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This forum is a sounding board for a range of issues facing eastern Boulder County. I will prompt discussions with my posts and elected officials can tap into the concerns of citizens here, and explain their rationale on decisions. Follow along with the latest discussion by checking the list of recent comments on the right. You can comment with your name, a nickname or anonymously if you wish. You can become a contributor as well. Thank you for your comments!
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Monday, March 05, 2007

Longmont to Brainstorm on School Improvements - Plus: Shift Happens!

There is a consistent concern that kids are not leaving high school prepared appropriately for the working world. City officials and business leaders from Longmont, the St. Vrain Valley School District, Front Range Community College as well as parents, educators, and really anyone is invited to an upcoming education summit, “Learn Today, Change Your World Tomorrow.” The summit, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 1850 Industrial Circle. Read more in the Daily Times Call.

In this month's Yellow Scene I have written about the newly created Erie High School Education Foundation, an organization hoping to improve the academic offerings to the students - and graduates - of Erie H.S. Seems educational improvements are surging in interest, at least in some places.

A scary, compelling and fascinating excerpt of a powerpoint program from a futurist called "Shift Happens" is making its way around the internet. There are powerful statistics and projections made in this 6-minute program that should make everyone over 15 years old realize just how fast and exponential change is happening. Just watch it.

Check it out here. This topic is worth way more comments than we've all had on Lowe's or pot possession.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy Shift!

That's more numbers and figures than I can handle on a Monday. I think I'll buy a computer than can figure out what that slide show was trying to tell me, and I'll get back to you.

Is it really the case that China and India's overpopulation are causing the exodus of US jobs, or is it the greed of US comapnies that see $$ in cheap labor? These 2 are inevitably tied... unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

This topic is about East BoCo in the global sense, but it doesn't have the immediacy of the local issues. I personally enjoy all those discussions.

I can see the applications of this topic, though. Expect reference to the linked presentation and other trends when the critique of the County Commissioners starts, for being slightly forward-thinking about energy conservation.

I won't guarantee that I'll agree with everything on the County's proposed legislative agenda, but I do know that we live in a world of rapid change and limited resources, where either very free and accurately valued markets or pervasive regulation, or parts of both, will be necessary in future generations.

By the way, all the comparisons in the powerpoint to China and its economy carry the subtext of how lucky we are to have property rights on our list of things to fight about in the U.S. China may be emerging as a world market, but I don't think the "County Commissioners" in China are too worried about exercising government authority to achieve their objectives. It seems to me that preserving the degree of choice we have in this nation has a lot to do with confronting the reality of the situation and not digging in our heals on well-worn but trend-oblivious principles.