Wed August 29 2012

In the rush to embrace technology, this essay by a physics professor contends that interaction between professors and students is the key to learning and college success. I'd call it motivation, I don't think an onlline class in and of itself motivates anyone, that has to come from within the student. 

I am increasingly dubious about the value, for example, of online homework in accounting. I think it dilutes the idea of he accounting cycle and process. The student far too often simply asks, what number goes in the blank?  That hardly leads to an understanding of the accounting procees. 

What are the successful elements of the college process? Please sound off. 

Wednesday August 29, 2012

Dave Ramsey  reveals the one and only way to discharge your student loan debt to Sallie Mae without actually paying it off. Click to find out. Death and taxes are said to be inevitable, here is one silver lining to that rule. 

Students now to this blog should be aware that I for see a Black Swan event in terms of the trillion dollars of student loan debt out there. Nassim Taleb has written about random behavior of events. His point is that they occur more often than people think upsetting conventional wisdom. 

The student loan debacle has all the earmarks of the sub prime mortgage crisis. 

• Everyone believes the government is behind the loans.
• An entire industry has grown based on that belief-higher education, lavish campuses, 
• All of which reaquires an infinite linear demand for more education
• The belief that the demand of education is inelastic, consumers will pay any price demanded
• There is no substitution, even if a brick and motar campus begins offering on line classes

All of these beliefs are now smack up against the reality of college graduates that cannot find jobs in their field, such as law school or humanities graduates. 

There is however a demand for accounting graduates who obtain certifications in the accounting field. Plan on being in that group. 

Monday August 27 2012

Here is the story of a wolf with a documented 2500 miles under its paws.  I doubt the local SPCA put him up for the night either. 

Monday August 27, 2012

John Mauldin is a bit of a publishing empire unto himself but he does have some observations on

the job market.  This comment caught my eye. 

According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor’s degree or higher to fill the position — teachers, college professors and accountants. Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren’t easily replaced by computers.”

Read more: http://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/boomers-are-breaking-the-deal#ixzz24k6Q7c4Q

In my class you will hear me preach the doctrine of obtaining a certification in your field. I see more and more of this across the job spectrum. Here is San Antonio one needs a City Certification to properly trim trees for oak wilt. For the last few decades lawyers have been idolized on television movies and in the Grisham novels. Now they are being replaced by computers who scan documents or there are so many of them they work by the hour as 1099 employees. 

I recall reading a story about a fellow who asked his son what he would do after college. The answer was, snow removal.What the Dad exclaimed?  The son replied, Dad, they can't move Colorado snow to India. Good Thinking. 

What will you do that uniquely qualifies you to be hired in San Antonio, something that cannot just be contracted, outsourced, or replaced by a computer?

Weekend August 25 2012

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/08/the-race-to-the-bottom.html

Your take?

Weekend August 25 2012

Robin Wong  uses an 8 year old Olympus E 520 ( I have a 510) to take these shots. He argues that a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens no matter how much it costs.  It is the light, the angle, the composition that makes teh photograph. 

Hmmm, I taught some intro to the university classes at Southwest Texas aka Texas State University now. Interestingly many of the students in their introductory comments would say something like

Well shucks by golly, I really wanted to go to UT Austin or A & M College Station, but I couldn't make the grade so I settled for SWT. 

Gee, really, let me transport you to University of Texas Permian Basin and then see what you think of SWT. SWT literally has a  river running through it, gorgeous old oak trees lining the walks forming canopies to walk under, a view of the Hill Country, the most gorgeous stand of Pecan Trees perhaps in the entire state, 

and these students are complaining. 

So here we are at TAMUSA, what say you?  Is Robin Wong correct, is it the photographer, or the
equipment (UT Austin) that will make you what you want to be?   Different schools, same textbooks, not really so different professors

( here you might even get to know one)

you tell me

is Robin on to something here?  The photo at right is taken with the kit lens on an eight year old camera, but what makes the shot, the camera or the photographer?

Hint, who will determine your future, the school or the student?

Friday August 24 2012

I won the Wall Street Journal Award in Finance as an undergraduate student, receiving a full one year subscription to the Journal. I read every one of them and learned a great deal. It is still one of my first reads of the day. You can access it on your laptop, I highly recommend this for all business students, If I had my way it would be required reading. 

Dennis Elam

·         Add this link to your syllabus, class web-page, emails: www.subscribe.wsj.com/semester

·         Graduate students (one and two-year offers) ordering link: www.wsj.com/impress