This is very interesting

[Jawge]

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/09/tech...iid=TL_Popular


I tell people do not under estimate the youth leadership program POTUS proposed. They have it here in NYC for minorities who are first generation in college. The doors it opens and connections are something else.

[Don1]

Very good post Big Man

This Google piece squarely addresses my thesis & plan re reforming Jamaica's colonial education shitstem towards what is required to power a 21st Century economy.

Currently we try to analyze & improve that defunct system by looking at grades. I see lots of silly yappin about grades, lists & so called rankings

Good grades are better than bad grades....but in the 21st century grades are overrated ..viz:

So what else does Google not care about:
Grades: Google's data shows that grades predict performance for the first two years of a career, but do not matter after that.

The REAL discussion re education (for more evolved analysts) is: What type of system is best suited to drive an Innovation Economy...and what are the OPTIMAL steps along a pathway to achieve that goal???

I see very few pushing that agenda..and this is abominable. This lack of recognition of what progress entails consigns Jamaica to eternal backwardness

Ok... try to improve grades BUT the curricula and the expected outcomes of education must be BROADENED (and measured) if one wants to build the innovation economy which is a prerequisite for progress in the 21st Century..viz:

Here's what Google does care about:
Problem solvers: Your cognitive ability, or how well you solve problems.
Leaders: The idea is not whether you were president of the student body or vice president of the bank, rather: "When you see a problem do you step in, help solve it," and then critically, "Are you willing to step out and let somebody else take over, and make room for somebody else? Are you willing to give up power?"

Now anticipating the backward, linear thinkers who will say: "But we can't all be technologists...what about the taxi drivers, trinket sellers, tourism workers, cruise staff etc..also lawyers & doctors?? They don't need that fancy stuff...all they need is to pass their "subjects"

WRONG....All jobs (and life itself) are about addressing problems and in doing so creating value. So developing problem solving skills, logic & critical thinking improves ALL areas of the economy.

Time to wake up and do away with backward 20th century thinking in education. We must START to build our version of a progressive 21st Century model to drive an innovation Economy with higher value adding sectors

So pardon our flaws as we construct that 21st Century education model....

Some day Jamaica will wake up and smell di coco... and others will start to adopt our model.....Leadership being the core of our DNA as usual

[Jawge]

Good talk boss.Most in Ja don't realize that getting As in Csec or cape (which is really divisive if nothing else) is a "coachable skill". In short you are only ready to follow instructions on the "factory floor". Google doesn't want that, Google wants independent thinkers people who can solve problems within and outside of their field of speciality (given the pace of the 21st century).

Ja will come around when Obama's plan (for the youth) kicks in. See this is why I was impressed by the youth forum. The forum had leaders from varied backgrounds (chef, political science , top world class athlete et al) all having something to offer. See Bam speaks with these 21st century leaders (Google et al) hence it's easy for him to know where the young is coming from (based on Robert Gates book Bam hires them too

[Don1]

yuhseeit