The confusion of do gooding and fairness with achievement and success.

What ails the US economy and its education system is the constant desire to rationalize the idea of equal outcome.

By the nature of being human, you will always have a pecking order. Some will succeed more than others.

Having taught in a public school in New York City, it was clear years ago and clearer today, why our education and economic system are declining.

The focus on mediocrity. Pass students at all costs who were in 7th and 8th grade reading at 3rd and 4th grade levels.

The school unions were oppressive. The older teachers wanted a job. There was no merit system.

Today, we face the most insane economic policies led by a President and Congress determined to organize America into one big community ruled purely by

their

idea of fairness and what they determine is right for us.

The new King – what the constitution looked to protect against – is taxing us economically socially and educationally without true representation.

They encourage the all too familiar political gambit play the rich – and successful – against the taken advantage middle and poor.

In the name of fairness and mediocrity – rather than meritocracy – we are being overtaken by bureaucrats that believe to profit and succeed is evil – meaning unfair.

Yet, they soak the entire popular with their ridiculous salaries, pensions and benefits.

The country is crippled by a double standard where big is ok because they have the dollars to buy politicians through lobbyist and contributions. In turn, the politicians vote for them to get the votes and the backing.

The result is a Fed controlled by an academic who has little understanding of simple business. He is a political animal who lacks common sense. The believes we are reliving the Depression. Yet, all predictive models have been shown you cannot predict the future from the past. You can learn from it but the future will be different.

The idea that you can keep borrowing your way to prosperity following Keynesian models is a pipe drea. There are no free lunches.

What do I recommend seems more a wish list:

1. Get back to the basics of what made this country great – support small business and entrepreneurs
2. Foster true fairness by raising all school standards and facing that students are failing for a number of reasons – teaching methods, emotional issues, cultural circumstances, economic reasons and purely differences in intelligence.
3. Stop spending. Balance the budget. Everyone has to take less.
4. Stop raising taxes to cover up the wasteful, uncontrolled spending
5. Stop borrowing
6. Politicians and bureaucrats have to be put on a system based upon meritocracy not pork barreling. This means a reporting system on the internet of what they are doing which is understandable.
7. Have big business ally with education and small business so that they can incentivize innovation and job creation.
8. Give incentives to small businesses, entrepreneurs which will create more start ups, jobs and long term investment.
9. Create an atmosphere of greater economic certainty by honoring the successful and not bailing out the unsuccessful. It’s good to succeed and to be wealthy if done within the rules (rules that are not onerous)
10. Make the government stay as the referee not the participant.

Do I believe this will happen?

No.

Why?

Because we are appealing to the lowest common denominator – to fairness which sounds moral and wonderful. Fairness attracts very bright and idealistic people.

But only being realistic, facing the current reality going back to basics and taking our current medicine will return us to being the economic and social engine that the world has admired. By being the world’s policeman in the name of fairness, we are being unfair to the Americans we are supposedly trying to help.

Just think of the enormous waste of money going to wars, pork barrel, bureaucrats, entitlements etc.

It reminds me of failing companies where everyone gets around a table and says we can’t cut any expenses. But, we are losing money – lots of it.

Finally, the company faces the news – we are going under.

Suddenly, there are numerous proposals for cuts but often too late.

That’s our federal state governments today.

Fairness and mediocrity versus reality and meritocracy.

Bureaucracy versus Entrepreneurship.

Unfortunately, I believe its time to face we are going under. I hope it’s not too late.

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Step 1 Online or offline

There has been great debate about whether an online degree has equal or more value than a degree from a regular brick and mortar college or university. According to the National Education Association (NEA), in the last two years there has been a 20% increase in the number of students enrolling in an online class. Although manty employers view any degree as favorable, be sure to take online classes that are offered through a brick and mortar school to valid the course legitimacy. Recent legislation that will take effect at the beginning of 2011 has changed the value of strictly online degrees and notes that most of them are not valuable despite their claims. hence, consider getting a degree from the University of Nebraska extension or the University of Texas. For lower costs schools consider Western New Mexico university. There are many online classes you can also take at community colleges and most four year schools.

Step 2 Pick a major

As states slash university budgets and fewer departments exist within schools, consider the value of a major. Why are states slashing the budgets of schools and the schools in turn shutting down certain departments? Because the major(s) offered from that department are no longer applicable or there is little enrollment. English, Math, Language, and evem Computer Science departments are getting closed at schools across the nation. Currently, the most popular major is business and with good reason. Business is directly applicable to nearly all facets of life as there is a business of some kind in every industry.

Communicatons/Writing is second as we as humans need to communicate. Pick areas that will be there years to come and cannot be replaced with technology. For example, agriculture will alwaysd exist because human must eat food to survive. In like manner, water must always be tested because humans cannot function without water.

Step 3 Think ahead

Where do you want to be five years from now? Do you want to own your oown business or be the head of a company? Even though it is difficult to determine what we want to be in the future given lack of jobs and the elimination of industries, research the possibilities of what may be.

Step 4 Transfer yourself

You need to be able to have a college degree that can be used in most industries. By doing so, you can easily be employable and may only require specific on the job training.

Step 5 Evaluate the alternative

Do you believe you would be better off investing in a franchise or ETF? consider the reality. If you have not embarked on college yet, you may consider this alternative. YOu can also get a two year degree in graphic design, radiology, or nuclear medicine, and then invest the rest of the money that you would use for a four year degree. Review the market and look around your area. Are businesses locking up? If so, then go to school. If not, consider the alternative.

Remember, your life is in your hands. Please visit stepsto.com for more great business advice.

1. Never miss a meal – you might regret it later that hour.
2. Park your car accessibly close.
3. Don’t park in timed zones (2 hour, etc.) – parking overtime adds up.
4. Don’t park in No Parking zones – parking tickets add up and have to be paid before next semester’s registration.
5. Don’t park in Tow Away zones – towing fees are hard to come by.
6. Take the bus.
7. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing autographs.
8. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing casts.
9. A fine-point Sharpie is the best thing to use for signing “I’m a friend when you need one” cards.
10. Staplers can be used to repair the hem on your jeans.
11. Staplers can NOT be used to repair a torn dress or bra strap.
12. Staple removers make great ice tongs for tiny ice cubes.
13. Staple removers are almost worthless for removing heavy-duty staples, whether they are in paper or your drunk roommate’s eyeball.
14. The smell of the contents of a laundry bag is proportional to the height of the guest you just brought in your dorm room compared to where the bag is hanging. The shorter the guest, the higher the bag needs to hang (fumes rise).
15. The smell of the contents of a laundry bag gets worse as the contents get higher in the bag.
16. There are two alternatives to the smell of the contents of the laundry bag:
a. Wash the clothes.
b. Buy new clothes.
c. Taking the clothes home for the weekend for Mama to wash is not an option!!
17. When you have to produce a chart for Geography class, make it color-coded.
18. The extra expense and time of a color-coded chart will be well worth the effort when you see the “A” on the paper.
19. RoseArt makes the cheapest markers and colored pencils for making charts for Geography class.
20. Crayola markers last longer and are probably darker, but since they all dry out eventually and you’ll have to buy another set next semester for the Anthropology charts, why waste the money now?
21. Wal-Mart is the best place to buy school supplies, towels with the University logo, and sweatshirts with the school emblem on them.
22. Prices for EVERYTHING at the college bookstore are seriously inflated to show a profit to the Board of Regents.
23. The Board of Regents really does not care how much you spent on markers.
24. Wal-Mart was the first store on the moon and on Mars, so there will be one in your college town. Find it. Patronize it. Get to know its manager.
25. Wal-Mart and Waffle House are case studies in your Marketing classes textbooks.
26. Waffle House is open 24 hours a day.
27. Waffle House coffee will hold open your eyes, fill an empty tummy that has no other money, and warm a tired student who needed a place to come in out of the rain.
28. Waffle House waitresses LIKE tips.
29. Waffle House waitresses love college kids who tip.
30. Waffle House waitresses will listen with interest when you are professor bashing – just make sure he’s not her brother before you start berating him.
31. Waffle House waitresses will come to your graduation and look on you with pride as their “rent-a-kid” if you’ve tipped often enough.
32. Use a corkboard, not the wall, as your bulletin board.
33. Push pins leave little holes in the wall.
34. Push pins leave little holes in your bank account when you have to pay to have the holes filled in at the end of the semester. Staples do, too.
35. Staples are hard to remove from a bulletin board. Use push pins.
36. Push pins can not be used to deflate your roommate’s boy(or girl)friend’s tires. Except when inserted into the sidewall of the tire (near the rim).
37. Taking 12 pairs of shoes to college is a bit excessive, especially since you’ll wear OUT your favorite tennis shoes, sandals, and loafers, but the others have to be transported to school and back home.
38. Dr. Scholl’s makes great gel inserts for worn-out favorite tennis shoes.
39. If you share a room/bath with several other roommates or hallmates, set the guidelines, nicely, on the first day:
a. Don’t use my ________ (insert soap, shampoo, crème rinse, deodorant, towel, washcloth, loofah, etc. as needed) and I’ll try not to use yours but once or twice.
b. Don’t bring your girlfriend (or boyfriend) to the room without warning me first. If you do, bring me earplugs and eyeshades so I won’t have to watch what you’re doing.
c. Don’t take my last pencil/pen/paper without warning me first. If you do, I might have to use the back of your term paper for my class notes.
d. Keep your dirty, smelly laundry on your side of the room. My side will be full of my own.
e. Be nice to me. Otherwise, my overly large primate friends might trash your side of the room one night while I’m out for the night and have conveniently left the door unlocked.
f. Let me know when you’re going to spend the night out so I can make use of your side of the room.
40. Hole punchers only work if you keep them aligned.
41. Hole punchers only work if you keep them emptied of the little dots they create from punching holes in your papers.
42. Little dots from the hole-puncher hopper make great confetti.
43. Little dots from the hole-puncher hopper are REALLY hard to get out of carpet.
44. The cheap, shag carpet in older rental trailers that your older college friends are renting holds a ton of little dots from the hole-puncher hopper.
45. Use the appropriate size binder clip for the project.
46. Binder clips come in several sizes:
a. Teensy (holds 1 sheet of notebook paper or 2 kisses)
b. Tiny (holds 4 sheets of notebook paper or 1 folded dollar for the Waffle House waitress).
c. Small (holds 8 sheets of notebook paper or 2 quarters for a bad Waffle House tip).
d. Medium (holds 20-40 sheets of notebook paper or for attaching 1 small magazine to your roommate’s pillowcase).
e. Large (holds 100 sheets of notebook paper or a split seam of a fairly loose garment until you can get back to your dorm room; a split seam of a tight garment needs a coat or garbage to cover it up – repairing it is a waste of time).
f. Excessive (holds 4 books and takes 3 people to press it open; if you get your finger caught in its jaws of death, have someone else dial 911).
47. Sticky-do’s (commonly referred to as “post-it notes) come in several flavors:
a. 1.5” x 2” (Small. Worthless for anything but reminding yourself to buy larger sticky-do’s).
b. 3” x 3” (Medium. Don’t use this size to leave notes on your roommate’s pillow like “We’re all out of cornflakes. FU” [quote from Felix Unger, played by Jack Lemmon, in “The Odd Couple,” a GREAT movie about roommates]).
c. 4” x 6” (Large. More expensive, but in the louder colors, make great backgrounds for your roommate’s dull bulletin board).
48. Gem clips, whether plastic or metal, are worthless. Unless you need to hold used tissues together while your drunken roommate spills the beans at IHOP about the frat party bash/orgy/sleepover.
49. IHOP waitresses like tips, too.
50. Academic pursuits in college are for your spare time. Pursue them sparingly.

Step 1 Analyze the current job market

There is no surprise that the economy and the need for workers in certain industries largely determine what classes and course of study you decide to take. For example, majoring in Mathematics may not prove as viable as majoring in English, Business, Nursing, Healthcare, or Communications. Investing in a degree or even a course is expensive and time-consuming. Your education should give you back what you put in it. .

Step 2 Look through Job Listings

After assessing the current job market, you should also consider browsing through the classified and online job boards to find which jobs are more prevalent and the educational requirements for these positions. Contact the Human Resource Department at some of the companies to find the specific course requirements needed to qualify for the job that you seek. For example, if you wanted to switch to a nursing career, contact the local hospital and ask if a RN diploma or Associates degree is sufficient for a level 1 nursing job or if it is essential that a BSN is mandatory.

Step 3 Speak with Experts, Mentors, and Faculty

Speak to a person who can guide you in the field that you would like to go into. There are numerous career counselors at national organizations such as Career Professional and Adult Development Network. Find faculty members in your desired field of study and ask them their opinion. Often times, these are also the advisors that recommend you to excellent positions.

That’s it! By following these simple steps your chances of getting the most out of your educational pursuit increases tenfold.