaid and under-prepared commentators, use shouting to “brow beat” others into their way of thinking. They set an inappropriate example that viewers believe is a correct action to follow.
Add to this mix of shouting debates the idea that arguments are defined so there can only be one outcome and thinking becomes even more manipulated. For example, eavesdropping on telephone conversations is against democratic principles of right to privacy. Yet, people will say that that right should be set aside to protect America. They have re-defined the argument from loss of freedom to the need for security. Instead of debating the value of loss of right to privacy or other ways to detect terrorist conversations, they make the argument about securing the homeland.
A poor definition of the topic leads us to debate that is inappropriate and basically “BS.” How can anyone debate the idea of living safely in your own country? Hence, we lose the right to privacy.
Is there anything people can do to change what has happened over the past 25 years? Yes; first, practice listening and absorbing what the other person is saying. Ask more questions to understand the nature of the discussion. Basically, take the attitude that whatever your opinions, they need to take a “back seat” to the other person while they are talking and explaining their point of view. This is a purely American trait to interrupt and fail to listen.
Be active with your listening by asking questions about the other person’s comments. Try to build understanding before offering any of your opinions or comments. If there are emotions, properly identify the emotion. For example say, “you sound angry,” if you think that is the emotion. The person will tell you if you are wrong.
The bottom line is that we need to argue and have debate to help us think. We don’t need shouting matches or contrived debate or what some people are calling BS.

Health
The US Surgeon General has released the following information about second-hand smoke:
Kills 46,000 people per year due to heart disease
Kills 3000 people per year due to lung cancer
Kills 430 newborns due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
In children, second-hand smoke causes:
790,000 ear infections
200,000 cases of asthma
24,000 low birth-weight or pre-term deliveries

Here’s a double-whammy: the people making some of the lowest wages such as waitresses, waiters and bartenders are at the greatest risk for second-hand smoke.
Finally, more than 40 percent of non-smoking adults and 60 percent of children ages 3 to 11 are exposed to second-hand smoke. When we wonder why the nation can’t afford decent healthcare for all its citizens, let’s not forget how we put ourselves and others at risk because of our lifestyle choices.

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GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE
© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC

PUZZLES ARE NOT PROBLEMS

Problems Have a Solution

Since the days of the Greek Gang of Three, a problem, by definition, has a solution. If there is no solution, it is not a problem. This basic logic has prevailed throughout the ages and reiterated by many philosophers and scientists. A problem without a solution is a “puzzle” and can’t be explained by nature or science.
Today, our society is faced with many puzzles for if they were problems, the collective genius of the US would have a solution. For example, the conflict in Iraq is not a problem because it has no solution, much like the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians. If US troops pull out of Iraq, civil war between the major sects of Iraqis is likely to occur. Plus, there may be outside issues such as other countries invading Iraq for its oil wealth.
There are so many layers to this puzzle confronting Iraq that everyone can have an opinion and be partially right. An all-out evacuation of troops would save their lives, an important consideration, but would leave the area vulnerable to a larger war that may cost even more American lives.
On the home front, the problems of healthcare and education are two prominent puzzles. Billions of dollars are spent every year trying to solve problems related to each social program. And every year, in each program, the situation seems to get more desperate.
Both healthcare and education were “born“ in the same year, 1965. Both programs were part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “great Society” initiatives. Healthcare saw the launch of Medicare and Education saw the enactment of the Elementary and Secondary School Act. Since then, legislative bill after bill has been funded to create the “mess” of today. Even if the US had the resources to begin addressing each program systemically, all the layers created over the past 40-plus years would need to be peeled back and “solved” before moving forward. This is how puzzles are maintained: adding more and more layers onto the original until the rules are so muddied that solutions are no longer evident.
People create puzzles and nature creates problems. The first changes as the whims of people change. Nature just unleashes powerful forces.
Just like one would do with a “crossword puzzle” (actually it is a problem because it has a solution) that he or she finds too frustrating to solve, it is discarded and tried again tomorrow.
There are acceptable healthcare models in our world. The current system needs dismantling first (probably through financial implosion). Education would benefit greatly if the public school monster would be placed among the “OK” ideas of the 20th century.
As you encounter various “problems”, be sure to recognize it is a problem by determining if it has a solution. You can use the “scientific method” of researching the issue to see if there is an outcome. (A “null” hypothesis works best.) Otherwise, it is a puzzle designed to frustrate you and feed the growth of bureaucracy.

On another subject: What great insight by those folks over at Met Life! They are reminding us that “IF” is a part of “LIFE.” Uncertainty is the cornerstone of our existence and to deny it is like burying your head in the sand. Instead of fearing “IF”, we should embrace it as the challenge it was meant to be. That’s LIFE!
And, finally, I heard this today: a child spends 900 hours in the classroom during the typical school year. They also spend 1023 hours in front of a TV every year. And people wonder why one-third of all 8th grade students are below basic in reading and math. And don’t forget those bulging waistlines developed through inactivity!

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GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE
© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC

GOT MY ATTENTION, AGAIN

Sad but True

1. If you were so lucky to be paid $44,600 in 1975, cost-adjusted inflation means you would need to earn $167,870 in 2006 to have the same buying power. Compare those figures to this statistic: if you were so lucky to have earned $75,100 in 1985, today you would need to be earning $141,340. Are you rubbing your eyes?
The power of the dollar as measured in the above example went down over the 10 years between 1975 and 1985. Even though your yearly wages went up by about $31,000, the buying power dropped by $26,000! This loss due to inflation probably went unnoticed because like many Americans, you turned to “plastic” to buy goods. Now you expect to carry a certain amount of “plastic debt” in order to maintain your lifestyle.
Once the dollar was taken off the “gold standard” by then President Richard Nixon, the US Government could print money without the need to back “paper with gold.” Take 2006 for example: the government was short a few trillion dollars, so the secretary of the treasury went to Congress for permission to print the necessary money.
This devalued the dollar against other currencies and made it less potent in America for the purchase of goods. In fact, in every 40 year period, inflation and the unabated printing of money by the government renders the dollar worthless.
The obvious implications of this practice are retirement savings. Those people saving and investing with the hopes of retiring “comfortably” will find the amount well-short of what will be needed, especially if the person lives beyond 80. If a person starts saving at 30 (say $3000), by the time they reach 70, that original sum is lost to inflation. Only a small portion of it remains due to the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, but it will be insufficient to offset the cost of goods at that time.
This is what makes pensions and social security so important. You need every source of income to pay bills and other needs as you grow older.
2. Alcohol commercials flood all college sports events as much as any professional venue. Drinking at college is more American than college and diplomas. And, even if colleges attempt to curb alcohol at sporting events and on campus, having access to beer and “hard stuff” is easy for any college student, especially females.
Unfortunately, this American drinking tradition kills over 1400 college students ages 18-24 each year. Too many die from “binge” drinking, a popular “sport” among those who believe they are invincible and want to “party hard.”
Since you don’t see this kind of grim statistic in other industrialized countries, part of the blame is the lack of education and role modeling available to students growing up in their communities. Drinking is an “adult activity” and many times is associated with celebrations that encourage excessive drinking and irresponsible behavior (like drinking and driving).
If parents dealt with alcohol in a responsible fashion with their children by allowing them to taste various beverages and discussed the negative outcomes that alcohol can produce, drinking at college would not be such a “big deal.” Like most social activities, once students have their freedom, they may be overly enthusiastic and ultimately harm themselves.
Neurologists suggest that the brain doesn’t fully mature until after age 26. If that is the case for the majority of college students, why would we expect them to exercise “common sense” when offered a chance to “go wild?”
3. Last week (USA Today June, 22, 2006), US Representative Connie Mack (R-FL) wrote a letter to the editor about Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela. Mr. Mack wrote about how Chavez is using his oil money for a “rapid build-up of military Russian AK-47s and 25 million rounds of ammunition.” He strongly believes that Chavez is a threat to America and to democracy in South America. Mack stated, “Hugo Chavez is no friend of freedom, and he is no friend of ours.”
Of course, Mr. Mack did not say anything about the volume of oil the US buys from Venezuela (about 14 percent of US imported oil), the nationwide presence of Citgo franchised gas stations or the heating oil donations from Chavez to the poor of New York City last year. There was no mention that the US should respond to this dictator by creating a national energy policy that would begin to choke the flow of money to Chavez and others like him.
It appears that Mr. Mack wants to “condition” Americans for the prospect of war with Venezuela. Instead of demanding conservation and alternative energy policies, Mr. Mack wants to bludgeon Chavez the same way Saddam was deposed in Iraq. His concerns are not peace with long-term solutions but how to sell another war.
Given the state of politics, including scandals and the embarrassing political disconnect with Americans, there’s probably a good chance more politicians annoyed with Chavez because he did not contribute to political campaigns or buy his weapons from America. Chavez will go away, along with the others like him, if we stop buying his only resource.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com
GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE
© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC