The Inefficiency of College

I suppose I should bring you up to speed on what is going on in my life. First of all, I have returned to Brigham Young University, where I am seeking out a degree in Manufacturing Engineering with a Management minor. Next, I am engaged to the most beautiful girl in the world, Becca Drumright (unfortunately for all you guys out there you will just have to settle for less). I am working for Nu Skin Enterprises in the call center located in Provo, UT, but I am looking for a job that does not involve answering phones. There are many things going on in my head these days. I find myself thinking about lean manufacturing a lot (that is to say manufacturing designed and revised to have as little waste as possible). In addition to that, I am reading a lot of articles about modern media for my writing 150 class. Together these thoughts have combined and ultimately caused me to reflect on the value of college. Now, I do not feel that college is a waste of time, but I do see it as being wasteful and inefficient.

To start off, think of what makes a good business. You may have thought about quality products, adaptability, competitiveness, or exclusivity. There are a lot of things that come to mind when you reflect on what actually gives a business a strong presence in today's market; so, why are these so important to businesses?

In the world that we live in, it is imperative that a business be able to meet customer demand in a timely manner. Failure to provide timely service causes potential clients to pursue other means to get what they desire. This is also true of products that do not fully meet the expectations of the consumer. If you buy something and it malfunctions or breaks under no extreme circumstance, you stop spending your money on that item. It is also of extreme importance that these providers keep their services and products in tune with the times. Those that are not adaptable, fail to maintain the customer base that is so vital to staying afloat in our economy. You have to meet the latest trends and fads without a lot of crossover time. Any delay in changing from the old to the new represents a substantial loss in credibility. Lastly, any business that has something to offer that no one else can gains a giant foothold on the market. This presents tremendous opportunity and is possibly the most important of this entire list.

I know that you are probably asking yourself what this has to do with college, but think about it for a minute. How many of these things can you apply to higher education? Does college supply an education in a timely manner? Well, that is entirely dependent on the student. A student that crams their schedule full of classes will be presented with a slew of information. How timely this information is debatable. Many classes incorporate texts that present information that is only a few years old. How often do classes offer information that is currently being researched by experts in the industry? If the aims of a college institution is to educate students for their intended field, why do they restrict those seekers of knowledge from applying their own minds to the questions of today? With a truckload of knowledge that has already been tried and proved, colleges lack in providing a true education. In this regard, universities offer an education to their students, and the time required to gain it is determined by you.

Furthering the point, is that education of a quality that is acceptable? When you reflect on what you are taught and when it was discovered, do you see something that is timely and helpful in making you competitive and marketable? Answers to this will be dependent on the field of study, but for many courses of study, the answer is no. Minds are being filled with information that is old news outside of college. This is not to say that the information is worthless. It is very important to build a foundation upon which you can build, but the ending point of classroom instruction does not involve you in finding the discoveries of the future. Professors only share their research with a select few and reserve the freshest knowledge for their preferred group. Does that not get you a little upset? Ideally an education would involve every student in the discovery process. I would conclude that the information provided is not complete and detracts from the overall quality of education our institutions are giving to us.

On top of this, we live in a world where social media dominates just about every corner of society. Never before in the history of the world has it been so easy to reach across the globe and access information. We have so much information just a click away. From my experience, universities are slow to respond to advances in technology. This may come as a result of the politics inherent in the system. Every change that is made has to go through a rigorous process of committees reviewing it, approving it, and executing it. Many a good idea has been choked out by the bureaucratic process. There is a lack of flexibility in the college environment for the greatest tools to be used. This keeps the classroom in an archaic state. Textbooks are still the medium for learning, and only few instructors have made attempts at including online versions. Why not allow for students to take their studies with them on their smart phones and tablets? Would it hurt to allow some convenience in even just the format of the materials?

Colleges and technical schools claim to have a monopoly on success after high school, but they do not. If colleges were to really be as useful as they are played out to be, they would need to provide something that is unattainable without it. Individuals from all walks of life have access to the same information distributed in the classroom by means of the internet. There are journals, blogs, and other various resources available online that can give any seeker of knowledge information on a vast array of subjects. We all know of individuals that became wealthy and successful without so much as an associates degree (i.e. Bill Gates). Clearly, success can be obtained outside the traditional means. On top of this, many college graduates find themselves out of school and jobless. Why is it that some without degrees can go on to make millions while several with degrees struggle to earn ends meat?

I think we all have to face it, in a competitive market, higher education would go out of business. Universities lack the flexibility and timeliness to truly compete, but because nobody is able to change the system they are allowed to persist. Why no one has been able to do this is probably a result of the guiding politics of learning. Most institutions are funded by the government and are therefore required to enforce a generic education on each individual that enters into their doors. Technical schools have an advantage of sorts in this regard. They are able to give out certifications without worrying about the accreditation needed for a four year university. The solution to this particular issue would be to merge the two into a hybrid of sorts. First of all, it is important that professionals have at least a basic understanding of things like math and English, but this should be catered toward the end goal. Think of the added value in general education by giving it real life application to the final destination. It just makes more sense to cater to needs instead of distributing a splatter of educational foundation.

To top this off, educators need to be actively involved in the modern dialog that happens online, in industry, and through every medium. Educators that are invested in these discussions will need to also navigate their students through the information of immediate importance. In doing this they will be able to keep up with the modern media and show the "why" behind the foundation upon which their learning is built. This gives perspective and importance to the beginnings of knowledge, and students will be all the more marketable for it. Not only does this create enormous benefits for them, but it shows them what is currently happening in the industry. This will give any of them an edge on gaining employment, because they will be up to date on exactly what their employer is looking for.

Lastly, higher education has to be less political and incorporate an environment where teachers, professors, and researchers are rewarded for their successes in innovation. On the flip side the same individuals cannot live in fear of being innovative. The systems under which they operate should be more tolerant of risk taking and unconventional approaches to teaching. With this attitude in place, there will be a much higher rate of progress. Advancements in the classroom will be perpetuated and society is the winner.

There is a reason that higher education exists, but in these times, we need something more advanced. Our educational systems are based on what was available years ago, and is no longer competitive like it was before. Students that graduate from college are missing the edge that their predecessors once knew. Changes are needed and the inefficiencies of college need to be addressed before more victims are claimed by the system.

Teeth to Spare and Real Hockey Players

This year for my birthday I received a really cool gift. My parents were kind enough to get me a sweet visor for my hockey helmet. It looks something like this one:

At any rate, I was super stoked to take this visor out to the ice and skate my guts out. My birthday was in April, and the current hockey season started on 2 May. I was able to use the visor for the three games that have taken place so far. The new team, the Warriors, is pretty great. It's different from the last team because we're all sort of strangers to each other with a few connections. I like this because everyone is more inclined to get to know each other and become friends. I think it's a great environment for building a team, even though we're not the best at playing together.

Well, the third game was quite the adventure. We were playing against "Hogan's Heroes", and things weren't looking so well. Our positioning wasn't the best, we weren't watching where we were passing the puck, and things were generally just not going our way. At one point we were down 7 - 0. It was pretty bleak. Well, out of nowhere we caught on fire. In a short period of time we made 3 goals without a single return. This brought the score up to 7 - 3. In the middle of this frenzy I was able to get the puck and make my own little drive against our opponents. As I crossed the ice into enemy territory, I was quickly approaching their goal. Between the net and myself were three players. Two of them were up and the third was the goalie. Not to be discouraged I pressed on. I decided that I needed to quickly get off a shot and continue forward to catch the rebound in the case that it didn't work as I hoped. Well, as is a risk with sports like hockey, I took a blow from one of the opposing players. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad, except for a couple of things. For one, his stick went high. As you know, I don't have anything covering the lower portion of my face. This is a recipe for trouble. On top of this, the stick hit me in the mouth. I know this isn't the smartest thing I've ever done, but I wasn't wearing a mouth guard either. Let me tell you that a stick to the mouth isn't pleasant. Another thing, my lips were apart exposing my teeth, which are currently encompassed by braces (they were at the time too, fortunately). Let's just say I felt my teeth move upon the impact. Needless to say, I said a few choice words. I remember words such as ouch, poop, and other various words of color flying out of my mouth in a very appropriate fashion (If you believe that something is wrong with our relationship, because I definitely released a strain of words that Jesus wouldn't be proud of). I then made the mistake of swallowing. If you've never swallowed a mouthful of blood, you won't understand just how gross that was. Don't get me wrong, I'm the guy that sucks on my wounds when they bleed, but bulk amounts of blood going down the ol' tube is anything but delicious. I didn't make that mistake again. I quickly noticed that my bite didn't feel right, and with that came the realization that my teeth might be missing. I felt them and found that all my teeth were still in my mouth and relatively where they belong. I thought about playing on, but then I remembered that the refs wouldn't allow that with the copious amounts of blood flowing from my gums. This led to me getting off of the ice and getting my family to take me to the dentist. During my quest to get out of the ice rink I accomplished something I didn't even realize was on my bucket list. I spat blood out just like in the movies when someone takes a hit to the mouth. It was super legit. After what seemed like an eternity of bleeding and trying to figure out where to go, we got my dentist to agree to meet us at his practice. That's where we decided that my teeth were going to be alright... provided they don't die (which they still might, seeing as this incident happened a mere three days ago). Well, my face wasn't the prettiest it's ever been, but I feel like it was probably the bloodiest.

Well, as you can see my teeth weren't in the same position they used to be in. I found out that my braces were very likely the only reason one (if not more) of my teeth didn't fly out. I felt pretty vindicated about telling my dad I needed braces at that moment. From this experience I've learned a couple of things. I've learned that I should invest in a mouth guard. It's very important that I get one of these to protect the precious items in my mouth I'm trying to straighten out. I also now feel like I'm a real hockey player because I took some real damage. It also hurts a lot to eat with your teeth knocked out of position in a less than orthodox fashion.

What Makes Nate Tick

A friend recently posed a question to me, something to the point of, what is something I will always pursue in my life. I answered her in part. I intend to now more fully explore this question and give a more solid answer.

For starters, I am someone that thrives off of having fun. If there is an opportunity to have fun, I struggle to turn it down. That's not to say that I give it highest priority in my life, but it is my passion in life. In my mind, fun is being physically active, passing time with your friends, and in general just participating in social gatherings. As I may or may not have previously mentioned, I play hockey on a weekly basis. This is the light at the end of my tunnel. When there is nothing else to which I can look and be excited, hockey is what gets me through the week. I have such a deep passion for it. I find that participating in hockey and other physically demanding activities fuels me with excitement. For some reason, I am never so grateful to be alive as when I'm using the body God gave me. I don't know how such joy and excitement could ever be found without a body. Another hobby of mine is working on cars. My car is a project in and of itself, but that's what I get for driving a car that's been around as long as my parents have been married. The joy I receive from working on cars varies from that of hockey though. When I work on my car, I like to fix things or bring it closer to its former glory. There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with successfully creating beauty. I realize that not everyone finds cars to be beautiful, especially those from the early 80's, but when you're investing yourself in something, you learn to find its beauty. The knowledge I have gained from working on my own car, has opened up opportunities for me to reach out and help others. Many times friends have asked me for help in fixing their cars or in finding problems they can't pinpoint. This brings me to the more full part of this post.

When I answered my friend I told her that I will pursue fun all my life, and continue to be active so long as my body permits. This is true. I would like the quote "we don't quit playing because we get old, we get old because we quit playing," to be true of me. However, there is something else that drives me, something that will even override my desire for fun. This is my desire to help others and to care for them. I care deeply about those in my life. It doesn't seem to matter if I know you extremely well, or if we've only just met, but once you're a part of my life, I will do whatever I can to help you out and take care of you. There have been a number of times I can recall inconveniencing myself in order to just talk to a friend in need. This isn't because I'm a great person (I really don't want to toot my own horn, I'm just trying to express my priorities in life), it's simply my desire to help others. I am a firm believer in the "pay it forward" attitude. I hate it when people try and pay me back for things I do. I would much rather see people in turn reach out and help someone else that may need it. This world is an unforgiving place, but by lifting the hands of those that are broken or hurting, the nature of the world doesn't seem to matter so much.

I am driven by a couple of things, but in reality it's all the same thing. I am driven by happiness. I find happiness in my outlets of pursuing fun and adventure, and I seek to help others to be happy. This is essentially what is most important to me, and what always has, does and forever will drive me.

A Million Dollar Feeling

So, I was going to give you some sort of bull crap speech about how time/experience changes you, and then tie it into how I decided to change my wardrobe into more of a European style. However, I decided I couldn't figure out a good way to do it, and I didn't want to ramble about meaningless things forever. Let's be honest here, Europe knows how to dress and America lacks in that department. This statement is based on my highly biased views and my experiences in Europe. Having lived there for two years (of which about 99% was spent wearing a suit), I quickly noticed that American made suits are pretty nasty. Myself, having a slender build and not being a very large man, found it quite embarrassing to wear something that looked a lot bigger than myself. I envied all those wearing suits that flaunted the beauty that comes with the human form. The sleek and slender styles of Europe were quickly filling my vision, and America had lost all chances at winning my love back. Granted, wearing a suit is not my ideal get up. I would much rather wear some shorts, flip flops, and a t-shirt, but when I wear more than that, I wanna look nice. So, upon my return to the states I found myself wearing the same clothing I had been wearing before I ever left. This didn't satisfy my taste. I wanted something much more appealing and flattering. Slowly over time I began to alter the style of my shirts. I bought t-shirts that looked better, and I even eventually began to wear collared shirts (except polo's, I hate polo's). I was starting to look classier and classier as time went on. Recently I had decided I should alter the base of my wardrobe, or the pants. I mean, boot cut jeans are fun and all, I've been wearing them for a long time, but they haven't been fully satisfactory. Thus, when I decided with my friends that I should change my wardrobe to be more European (I may or may not have been looking very Euro at the time), we set out on a quest to do just that. Today was the day that I bought some pants to make my dreams come true. I must say, these pants feel a lot tighter than what I'm used to, however I enjoy them. I feel like a million bucks. Now, while I was a missionary I expressed my thoughts on appearances to another elder (the title missionaries have in my church), and he told me "You can look like a million bucks, or you can feel like a million bucks." I agree that no matter what you look like it won't matter unless you feel like a million bucks. However, I feel that wearing something that you aren't particularly fond of is going to hinder that million dollar feeling. Right now, I'm feeling pretty awesome and confident. I think I could take on the world, and all that's changed is what I'm wearing. Here I come... Ladies.

Things that Rock!

The other day I was at a bookstore with a friend. We managed to find ourselves in the humor section, and my friend grabbed a book telling me it was something I would write. The book was called "Things that Suck." Well, as true as it is that I think a lot of things suck (dating usually is included in this), I wanted to mention things that rock. I mean, seriously, there are just some things in life that make me giddy like a schoolboy. Yes, I said I get giddy. I'm not afraid to be mocked, because I know that it's true and I accept it. At any rate I shall proceed to mention things in life that I love to death.

Last year, 2010, was one of these things. I like to call it the FIFA World Cup. I have never really been into soccer much until after my mission. Now, I love watching it. I will admit that it was mostly exciting because I served in the Netherlands and watching them play was the most beautiful thing ever. I even was bothered to get up early, just so that I could catch all of their games. Oh man, it was such an emotional roller-coaster watching as they played their way through the ranks. One highlight was definitely when we sent Brasil home. I say we because they're my team. I stood behind them the whole way. My boys were champs in my eyes. It gave me something exciting to look forward to for the course of the championship. Sadly, it ended with Spain beating them out in the final round. What made it even sadder was that Spain had actually already lost a game (to Switzerland) in the group stages, while Holland was undefeated and had never even tied. Suck on that Spain! I still get excited listening to the music and watching things from the world cup. I can't wait for it to come around again.

I drive something of a clunker, I mean this car is older than me and all my siblings. I drive a 1982 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 HO with a 302 V8 engine. I love Mustangs! These cars are my passion when it comes to cars. I would ideally drive a 1967 Mustang Fastback, but for now this suffices my needs. Obviously with driving such an old car there is work that needs to be done. When I work on my car and fix things up so that it looks nicer and newer, I get such a high and feel very pleased with myself. That feeling of accomplishment is amazing. I don't like getting dirty, but working on cars is something that I love to do. I guess you could say it's my dream to restore my dream car. That would be freaking amazing.

Another thing that just rocks my world is hockey. Hockey just rocks my world. I could play/watch it all the time. Playing on the local adult league with my friends Dave and Greg has proven to be a saving grace. Every Monday night I get to go out there and just have the time of my life. It will be a very sad day when my body is too worn out to play hockey, because that is the only thing I plan on stopping me from playing until I die. The feeling you get when you score a goal, or make a sweet play just ignites the joys of life in me. I also like to watch the Colorado Avalanche play. They might not be all that great of a team, but it stems from my youth when my roller hockey team was the Avalanche in honor of them. To this day I love watching my Av's play. It has a similar affect on me as watching the world cup did. How awesome is hockey? It's the best!

People are the final thing I will discuss in this post. See, people are very interesting things, you never know what they're thinking or going to do. However, family and friends just make life everything you could ever want it to be. Whenever something isn't working out right, these are the people that are there to help you stand up again. They don't let you fall in the dirt and stay there. I have made some amazing friends throughout the course of my life. I love them all. I also was born into probably the best family there is. I'm sorry if you disagree, but it's true. My family does so much for me and I love them. They're so good to me that my sister even allows me to call her Little Girl. It's just my pet name for her, so don't be getting all mad that I'm demeaning her, because I'm not. I love you all and the influence you have in my life to help me be the person that I am, and to support me in becoming the person that I want/need to become.

Life is just awesome!

Sucker for a Story

Last night as I lost myself in the story of Flynn Rider and Rapunzel, while watching Disney's Tangled, I realized that I am a big sucker for love stories. I mean yeah sure they're cheesy and in real life things hardly ever work out so magically. In fact, based on my experience, things don't work out. I'm not sure if this has taken away from my enjoyment when watching "chick flicks" or if it has made them all the more magical. I tend to think that it makes them sparkle against the darkness of life. I believe the world should be a hopeful and optimistic place where good things happen to people. In my ideal world, people don't have to fear having their heart ripped out and crushed by the claws of lies and deceit. I am a romantic. I believe that chivalry should live on, and in no way am I trying to demean a woman when I open the door for her. There is a certain ideal that I was brought up with, and I can't/won't get rid of it. Sure, I live in a day long past, but what's so wrong with showing someone that you care? Is it not "manly" enough? Does it make me look "gay" to show that I'm not some robot that has no emotion? Well, I think not! I will go on living my fairy tale life, and maybe someday I will no longer have the heart of a coward. Maybe one day I will find my princess as Flynn Rider did. Everyone has a dream. Everyone deserves to find happiness. So, I guess all I really wanted to say was that I'm a coward, that likes to dream, and yes, I admit that I like a good love story.

Viva la 2011

What's cooler than winning a hockey game? Being the first person to score in the whole game. That's right, I shot one in tonight and started the game off right. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Well, I would like to say that tonight was a great start to the year 2011, and it has to be, I mean the world ends in 2012 right? I don't really believe that, but can you imagine? What a crazy day it will be when 2012 rolls around and everyone starts panicking because they actually believe the world is going to end. At any rate, there have been some cool developments in life I guess. For one thing, I'm now an active vlogger... yeah, sadly it means I'm kind of cheating on my blog, but I think it'll be a good thing. I don't know what it is, but I feel really good about this year, despite feeling semi lost due to my lack of a job. I guess I've realized that I feel the best about myself and life in general when I'm working towards a goal. Who would have thought that progress is a means of happiness and joy? Oh how I love feeling like I've accomplished something. I guess that's why I like working on my car so much. When I get done with something I can look at it and see the change and appreciate the awesomeness of it all. So, yeah, this year is going to be great, I'm going to find a job that is more stable and I can keep for a while so that I will be able to return to school and get all those good things done. I am going to find ways to move forward with life in leaps and bounds. Just wait and see, I'm probably going to become some sort of super hero too, I just need to spend some time working around some radioactive waste. That's how it always happens right? Seriously, if Spider-Man can just get bit by some bug and then start running around in a morph suit saving the world, why can't I? One day I'll be saving the world, but I'll be more like Iron Man, I've never been good at anonymity. Plus, if everyone knows who you are, why would villains bother trying to take your mask off? Sounds like a big waste of time to me. Well, I probably should go figure out how I'm going to become a super hero.