"Follow a Career Passion? Let It Follow You"
Cal Newport, New York Times, September 29, 2012

"IN the spring of 2004, during my senior year of college, I faced a hard decision about my future career. I had a job offer from Microsoft and an acceptance letter from the computer science doctoral program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I had also just handed in the manuscript for my first nonfiction book, which opened the option of becoming a full-time writer. These are three strikingly different career paths, and I had to choose which one was right for me.

"For many of my peers, this decision would have been fraught with anxiety. Growing up, we were told by guidance counselors, career advice books, the news media and others to “follow our passion.” This advice assumes that we all have a pre-existing passion waiting to be discovered. If we have the courage to discover this calling and to match it to our livelihood, the thinking goes, we’ll end up happy. If we lack this courage, we’ll end up bored and unfulfilled — or, worse, in law school.

"To a small group of people, this advice makes sense, because they have a clear passion. Maybe they’ve always wanted to be doctors, writers, musicians and so on, and can’t imagine being anything else.

"But this philosophy puts a lot of pressure on the rest of us — and demands long deliberation. If we’re not careful, it tells us, we may end up missing our true calling. And even after we make a choice, we’re still not free from its effects. Every time our work becomes hard, we are pushed toward an existential crisis, centered on what for many is an obnoxiously unanswerable question: “Is this what I’m really meant to be doing?” This constant doubt generates anxiety and chronic job-hopping.


"As I considered my options during my senior year of college, I knew all about this Cult of Passion and its demands. But I chose to ignore it. The alternative career philosophy that drove me is based on this simple premise: The traits that lead people to love their work are general and have little to do with a job’s specifics. These traits include a sense of autonomy and the feeling that you’re good at what you do and are having an impact on the world. Decades of research on workplace motivation back this up. (Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” offers a nice summary of this literature.)"

"5 ways you'll use algebra in your career"
Sonia Acosta, CareerBuilder, September 18, 2012 

"Remember that time during an already painful adolescence, when tears slowly fell on the pages of your evil algebra book, and you scratched your head thinking, "When will I ever use this in real life?" Whether as a teen, college student or parent trying to help kids with homework, most of us are guilty of cursing the creator of linear inequalities, quadratic equations and functions.

"Guess what? Algebra is actually quite useful, and it can be especially valuable in the workplace. Here are five ways you'll use algebra in your career."

"More pursuing college certificates"
"Credential helps students just starting education and professionals looking to gain skills"
Meagan Pant, Dayton Daily News, July 9, 2012

"The number of people earning college certificates has dramatically increased as students seek the quickest connection to a job.

"Certificates are the fastest-growing college credential, with more than 1 million awarded nationally in 2010, according to a recent study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

"Certificates equip students with the skills they need for a job often in less than a year, and they sometimes increase a person's earnings potential past that of a bachelor's degree holder.

""We provide certificates because a lot of people come to us and want to know what's the shortest distance from what I am right now — unemployed — to employable and skilled," Devier said.

""The industries are changing, and you've got to continue to adapt," said Deborah Norris, vice president of workforce development and corporate services at Sinclair.

""We have to always be upgrading our skills and always learning. That's the information age we're in," Norris said."

"'Importance of Being Playful' conference at UC"
Stephanie M. Lee, SF Gate, Saturday, May 26, 2012

"Playing, whether doing the Charleston, kicking a soccer ball or even curling up with a good book, is healthy for kids and adults alike. It yields both physical and mental health benefits, say experts such as Stuart Brown, a Carmel Valley psychiatrist and a leading expert in the field of play.

"Play's opposite is not work, but depression, he said.

"There are consequences in adulthood when we don't engage in getting into a state of play," Brown said. "That means we're less flexible, less adaptive, less resilient and poorer stress managers."

"Google's 80/20 Principle Adopted at New Jersey School"
Tanya Roscorla, Converge, May 10, 2012 

"We really want teachers to be innovative and creative," Sheninger said. "For us to make that possible, we need to empower them to really pursue those areas that they're motivated by.
...
"At first, the school specified the amount of video hours teachers needed to watch and reflect on through the on-demand online professional development tool PD 360. They also had teachers participate in Simple K-12's Teacher Learning Community.
"But based on teacher feedback and a reassessment of goals, the administrative team gave teachers more flexibility rather than mandates.
"Toward the end of the school year, teachers turned in logs that included the topics they studied and how the projects they did enhanced the teaching and learning process."

Full Belly Farm Newsletter
May 9, 2012

"This past week we had another of our amazing classes of Waldorf and Charter school 3rd graders come to visit the farm as part of their food system curriculum. ...

"I think that because in this world there are so many people living in such close quarters and because we have a culture of connoisseurship and expertise sometimes we are trained not to interfere or interject when something is not our business. But this place breaks that mould and encourages everyone to dig in. ...
"We forget when we grow up that, as kids, work and play are often one and the same. Their senses were on overload (per usual I guess when you are nine years old) and their energy contagious.

"With the exception of spending time with Hallie, baby lambs and me, their favorite part of coming to the farm is most often the CSA line. This is a subtle but powerful concept to me. The fact that kids LOVE work is telling. We need to follow their example and be sure to make work for ourselves that we love and strive for a society where work never stops being our passion so that our future generations can cultivate a healthy sense of logic, work ethic and well-being as they grow into adults and our future leaders."

For Kids, Self-Control Factors Into Future Success
Nancy Shute, NPR.org, February 14, 2011

"Teaching Control

"Economists and public health officials want to know whether teaching self-control could improve a population's physical and financial health and reduce crime. Three factors appear to be key to a person's success in life: intelligence, family's socioeconomic status and self-control. Moffitt's study found that self-control predicted adult success, even after accounting for the participants' differences in social status and IQ.

"Maggie Starbard/NPRCathie Morton, a teacher at the Clara Barton Center for Children, leads the kids in a clapping exercise to signal that it is time to shift gears and start cleaning up.


"IQ and social status are hard to change. But Moffitt says there is evidence that self-control can be learned.

""Identical twins are not identical on self-control," she says. "That tells us that it is something they have learned, not something they have inherited."

"Teaching self-control has become a big focus for early childhood education. At the Clara Barton Center for Children in Cabin John, Md., it starts with expecting a 4-year-old to hang up her coat without being asked.

"Director Linda Owen says the children are expected to be responsible for a series of actions when they arrive at school each morning, without help from Mom and Dad. The children sign in, put away their lunches, hang up their own clothes, wash their hands before they can play, and then choose activities in the classroom.

""All those things help with self-management," Owen says."