MA's Blog from Jacksonville

2007-06-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Where Was I When I Discovered the World Was Flat?

2007-06-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

Mary Alice Reis
ED Tech Blog
The World is Flat Third Blog

Where was I when I discovered the world was flat?
I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area when my 53 year-old husband was laid off along with 4000 employees in Sonoma County from Agilent Technologies (a division of Hewlett Packard). My husband, 6 months away from early retirement and 25 years with H.P., discovered jobs that the well-educated and high paid engineers were doing were being outsourced to Malaysia. After this downsizing at H.P., we downsized to Jacksonville, Oregon.
I think Friedman develops his message about ‘market evolution’ when he explains that the flattening of the world is all but unstoppable and with any luck it will turn out to be beneficial to American society. Friedman advises young people to think globally in order to survive in today’s economy. Our populace is not simple competing with their countrymen anymore but with the best and the brightest around the globe. To succeed, we have to take responsibility for ourselves as never before. The whole work model is changing, as well as how we do it and this is true for education as well. As teachers we are now responsible to teach our students to collaborate and work in teams that stress efficiency. To be productive, we need to be able to tie things together; to take ‘the best of what computers can do and integrate it with the best that humans can do. Educators must model that we are capable of peer collaboration too. For me, the greatest advantage of returning to school is the exposure to recent knowledge and technology.
I think Friedman is attempting to answer a lot of questions that loom in the minds of thinking Americans. He says he has lectured around the country and that American’s concerns are centered on education and the economy. Educators have been perplexed about a generation of indulged children for some time now. Some, like my nephew languish while living at home because they see no future beyond instant gratification. I’m glad Friedman included letters from educators in his chapter, The Quiet Crisis attesting to a lack of student’s work ethic and their white, middle-class parents seemingly content with a mediocre education for their offspring. I consider Oregon a prime example of complacency and trust that the government’s No Child Left Behind Act is solving our country’s education crisis.
I listened to an NPR show, Money Talk, where the host brought up similar questions about the future of our “middle class” Americans. I personally hoped to live better than my parents, and expected my children to live better than me. There are many economic factors that Friedman doesn’t touch that Money Talk addressed. My father had the GI bill that funded his college education. Also, my parents benefited from the economic boom of the last half of the 20th century. My parents (and grandfathers) worked their entire work lives for the same company and retired with sizeable guaranteed pensions and lifetime medical benefits. This was a result of either their “white collar” profession or strong Union benefits.
In his chapter, The Right Stuff, Friedman states that education needs to educate our children how to learn. “How we educate them may prove to be more important than how much we educate them”(302). What is the right stuff? If we take note of how fast our world economy and technology (not to mention populations) are changing, then who can predict this? Students I meet at SOU are looking toward stable job fields like the medical profession. Five years ago, one of the AmeriCorps college students I supervised made the statement that he might be a fool to major in computer science since it seemed to be all going oversees.
Friedman says, what you know, and how you learn will set you apart. If we develop a love for learning, then half the work is done. Friedman asserts that we are either inspired by teachers or can learn to love learning on our own. Learning how to learn, he states, is to be able to teach yourself. Comparing older retirees, I assert that those who stay abreast of new technology have a rich, full life that keeps their minds active. They are taking up the challenge to stay current rather than being intimidated by the tools we use to communicate with and learn. I love Friedman’s equation, CQ+PQ>IQ. Curiosity to discover and Passion to learn are the ingredients for self-education and self-motivation.
People skills, along with right-brain work are essential skills for the future. In short these skills are learning how to empathize with others and developing intrinsic motivation to be creative. Friedman asserts that in today’s world, doing what we love is a survival strategy. Yes, and we may not be making a six-figure salary as an educator, but I know I feel more passion working with people and a lot more compelled to go to work.
Friedman asserts that Americans that will succeed are those that adapt, localize, and personalize (296). Other countries are not racing us to the bottom; they are racing us to the top. I love his statement that, “they do not want to work for us, they don’t even want to be us” (351).
In a sense, Friedman is asking Americans to wake up, realize we are no longer top dogs - despite our President’s belief system of superiority. In some ways I wish Friedman had divided this book into two books. I believe his message about the moral responsibility of global corporations will be lost, and yes there will be many who still believe that people like Friedman are doomsday prophets. Yet, I believe Friedman’s message is about people realizing that the world has opened a huge field of possibilities in an extremely short period of time. By taking responsibility for one’s own learning we can broaden our field of possibilities.

World is Flat Second Blog

2007-05-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

Mary Alice Reis
The World is Flat Second Blog

My part two blog begins in the middle of the ten “flatteners”, as Friedman labels them. The flatteners are the ten forces that flattened the world: in other words, computer based or connected industry such outsourcing (#5), ??? Friedman also labels the ground floor of the computer age a “platform”. This began he asserts with the fall of the Berlin Wall (opening Eastern Europe), opening of Windows, PC’s, Internet, the Web, enabled people to be connected around the globe as never before. This connection is almost instantaneous, depending on the country’s technological sophistication and inhabitant’s education and knowledge.
It is amazing that this technological revolution has expanded at warp speed and continues to grow at a startling rate. With the advent of information companies such as Google with their goal of making information easily available in multiple languages, the world is becoming ‘equalized” – where people now more than ever in the history of humankind are able to become their own source of information. Friedman calls it self-collaboration as individuals are empowered to self-direct research and learning. Accessing University Research Libraries and services such as Questia Online library are invaluable time savers. I, myself, made use of Questia’s online journals and books for research papers in undergraduate school. Although the junior college I attended had 30,000 students (yes, 30,000) it had a poor campus library, choosing to refer students to the nearby university library. It was well worth the small cost per semester to access materials containing links to pertinent names that sped the process.
I agree with Google CEO Eric Schmidt (183) that Search is all about personal empowerment to do what we think best with the information they want. Using the tools available, I can research a product or a company before I buy online, I can instantly seek out friends and any imaginable article at the click of the mouse. This past week, while I was listening to NPR during my 45-minute ride to and from Ashland, I heard two interesting interviews that are relevant to the section Be Good (185) about how we never know where we will be leaving our electronic footprints. One interview was addressing the availability of personal information that prospective employers can access online that may prevent one from getting a job. The possibility of a youthful indiscretion could become public knowledge is alarming to some folks. The idea that our private lives can become searchable means that what we do is public knowledge – whether it is accurate or not.
Platforms that involve new technology take time to create the next breakthrough: I’m glad Friedman addresses the dot-com boom/bust in the Triple Convergence and he says that rather than devastate the “computer” industry; it has blown down many walls that prevented collaboration. While Friedman proclaims that jobs “no one dreamed could be shifted from country to country”, he does not address the toll the dot com bust took on worker’s lives from layoffs and shifting of their jobs overseas in the new global market. Yes, the IT revolution is leveling the playing field world wide, but I wonder what will happen in the U.S. as fewer and fewer jobs are available in IT? When the consumer says ‘give me more for less’ corporations look to save money, low wages, and no health benefits (Wal-Mart 251) is one avenue. Outsourcing of jobs that we traditionally thought to be “American” is another. When we look at the issue of free trade how does this harm or help us? Friedman claims that as the developing nations make salaries from the jobs offered to educated workers, they will buy goods from the U.S. and other countries. Friedman claims in the long run, America will benefit from free trade/outsourcing by opening restricted markets around the globe. Friedman admits that there is a segment of our country that opposes this and he labels them protectionist/anti-outsourcing. Not everything has been invented that is to be invented, Friedman asserts, so more jobs will be created to fill those future needs. Some people will be hurt in the process (my husband for one: laid off from Hewlett Packard after 25 years with the company), but the effects will not be permanent. As wages in developing countries rise, they will in turn create an open and more productive world economy.
I perceive Friedman’s points here to be legitimate, but for most of us older U.S. workers caught in the crossfire we worry about future jobs as the world changes. What are required are knowledge-based workers churning out idea-based goods that can be sold globally. Human wants and needs are infinite says Netscape founder (267) which means there will be a market tomorrow for today’s ideas. The ‘pie will keep growing’ as long as there is an educated and skilled workforce. In the flattened world, there is no such thing as an American job, the job will go to the best, brightest, most productive, and cheapest worker no matter where they live.

Book Report April 30th

2007-04-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

Mary Reis
ED TECH
April 30 BLOG POSTING

The World Is Flat, A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman

Friedman goes through the history of computers and Internet in this book that educates most of us who take technology for granted. In chapters one and two, Friedman illustrates how we are becoming a global society as outsourcing and computer technology are becoming a stepping-stone for advancement in developing countries. Jobs that once were held by American workers are catapulting workers in India to middle class status. What I found interesting is that the workers in India perceive technical support jobs as an income to sustain them and their families as they work toward higher education. This milestone (as Friedman states) is a new development in human progress and a great opportunity for financial and educational advancement for countries such as India.
Friedman asserts that as countries like India compete for global advancement, America had better get ready. I question Friedman’s belief that America is best when being challenged. I don’t believe that Americans have yet comprehended the impact and financial devastation that outsourcing jobs to developing countries has on American economy. Globalization 3 is driven by individuals who are non-white individuals who must act globally in this economy that believes in order to survive they must cut workers. I think Friedman does an excellent job of detailing the development of computer and the Internet. I believe what is remarkable, is that we take all this for granted in 2007, yet much of this has only become available since 1994.