Education & Training
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Oracle sets up $43 million charter school on its campus grounds
(09 Jan 2018) Why didn't they have something like this when I was a teenager? It is called Design Tech High School, and it exists on the grounds of Oracle's (ORCL $39-$49-$53) Redwood City, California campus. The tech giant is spending $43 million on the project, which was borne out of the dearth of qualified computer and software engineers, and a need to better educate American students in STEM fields of study. The charter school houses a two-story workshop space, called the "Design Realization Garage," and its students have already applied for and received US patents for their designs. This type of private/public partnership is the future of education, but we can expect serious pushback from the usual suspects—those groups wishing to protect their little fiefdoms at the expense of better-educating our children. You can visit the school here.
(09 Jan 2018) Why didn't they have something like this when I was a teenager? It is called Design Tech High School, and it exists on the grounds of Oracle's (ORCL $39-$49-$53) Redwood City, California campus. The tech giant is spending $43 million on the project, which was borne out of the dearth of qualified computer and software engineers, and a need to better educate American students in STEM fields of study. The charter school houses a two-story workshop space, called the "Design Realization Garage," and its students have already applied for and received US patents for their designs. This type of private/public partnership is the future of education, but we can expect serious pushback from the usual suspects—those groups wishing to protect their little fiefdoms at the expense of better-educating our children. You can visit the school here.
(07 Feb 2017) School choice advocate Betsy DeVos is new Secretary of Education. After shutting down a Democrat filibuster attempt, the United States Senate voted 51-50 to make Betsy DeVos America's new Secretary of Education. Vice President Mike Pence cast the winning vote on the confirmation of DeVos, who is a strong advocate for allowing inner-city children the right to matriculate at the school of their family's choosing—rather than a government dictate based on where they live.
Just How Does That College Education Correlate to Your Employment Status and Earnings Power?
(We, 06 May 15) For those who don’t want to stick to the structured regimen of full-time college until they achieve their degree, certain names seem to roll off of the tongue. Michael Dell, who spent more time fiddling with computer parts in his dorm room until he finally called it quits. Richard Branson was a lousy student who had dyslexia; he dropped out at 16 to start a magazine. Bill Gates left Harvard as a junior to start a computer company. We can’t even begin to mention all of the professional ballplayers who dropped out to garner enormous contracts (see Allan Iverson story in the Journal).
For someone struggling to put forth the effort to focus on finishing their degree, the excuses and the rationalizations are certainly there. But for every one dropout who makes it big (and keeps the money), there are 1,000 who end up paying a dear price for their action.
How does a college education affect the odds that you will find—and keep—a job? Take a look at the graph from the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Right now, the U-3 unemployment rate in the US is 5.5%. However, digging deeper into the numbers we find that the unemployment rate for someone holding a bachelor’s degree or higher is a healthy 2.6%—less than half the national average. For the typical high-school dropout, the average (U-3) unemployment rate is a sad 9%, though the real (U-6) rate is even higher.
So, you are one of the lucky high-school dropouts who has a job. What about your pay? In 2014, the average pay for a high school dropout holding a job was about $26,000 per year. The largest percentage jump in median salaries, as evidenced by the green bar chart, occurs between those holding an associate’s degree and those who attained their bachelor’s degree. The workers with the four-year degree make, on average, 40% more per year than those with the two-year diploma.
For Americans (of any age, we might add) who want to pursue the next level of a formal education, technology has opened up the door into summer. No matter their financial means, anyone now has the ability to take structured courses online on virtually any topic, from computer technology to history to graphic design. To remain relevant in a changing marketplace, workers must be able to show employers (or themselves, if self-employed) the value they add to an organization. One great example would be the ability to “code.” Education sites such as udemy.com or codeacademy.com are a great place to start! (Reprinted from next Sunday's Journal of Wealth & Success, Vol. 3, Issue 19.)
(OK, got it. Take me back to the Penn Wealth Hub!)
(We, 06 May 15) For those who don’t want to stick to the structured regimen of full-time college until they achieve their degree, certain names seem to roll off of the tongue. Michael Dell, who spent more time fiddling with computer parts in his dorm room until he finally called it quits. Richard Branson was a lousy student who had dyslexia; he dropped out at 16 to start a magazine. Bill Gates left Harvard as a junior to start a computer company. We can’t even begin to mention all of the professional ballplayers who dropped out to garner enormous contracts (see Allan Iverson story in the Journal).
For someone struggling to put forth the effort to focus on finishing their degree, the excuses and the rationalizations are certainly there. But for every one dropout who makes it big (and keeps the money), there are 1,000 who end up paying a dear price for their action.
How does a college education affect the odds that you will find—and keep—a job? Take a look at the graph from the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Right now, the U-3 unemployment rate in the US is 5.5%. However, digging deeper into the numbers we find that the unemployment rate for someone holding a bachelor’s degree or higher is a healthy 2.6%—less than half the national average. For the typical high-school dropout, the average (U-3) unemployment rate is a sad 9%, though the real (U-6) rate is even higher.
So, you are one of the lucky high-school dropouts who has a job. What about your pay? In 2014, the average pay for a high school dropout holding a job was about $26,000 per year. The largest percentage jump in median salaries, as evidenced by the green bar chart, occurs between those holding an associate’s degree and those who attained their bachelor’s degree. The workers with the four-year degree make, on average, 40% more per year than those with the two-year diploma.
For Americans (of any age, we might add) who want to pursue the next level of a formal education, technology has opened up the door into summer. No matter their financial means, anyone now has the ability to take structured courses online on virtually any topic, from computer technology to history to graphic design. To remain relevant in a changing marketplace, workers must be able to show employers (or themselves, if self-employed) the value they add to an organization. One great example would be the ability to “code.” Education sites such as udemy.com or codeacademy.com are a great place to start! (Reprinted from next Sunday's Journal of Wealth & Success, Vol. 3, Issue 19.)
(OK, got it. Take me back to the Penn Wealth Hub!)