Can kids teach themselves?

Y=f(Knowledge)=H(Human Capital)?

A legendary physicist spoke up why Knowledge is Everything. This philosophical belief is also the foundation of my great interest in education, the incubator of knowledge. 

Finding the smart way of living

An NYTimes article about Mr. Obama's teaching experience in UChicago Law School really made me believe that he IS smart. He knows how to test ideas with a "lay low" attitude and to be safe. He got the right place---university classrooms.

It is good to think loud and make others hear your belief such as "I have a dream..." by Dr. King. The place where you can do this is sexy. I have been tangoing with many great opportunities presented in my life and trial with different career path but I found the road sign at all crossings pointing to the same direction---classrooms.

Dr. Zhan Gao, the CEO of www.haoyisheng.com, a very wise and successful entrepreneur told me that all routines are tedious, nobody would enjoy it if working like a machine, however the job satisfaction really came from the impact you would make after completing the routine work. I agree with him.

I can imagine myself loving the interaction with students and facilitating debates over controversial topics. No moments will be tedious with a career you deem as an essential part of life itself. It is not something you pay your labor to earn a living. It is the way of living, a smart way.

Data Incarnated

"US urban public high school drop-out rates are 50% and nation-wide almost one third cannot graduate from high school within 4 years. " I was trying to get some insights from the National Center of Education and the Economy about building up a competitive workforce. The data hit me again, although I had read about it many times. I know the statistical descriptions about individual and school characteristics of those drop-outs, low social economic status, minority background, problematic community, low parental education, new immigrants, etc.

However I want to hear some personal stories to give myself a vivid image about this group. Driven by curiosity, I turned to my fellow intern, a junior from GWU. He was so astonished when I told him the data, "Sorry, I couldn't think any one that I know dropped out from high school. High school? You sure it is high school?". "I know those drop-outs are from low SES, maybe they are still attending schools somewhere, say, juvenile rehab maybe?", I tried to get something out of his "common sense" at least. "Ohh, rehab, I don't know, maybe it is like a school, but, I have no idea who gonna be there and how is the life in there." I couldn't bother him with more questions. This boy went to private schools all the way up. Problematic adolescents are really not part of his "common sense".

Then I checked similar data of other countries. Japan, high school enrollment rate is over 120%, seems very compulsory; college enrollment, 60%. China, high school enrollment 60%, and college level 25%; US, high school enrollment 83% but you see the drop-out rate, college attendance, 80%, but half are in community colleges and half of which will never get the degree.

Who gonna have the most competitive workforce in the global economy and how? Each country have to figure out the question for themselves.

Holier-than-thou?

Histories revisits. And echoes.
An Economist article about India and its pollutions today stirred almost exactly the same reaction among India and western/rational readers as months ago while the Tibet and China was the center of debate.
As a Chinese, "over-sensitive" as once described by one American friend, occasionally feeling offended while confronting with overture "holier-than-thou" attitudes, I felt a very complicated sentiment reading the readers' comments in the India article. On the one hand, I basically share the same idea with those "western" readers that I believe India has problems in their system and they should accept the facts and try to improve them; on the other hand, a strong curiosity urges me to seek an opportunity to visit India, be in the country, experience it, and see whether the experience will bring me a conclusion on whether there is a "holier-than-thou" tone in this Economist article.

A wild guess: US to be the manufacture center again?

In Prof. Mankiw's new blog, he said a Boston Globe article reminded him that he is actually "working in an export industry". A wild thought jumped into my mind when I finished reading the article---

* if the Higher Education system in the US is so competitive (almost like a pure oligopoly) in the global market,
* assume it will, and is able to, maintain its advantage for a long time,
* assume the market provides mechanism to allow higher ed institutions commercialize their services worldwide, which means, the profit they make from both domestic and international students will be enough to survive them and make them grow,
* assume the US Homeland Security Department invented a new background check system to allow real students can get to the US freely as long as they pass the check,

Will US be the manufacture center of the world producing all post-secondary students?

Cognito, ergo sum

Shanghai is very beautiful after 20 days plum-rains. I love the afternoon tea break, have a cup of jasmine tea, sip its aroma, ponder on the day or just look at the sky view outside my office---you really don't have to do anything. That is the moment to be "being".

Take a breath, and be "being" here.

One world. Many worlds.

Scene 1:

[Shanghai, a workplace lunch, a group of summer interns in a leading local company]

Xiaoming=a Tsinghua student, Dagang=a Peking U student

Xiaoming: Hey so what do you think of the first year in Beida?
Dagang: Ahh! It is tough! Though I got the 1st prize in international Olympia Math Competition, I still have to study till midnight all the time to do my 1st year math homework. And it is so hard to get a seat in the libraries, even though I get up at 5:30 am every day, no seats left! I heard Tsinghua has more studying spaces for students, ohh, I envy you....

[New York, workplace lunch, a group of summer interns in a Forbes 100 Co. ]
Jim=a UPenn student, Danis=a Harvard student
Jim: Hey so how is your first year in Harvard?
Danis: Ahh! Harvard is not for us! It is for older guys! You know you have to live in single sex dorms, and the best sports clubs sometimes are not open for freshmen! So hard to get girls....

Scene 2:

"My mom yelled at me again for my stubborn insistence on staying in Astrophysics. She wanted me to work as a programmer for a bank. I don't know what I am supposed to do now... As an Astrophysicist, it is really hard to make lots of money to attract girls... " [This is the theme of 99% of the posts on a Physics Ph.D online forum in China. ]

"I rejected the VC because I am very confident in the profitability of my idea. I wouldn't let go of my deserved share. I have planned to leave academia to run my own business after I finish the NASA Chandra project." [Quote from an audience, an Astrophysicist to be, at an East-cost VC competition. ]

Scene 3:

I have to take special classes to improve my English this summer, or my parents won't buy me the Coach purse for my bday". --- A 20 y/o Shanghai girl.

I do "Coachsurfing". It is cool. I plan to use 6 to 8 weeks to explore China's west, then Burma, India, Turkey, Spain, Morocco... I am expecting to end my vacation on the beach of Morocco!"---A 20 y/o chicago boy.

A different future?

Why education quality matters to the business community?---A report by AmCham said that "None of the top 10 jobs that will exist in 2010 exist today, and these jobs will employ technology that hasn't been invented to solve problems we haven't yet imagined." So, as innovation changes the necessary workplace knowledge and skills, businesses need to find employees who are qualified for 21st century jobs. The idea is widely endorsed by companies such as IBM, GlaxoSmithKine, Marriott Int'l, Oracle, State Farm Insurance, etc. with their actions to improve education in the US. The same report is also frequently cited by think tanks and consulting firms to make strategic long-term decisions for their clients.

However when the same group of economists start to talk about "the 21st century economy" of China or India, they will have another tune: "a lack of formal education doesn't constrain the ability of the developing world's workforce to sustainably improve productivity for the foreseeable future." The urgent problem is to solve the problem--the looming shortage of "offshore service talents", to learn how to "play in the global arena", etc.. My feeling is that long-term forecast for these countries are not seeing beyond "long" enough---who knows whether the 25 billion (maybe 30bn) of people would be "offshore" forever?

China makes everything. Who is making China?

It is almost the NO. 1 question I asked myself very often recently. And I believe the answer lays in education. Human capital accumulation and technology advancement all depends on education (even R&D units in industries are functioned by school-produced researchers).

In terms of import and export, China is manufacturing everything the world is consuming in daily life, from socks and shoes to computers and cars (well, I put it here as an aspiration for the next 10 years). But, from entrepreneurs who come up with ideas to incubate new market and engine the growth, to all types of workforce supporting the economy, what factors are producing them?

Labor economists have done intensive work, tried to capture the best method to quantify the measurement of ability, skills, the add-on effects of education, and value of experiences. We all would not deny that all human are born equal. In the scale of a nation, Chinese babies are not doing better than babies in any other countries in terms of genetic IQs. So, it is those add-ons that matters how the economy will develop. Now, education. But what is education? How much comes from schools, how much from parental influences (family education), how much the community (cultural factors?)?

I have done courses in development econ, labor econ, sociology and educational philosophy. Still no idea where to start the huge project to answer: Who is making China?

I will try to narrow down my thoughts and try to formulate at least an outline to exhibit the facts in a structured way.

More Thoughts to Come

Organizational failure or born to fail in nature? The question is always in my mind when I read about school system reforms, or, more general, that of education. Economists are not giving effective enough solutions, neither do professional practitioners. Then how about any form of R&D, which has been fueling sustainable growth of all other sectors facing same transitional challenges? Is educational R&D, integrating IT developments, the way leading to a better future? Does the key, how to conduct Ed R&D, lay in our head or some external factors?

Being lucky enough, being a Ph. D student in Economics and Education, (though, coincidentally, "failing" too), I can explore potential answers from within economic researches, which are imperial in social science realms nowadays; I also got many precious exposures to strategic smart heads who share the same concerns over education. No need to brag at all, it matters significantly about the future of mankind.