Tag Archives: United States

Don’t Know Much About History

The NBC Nightly News had a report last night about kids and their knowledge of American history.  Anyone who cares about either education or history would find the report disturbing and this AP article reported on the same facts:

Just 13 percent of high school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress — called the Nation’s Report Card — showed solid academic performance in American history. The two other grade levels tested didn’t perform much better, with just 22 percent of fourth-grade students and 18 percent of eighth-graders scoring proficient or better.

Beleive it or not, there are some implications to business too. Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Huh?, Reality checks

Inquiring Minds

Since I try to write a little something each weekday, you might have noticed that I burn through a lot of topics. One thing I do is to clip articles that provoke a thought (although frankly I’d like it if you guys would send me more topic suggestions – hint hint).
A story I clipped back in December had to do with the release of a study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press about how much of a factual grasp we all have of basic facts with respect to current events. Let’s see if your reaction is the same as mine. Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Helpful Hints

Getting Scoped

Stomach colon rectum diagram.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m writing this well in advance of you reading it.  While I usually write the day I publish something, I’m kind of tied up today having a colonoscopy.  For those of you under 50, this is something that will become a regular (if every 5 years or so is regular) part of your life going forward.  It’s to make sure that you and colon cancer don’t become acquainted.  Even though the disease is very curable if caught early, because there aren’t any real symptoms until it’s too late you need to have this exam to catch it when it’s very treatable if it’s there.  Obviously it’s not like checking yourself for lumps or funny moles.  But there’s kind of a business point to be made (you knew that was coming).

You see, most business problems are treatable if they’re found early.  Like the exam I’m having today, the process isn’t always pleasant, critical though it may be.  Lots of folks avoid the short-term discomfort and find themselves facing a much worse situation down the road.  Annual budget reviews are mostly rubber stamps.  You not seeing any  symptoms – why upset things and dig too deeply, right?  Wrong.  Don’t run your health that way and don’t run your business that way either.

Short and sweet today – if you’re over 50, get checked.

Enhanced by Zemanta

1 Comment

Filed under Helpful Hints