If we truly look to the future, we can't hold onto the past

My daughter is off to her statistics class again. For a 50-minute class that she has to spend about 75 minutes getting to/from and finding parking (and the gas/mileage/parking fee), it just doesn't seem worth it.

She mentioned that this class was offered online and she wished she had taken it instead. But she thought that she would get more individualized instruction if she went to an on-campus class. Seems like a reasonable assumption, given that that is probably the #1 argument against online learning.

I really really really wish she had taken the online version. I won't rant about this. I won't get angry again. After I posted about TENURE, I discovered it was a touchy topic. No one, NO ONE, had anything to say, either in support or opposition to tenure. At first, I thought, oh no! No one likes my post. I want people to like me. Seriously, I do.

But then I thought, well, let's raise hell then. I'm not about loss of teaching jobs or jobs in general, but what I am about is looking at change and possibly even embracing it. It's time to quit doing it the way we've been doing it because we don't need to do it that way anymore.

If people are losing jobs because the need isn't there, then why are we trying to create more jobs, in the same industries? Technology makes our lives easier so why do we blame it, among other things, for taking away jobs? Do we really need to work so hard? And why is our worth based on the kind of job we hold in life? Why can't we start looking at how we can improve our quality of life -- start de-stressing and working for good causes, not for money or prestige.

I remember reading that there are enough resources (food, technology, people, etc) to provide a healthy daily diet of 2500 calories to every person in the world. I think that applies to more than just feeding the world.

Let's move forward. I have no idea how to just drop our elitist, capitalistic/materialistic attitudes we hold so dear and lose our obsession with competition and being more successful than everyone else.

Maybe we could start by looking at real issues -- global warming, disease, poverty, a true global economy -- instead of trying to achieve the American dream, which just isn't most Americans dream anyway. It certainly isn't mine.

I have a feeling, like I've said before, that it will take a huge nonprofit movement.

Okay, so I did rant. Isn't that what Mondays are for? Go out and make it a great day. Learn something!