Tag Archives: Higher Education

Business, Education, Finance

Greece, Prosperity, and Taxes: The World Will Come See You in AR

1 Comment
High Unemployment,  Influx of Foreigners, and Tourism

I am on vacation in Athens, Greece.  Every food bill I received, and gifts from shops had a 25% tax rate which, the people explained to me ‘nicely’, goes to the government.  It seems that people are very odds with the huge unemployment, high taxes, and forcing illegal immigrants out of the country.  I got all of this from the nice people.  There were others who seemed bitter and standoffish, visible disdain of anyone not from Greece, from the Turks, Pakistanis, all the way to the Jews. Extremely xenophobic, and this is the birthplace and cradle of logic, and helped with the maturation of the Western civilization?!  From their perspective, I surmise, the local Greeks have to yield to the ‘foreigners’ because they do, in fact, gather a large sum from tourism, and the other aspect, or perspective, they must also loathe having to yield jobs, even their own profession, to foreigners.  I spoke to a Greek man, taxi driver, by trade, was a bartender and had a degree in hotel, restaurant, and management.  In the states, he worked as a bartender, but his home was Greece, his parents Greek, but he said it was a tough market to get a job for hotels.  Now this man had been out of Greece for a while, worked in the U.S., and had a US foreigner accent.  Bartending to a Cab Driver was a natural transition, and truth be told, he could probably go to the United States and make more money verse the cost of living than he had in Greece, and as well, perform his occupation of choice.   I asked him why he stayed, and he said Greece was his home, and he loved it there.

Is it live, or is it Memorex?  AR and Actors

So, while perusing through all of the ruins, looking at the sites, watching the tour groups, and the tour guides explaining these empty ruins, I pondered, wouldn’t it be amazing to see the people of ancient times dressed in their clothing of the times, interacting with each other through the ruins as though the tourists were not even there.  In effect, acting out scenes that perhaps took place thousands of years ago, echoes of the past.  I thought why wouldn’t for starters, the government pay the people of the Arts and Sciences to go through scenes, such as basic interactions with a Librarian, studying in one corner, ignoring the world, and just reading and thinking, and in another corner of this library, there might be a quiet debate going on, in Greek of course, and through a translation application, any foreigner could hear their native language the interactions.  It could be ancient commoners, to known ancient people of the past acting out scenes like echoes of the past, while tours just come up close and personal, pass by, even wave their hand in front of an actors hand, and he continues to act as if the tourists were not even there.

These narratives/scenes could be recorded, and played out through Augmented Reality glasses, and/or live actors.

As this plan develops, I thought it would inspire not only the locals in their own rich culture, but, tourists to bathe in this once, pinnacle of civilization.  I went to Greece in the “off-season”, but the streets were still not empty. The shops and restaurants had guests, but as one local restaurant family business owner said, and I am paraphrasing, it’s a tough job in the off season trying to attract people into his restaurant, which had excellent food, by the way.

Government Representation Partakes as a Sign of Solidarity

The plan develops further in my mind as I sit in the runes of an ancient Greek library, it would be inspiring for the people of the nation to see guest appearances of their local representatives of government to see the government officials also taking part in these acting events.  The founding fathers of the United States of America weren’t career politicians, they were agriculture, farmers, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, his father Spence Monroe was a moderately prosperous planter who also practiced carpentry.  People of Greece suspect their governments of terrible things, such as corruption, especially when they aren’t visible to the people constantly.  Appearing along side the people of their country as commoners of a great society with a world of fascination and myths surrounding it, is like fodder for actors and play writes.

Greek people in universities,  the Arts and Sciences, may debate some elementary topics in the sciences in public forum, and if the professors and students of universities dressed in ancient traditional Greek garb, I think it would be amazing to add them into the ‘scene’ so to speak.

Tourism for Greece

Tourism in Greece has been a key element of the economic activity in the country and is one of the country’s most important sectors. Greece has been a major tourist destination and attraction in Europe since antiquity, for its rich culture and history.  Greece attracted 26.5 million visitors in 2015 and 30 million visitors in 2016, making Greece one of the most visited countries in Europe and the world, and contributing 18% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

The Final Act – Broadway and Universities

These live productions can go on year-round in cooperation with global exchange student university programs, of the finest caliber.  This forum may attract global play writes of note, not just of University, but of the major, well-respected avenues of theater, such as Broadway, and the motion picture actors turning to the theater might want to give ‘this avenue’ a try first, as a sampling.

Revenues from the University exchange programs, revenues from play writes actually paying royalties to use the archaeological sites, as well as more jobs, for cultural supervisors to oversee these programs, as well, as jobs for my taxi driver, because the once birth of logic will again become the maturation place of Education, the Arts, and Culture, as well as all the other good stuff that comes with it, such as revenue and jobs to help support this boom people going to Greece.  Oh, sorry, my taxi driver might want to go back to bartending and serve drinks to those university professors, students, and still, have to deal with those pesky tourists. 🙂   To those students around the world, don’t be surprised if your waitlisted here too!

 

Business, Education, Finance, Technology

Higher Education Falters: College and University Structure Radically Altered

Leave a comment

I was reading an article from the New York Times this morning, thinking about a news piece I heard on the radio regarding Education innovation, in combination with dropping my little brother off at his college campus dorm the other night, and instantly a quote from Moneyball appeared in my mind regarding the way Universities are implemented:

“This is threatening, not just a way of doing business, but its … in their minds it’s threatening the game … really what it’s threatening is their livelihood. It’s threatening their jobs. It’s threatening the way that they do things. And every time that happens, whether it’s a government or a way of doing business or whatever it is … the people who are holding the reins … who have their hands on the switch, they go bat-shit crazy. I mean, anybody who’s not tearing their team down right now, using your model, they’re dinosaurs…”

I am not privy to the exact implementation of the Cornell-Google model, but that last line from the quote is so true, and it applies to all business colleges and universities across the globe.

The article in the New York Times, When Job-Creation Engines Stop at Just One, had me take pause, and painted a gloomy picture in my mind about the job markets if your looking for a job.  A decade ago, a Bachelors or Masters degree were prerequisites to filtering out candidates for jobs, and now the role specifications are referencing specific skills with experience, a lot of contract work, as the New York Times article describes, and has a solid rationale.  For the innovation, I found an article regarding the Cornell-Google implementation and at first thinking a) this implementation is years away and b) I think it’s genius.  I must admit, I am not privy to the exact administration of their education implementation model, but wow, anyone not tearing down their colleges and universities to follow a similar model will be an artifact of higher education, and their national economies will suffer as a result.  Another article I read, again, The New York Times, Japan’s New Tech Generation, shows how people are taking it upon themselves, in it’s infancy, yes, however, they are meeting up to collaborate.  There is a huge chasm in education which has not adapted to our economies.  It is probably because our economies are evolving so fast, the education system has not had a chance to catch up.

Let’s paint a picture of the new university, where we have “transformation centers”, where we take a person like Mike Farmer from KANSAS CITY, Kan. in his single apartment room, a shared dorm room, or in his case, shared office space, in his third start-up, he is one employee, himself, and utilizes seven contractors who are also juggling multiple projects.  Now envision, college with a board of skill sets, which are required for real-time business projects, and you have professors guiding the resources to complete their assignments, then you have the visionaries which are driving and collaborating on projects leveraging national industry professionals discussing today’s challenges, and these juniors and seniors form teams from the pools of skill set resources, the freshman, and sophomores.  Skills ranging from technology to usability and design, marketing, arts and sciences, with the applications all practical and implementing them in real-time.  Perhaps alumni are the industry professionals, which speak at these sessions, and collaborate on projects in between their own projects, forming mentor relationships with the juniors and seniors.  Finally, transitioning from the colleges and universities, venture capitalists, and other financiers may choose to fund, or even acquire these small teams, which already have sustainable business models, proven ROI, or the business models show potential, sustainable models.  Those who already have had classes have participated in business implementations, have a portfolio of work for employers, and potentially networked with professionals within various fields, and have recommendations on their work.  Those graduates may even stay on their projects full time, which transition to full time opportunities.  Another possibility are the colleges and universities stay as incubators, the graduates remain on campus after graduation, just like we see in outsourcing / off-shore models, teach classes, and become members of new teams, as needed.  What were once ‘internships’ coveted by the few, are a necessity to become part of the college way of life.  Those without projects, curriculum is completely transformed based on statistical data derived from job wanted advertisements, e.g. skills in high demand. Alumni, in between projects, and lacking innovation, sign up for ADHOC think tanks, and attempt to transform them into working resources.