How Great Thou Art... Mother Nature


I was working on a blog posting this afternoon and happened to look out
my office window and saw this scene... this is an untouched look off our deck at the
transition from cirrus cloud to sunset over the shore across our harbour. The open water is
reflecting the sunset, then you can see the ice that formed as the temperature dropped today.
The swath of ice is from last night's freeze and the dark packed ice is from what we had before
the rains came.




I am working on a blueknowser posting that should come out on the weekend that is exploring what we are encouraging our students to target in their career aspirations. In Canada a large proportion of our students achieve post-secondary education. The problem is that when students choose the wrong direction in furthering their education they can end up with very deep debt, and either no or low paying jobs. There is a clear data set that indicates the decision process is not that complicated, and students can prepare for the next decade more efficiently.


As well, a blog posting is nearing that explores the issue of how we set our expectations, not only for our students... for our products, services, and our personal performance. I will argue for example that when we simply expect something/one to do or be good at what we are, we are actually setting the bar too low! Good is in fact the enemy of 'better'... and better is the enemy of best! When ever we see/hear someone compare something to another and say it is better so we should choose it... we should in fact say, but is it the best?


It occurs to me that our government, school boards and universities lull us into complacency with data that shows that Canada, or Nova Scotia ranks well against other jurisdictions. The problem with this is well documented in the great book by Thomas Friedman, the columnist from the New York Times who wrote 'The World is Flat'. He successfully argues that today we are competing with everyone for every job. The computer and internet makes us susceptible to competition in practically every part of our lives. If we are not the best and most efficient in most if not all aspects of out life, our livelihood and lifestyle will be fully at risk here in Nova Scotia. We no longer live in our cultural bubble and we need to prepare... through our students. Our students that are today in Grades 1 thru 6, as well as those already past the formative education years.


Hope you are ready for some intellectual challenges. As well, I am working on discussions around why we accept smoking and the impact on our health care costs... the same with obesity, anti-social activities and other social issues. We need to be challenging the status quo!


I am suggesting that we have a Nova Scotia today that is on the brink... will it fail, or will it thrive? Issues that cost us productivity, excellence, as well as our way of life need to be vetted again and again. The world is changing. We have a governing party that called the fall session to order for only sixteen days. This clearly is an indication that they don't have a strategy or an agenda for the future. They are about the status quo.


Every day we stand still, we loose. How long will we go before we demand change?


Hope you are well... pass this on... and remember that SUCCESS NOURISHES HOPE

Comments

Anonymous said…
A very thought provoking post & a beautiful picture.

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