I didn’t expect to have a bunch of links to read this week. After all, I didn’t even have internet access at the library for most of it. But today’s catch-up day, and I can’t resist the allure of these links about… education and technology.
Why you should postpone college—Amen and amen! Written by somebody at Forbes who forgot to add that summer jobs could just as easily serve his purpose of “grownup training,” avoiding the necessity of a two-year gap between high school graduation and one’s freshman year at college.
You can’t afford Apple’s education revolution—yet. I.e., i-Texbooks sound awesome at fifteen bucks a pop (compared to fifty at the used bookstore), but there are some caveats—like the cost of the device itself. (I’m not going to spend my extra $500 on it. When my current laptop poops out, I’m buying a real Mac, with InDesign and Photoshop and possibly Quark if I can afford it.) And for the record, I’m writing an article right now on the bunches of iPads the local school district purchased for its buildings. Not one for every student, but enough for a full classroom (and the middle school got three classes’ worth).
40+ Items tech will kill this digital decade—like newspapers, desktop computers, post offices… some of this is a little far-fetched (and has a whiff of wishful thinking), but much of this list is either plausible or already disappearing. How many people use 411 anymore? But I find it amusing that classrooms are on there, with the notation that “home schooling will now be for the cool kids rather than the outcasts.”
Why manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back to the U.S.—at least, not in the tech industry, and according to the now-departed Steve Jobs. And since that’s the industry that’s actually growing (I think…), it makes a difference.
And on the flip side, how Apple is taking advantage of poorer work conditions/regulation overseas. Especially in China, it appears.
And rolling back toward the theme of the first link… another grand ol’ rerun from the guys at What You Ought To Know.
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