Dennis Demori

21 May 12

“

The best thing you can do over the next 4 years is try and become as interesting as possible. Keep riding your bike, read a lot of books (a lot), try and speak another language and live outside the country, drink beer, sleep with people, chase experiences and collect stories.

College is not about learning a craft, it is about learning how to think. You will be disappointed when you get older. You will find this world is full of people too afraid or ill-equipped to think for themselves; they huddle in corners holding signs they don’t understand and jobs they don’t want. Don’t do that. Promise me you won’t. There are brave and brillant people changing this world and it has nothing to do with where they went to college.

— James Nord on college + the future. (via thecrfty)

3 January 12

Comments | 7 notes

“ The truth is learning something new is far easier than actually doing work and/or mastering a skill. Learning addiction is dangerous because it provides the satisfaction that we’re bettering ourselves.

—

Scott Britton, “I’m Reading 850 Books in 2012: Part One”

The hardest thing is FOCUS, determining what it is that you want to master.

(via sarahjuddwelch)

12 December 11

Comments | 3,583 notes

drinkthe-koolaid:

owsposters:

Visual Student Loan Debt

Download the poster pack

Wear this protest sign

Visual Student Loan Debt by OccupyPosters

They call Social Security a Ponzi Scheme. Well, this is the real rip off right here. Did you know that student loan debt is one of the very few types of debt you cannot claim bankruptcy on? And who is disproportionally affected by crushing student loan debt? You got it: the poor.

So, to recap: many poor people get student loans. One cannot claim bankruptcy on a student loan. The economy crashed, now they can’t afford the payments. Bad credit results, and all of the associated problems that go along with it, keeping them poor.

8 September 11

Comments | 191 notes

Jay Parkinson + MD + MPH = a doctor in NYC: I'll be done paying off my med school loans when I'm 65.

jayparkinsonmd:

It’s a damn fine day. After four years of trying to consolidate my medical school loans, I just received my approval in the mail.

I graduated from medical school in 2002 with over $270,000 worth of educational loans just from medical school. As of today, I currently owe $204,823.12.

I’ve been…

10 July 11

Comments | 315 notes

“ A former president of Harvard once observed that “universities share one characteristic with compulsive gamblers and exiled royalty: there is never enough money to satisfy their desires.

— This is a bit hard on compulsive gamblers and exiled royals. America’s universities have raised their fees five times as fast as inflation over the past 30 years. Better management would allow them to do more with less. (via theeconomist)

6 March 11

Comments | 907 notes

Criminals who are generally considered to be physically unattractive receive, on average, a 50% longer jail sentence for their crime than good looking criminals.

(Source: stltoday.com)

8 February 11

Comments | 2 notes

paulisakson:

John Quintana Blog: An Education

7 December 10

Comments | 155 notes

theeconomist:

Daily chart: which country has the cleverest kids? Since 2000 the OECD has tested school pupils in rich countries every three years on reading, mathematics and science. This year, students in Shanghai topped the chart in each discipline.

12 November 10

Comments | 110 notes

“ The thing that is so tragic about America today is that young people who go to college, unless they’re from extremely wealthy families, have to take out student loans. The great tragedy, therefore, is that young people who have been very educated start out life in debt. People in debt tend to be frightened people. They’re afraid of losing their jobs, their livelihood—that’s not a good way to begin life as a whole.

— Paul Auster (via somethingchanged)

27 March 10

Comments | 88 notes

zadi:

I like this idea a lot.

moth:

I’m sold on this screenshot alone. via laureola:

alinasmith: Remember how I said you should be part of Kiva.org? Well, this too. This absolutely too.

9 February 10

Comments

“ Essentially, colleges across the nation could become their very own startup incubators. These schools should be doing everything in their power to help researchers in scientific labs uncovering new technologies or entrepreneurial go-getters in business schools to get their ideas off the ground. If their spin-off processes remain too arduous, the talented and brilliant innovators will continue to find resources outside of the university for seed funding and assistance.

— How Colleges Can Better Nurture Startups - ReadWriteStart (via courtenaybird)