The post title is lifted straight from this Philippine Star article. What can I say? I have to agree. Most schools are focused more in raking in the tuition fees so it’s more of knowledge pumping, rote learning, more semesters, and less years, than really instilling critical thinking. After school, you probably end up working with an outsourcing company where the work being sent over from onshore is mundane and mindless grunt work (precisely why it’s sourced out, but we’re seeing improvements here). And every day we are exposed to crap on the newspapers (because crap is what’s happening), to drivel over the radio (apologies to friends who are Chico and Delamar fans), to retarded noontime TV shows, glorified tsismis (gossip) over SMS, Friendster, or Facebook (one reason why I quit those, at least Google Plus is still relatively clean), talk about showbiz over lunch and dinner, more TV (it’s not called the idiot box for nothing). Yeah, it’s no wonder why we are shallow. But there is always hope.
I was on sick leave yesterday so I was at home with Jeanne. I was lying in bed watching a movie on the MacBook when I noticed her listening to an interactive book on the iPad. I felt guilty, perhaps also because of the movie I was watching (Punished, great movie!), and set aside the laptop. I asked her if she wants to read the interactive book with me. I only felt more guilt when she positively beamed and said “Yes!” with quite discernible glee. She then handed me the iPad, lay down beside me, and we read.
I heard about the September 9 to 18 Crumpler sale from A Bugged Life. I’ve had a previous-generation Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home camera bag for a while now and I am very happy with it. I use it for carrying my basic photo gear and even as a diaper bag when going out with Jeanne. Unfortunately, fitting the iPad in it is a rather tight proposition. So I’ve been thinking of getting a bigger bag and the sale was just the final excuse I needed. We dropped by the Crumpler store and checked out the bags. After a while I settled on a 6 Million Dollar Home. Its configurable partitions can be configured to create a small compartment that fits the iPad well. While at it, I got Michelle a Skivvy for her upcoming 13″ work laptop.
Jeanne drawing on the iPad with a capacitive pen.
Read John Mangun’s article this morning and learned that the country rose 10 places in the World Economic Forum’s ranking to 75th. This despite the poverty level, corruption (PNoy is all talk and no walk on this), inefficient government bureaucracy, security issues (bus hostage-taking), inadequate infrastructure (where are the PPP projects promised by PNoy?), poor education, poor investor protection (NAIA3, PLDT foreign ownership), and the difficulty of starting a business. Personally, I think all these hostile factors contribute to leaving only the smartest and most resilient thus contributing to robust and sophisticated businesses. Supporting factors are good fiscal and monetary policy (BSP governor Tetangco got an “A” grade recently from a finance magazine), good banking industry, and a good stock market. That’s good news to start the day!
Full report here.