Education Is The Key To Innovation

Alexander Pasik, the chief information officer of the IEEE, a professional association for engineers, recently sat down with Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs to talk about education and innovation. Pasik notes that Jacobs pursued a career in science and engineering despite being advised by a high school guidance counselor to explore other lines of work. As for science and engineering, the counselor told Jacobs there was no future in it.

Here is an edited version of the conversation between Pasik and Jacobs.
Pasik: Where and when did you first develop your interest in science and technology?

Jacobs: I graduated from high school in 1950, shortly after World War II, and I was always interested in math and science. Unfortunately, my guidance counselor advised me to apply to the hotel management school at Cornell. It was at Cornell that I saw that technology could indeed transform our world, and I decided to switch majors.
Pasik: What was an outstanding feature of Cornell’s program for you?

Jacobs: Cornell was sufficiently flexible to approve my transfer to electrical engineering and to encourage me to enter the engineering co-op program. I would spend one semester learning theory and the next working at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories applying my classroom theory to real world engineering. The world was changing and change, rather than being feared, would open new opportunities.
Pasik: Linkabit was the first company you founded following 13 years as a Professor at M.I.T. and UC-San Diego. It has since fathered over 100 successful offshoot companies in San Diego. To what do you attribute Linkabit’s innovative success?

Jacobs: We quickly adopted a strategy of innovation, looking for ways in which we could make not just small improvements in a product but rather substantial changes that might open a new market, often involving theory that was just being taught at research universities.  We also moved quickly from consulting to manufacturing products ourselves, including the first microprocessor-based satellite terminals for the military.
Pasik: Qualcomm is the company you are most popularly associated with, and which you co-founded after you retired from Linkabit. What drew you out of a comfortable retirement?

Jacobs: I retired from Linkabit in 1985, but I quickly found retirement was not sufficiently stimulating. I co-founded Qualcomm in July 1985, and we believed that in a world of rapid change, wireless and digital would drive many opportunities and we rapidly came up with several ideas, including CDMA, which would revolutionize modern cellular communications.
Pasik:  CDMA is the primary world standard for cellular communications, but is it true this almost didn’t happen?

Jacobs: Qualcomm’s first success was OmniTRACS, a satellite tracking and communication system for the trucking industry. It was only after OmniTRACS’ success that we were able to develop CDMA. The delay was almost fatal, since the industry had voted to standardize on TDMA. We worked exceptionally hard to convince operators in the U.S. and abroad of the great value of CDMA.
Today, all the world’s third generation cell phone networks use CDMA, but it only won out because of the change created by overwhelming subscriber demand. It also showed that innovations do not automatically succeed, since many will resist change, so that persistence and leadership are critical.
Pasik: You say that leadership and persistence are critical to overcome resistance to change, but what are the greatest barriers to change?
Jacobs: Joan [his wife] and I were traveling in India, where we witnessed the large masses of very poor people. We realized, that here, there probably was an Einstein who would never have the opportunity to contribute to the world due to lack of education and opportunity. Innovation demands a curious mind, but it is an education which fuels that burning desire to understand more. If we fail to educate and excite our young people over the possibilities which innovation provides, we are cutting ourselves off from our own future.
Pasik: Does any country hold a monopoly on innovation today?

Jacobs: Innovation is not peculiar to one nation alone, nor has is it ever been loyal to any culture or creed. For example, Einstein was not born or educated in the United States, but he chose to work here after being forced from Europe to enjoy our freedom of expression and because it provided the crucible for technological creativity and free thought.
The greatest limiting factor is the availability of highly educated, curious and talented people. We must have a highly effective and inclusive educational system to continue to nourish the innovative spirit of our country.
Pasik: Why is education such an important part of this process?

Jacobs: Education provides the opening spark for young minds. Education awakens people of all ages to the possibilities and opportunities in front of us. It is not the sole responsibility of schools and universities to foster the attitude that science and math are important, but also of industry and government. For instance, the IEEE’s TryEngineering.com program, in conjunction with IBM, is a good example of how industry can get involved and provide students with the opportunity to gain hands-on participation in engineering projects. The response to the IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition demonstrates how receptive students are to pick up the challenge, provided they are given the right guidance and support.
Project K-Nect, an 8^th Grade school project involving four high schools in North Carolina and sponsored by Qualcomm, which introduced smart phones 24/7 to students taking algebra classes and other subjects, is also an excellent example of how government, industry and schools can work together to produce exceptional student results.

http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2011/05/17/education-is-the-key-to-innovation-a-qa-with-qualcomms-irwin-jacobs/

Admissions Q&A: Maryland

Smith is looking for applicants who are "hungry for an MBA degree," says admissions director Sam Kang 

Sam Kang says there are many reasons to pursue an MBA at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business (Smith Full-Time MBA Profile). Kang, director of admissions and recruitment for Smith's full-time MBA program, points out that the school is located near Washington, a thriving metropolitan area. And he says that its small full-time MBA program—about 150 students per class—creates an atmosphere of collaboration among students.
Kang expects getting into Smith to become more difficult in the coming years as applications to the school continue to increase. Candidates who want to get into Maryland should think carefully about their career goals and how a Smith MBA could help achieve them, Kang told Bloomberg Businessweek's Zachary Tracer in a recent interview. In the interview, Kang discussed how applicants can put together a strong application and described changes to the school's Career Resources Center.
Here is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Are there any big changes or others things individuals should be aware of if they choose to apply to Smith?
We have not made a drastic change. We are predicting for next year that applications will go up; I think they are on an upward trend. We don't sit around and try to find [reasons] to deny people, but we really try to find in an applicant reasons to admit them. And I think from that principle [that] the students need to go about trying to [distinguish] themselves in every aspect of the application. Definitely, I think it will become more competitive.
Can you tell me about what makes someone a good fit for a Smith MBA?
First and foremost, we want to find someone who is hungry for an MBA degree in general and clearly knows what an MBA will do for their career. They are going from point A to point B and we want to really be that bridge. So I think they need to really convey to us [that] they are hungry for this degree. I think it's someone who is really passionate about what they are doing and how this relates to their studies here at the Smith School of Business.
Why should someone consider Maryland's Smith School?
One of the greatest assets that we have is that we are just outside of Washington—that entire area can be your classroom. Washington right now is one of the most diversified places in terms of job function. It's an area where corporate and government intersect, where for-profit and nonprofit intersect. Second is the tremendous research that the University of Maryland does. And [third] is the community that we create of students that [is] really collegial. The students are not cutthroat but really watch out for one another. I'm really proud of the community we have created here and I think that is one of the best assets in an MBA education because it is really learning about how to function in a team.
Does Smith have any set minimums for GMAT scores or years of work experience?
The bottom line is the student should understand when they should get an MBA. So I've had experiences where there is a student with 15 years of work experience and they feel like, "Oh, I'm ready." And when I interview them, he or she is still not ready. And then there are students with one year of work experience [who are] quite ready. In terms of the GMAT, again there is no minimum score but our average this year will be about 670. Eighty percent of our applications are [from] about a 610 to a 740. They should try to fall in that range.
Could you tell me a little bit about how interviews work at the Smith school?
When a candidate submits an application, we go through a first read. And then if you pass that, we will invite that candidate for an interview. Treat it like a job interview. Come prepared, come dressed business formal, really be yourself. We really want to know who you are because an interview is as important as submitting your application. Up until the interview we just know you on paper, but an interview could—let's say you're borderline—it could make or break [your acceptance].
Do you have any tips for students working on the application essays?
I cannot say it enough: Write what you are passionate about. That sounds really clichéd, but it is true. You should not write your essay thinking [about] what we want to hear. First, really understand your goals—why you want to get an MBA. Secondly, an essay is where you can do some minor things with maximum impact—submit an essay that has no spelling or grammatical errors. We are reading close to a thousand applications, and just imagine I come to your application on a Friday afternoon. I'm pretty much out the door at five o'clock and I come to your application at 4:30 and your essays have grammatical errors, spelling errors—that's just not good. I know many of the applicants are applying to more than one school. They try to fit one answer to several questions and [then] they don't answer the question. You have to answer the question.
How about letters of recommendation—do you have any advice for students as they go about choosing their recommenders?
First and foremost they need a person that really knows them. The best person is your direct boss. If you have the opportunity to tell the boss you are leaving and that situation is okay, you should sit down with your boss and say, "You know, I really want to get this degree and this is my career progression." There are situations where you cannot tell your boss because you don't want to jeopardize that relationship until you are sure you got into a school. Then maybe you want to go to your previous boss or a client. If that is not [possible], then maybe you have extracurricular activities. Maybe you work for Habitat for Humanity and you are under a great leader. We want to see a recommendation where someone will vouch for your character, your work ethic, how you work and things like that. I would not get it from a professor because we really want to see [you in] a professional setting.
Can you give me an example of a Smith student who is not a typical MBA?
This woman, she was a documentary filmmaker in New York. She was more on the creative side of things [and] she really wanted to get an MBA to get formal training in business and go into consulting. It was a jump, she worked very hard at it from the get-go through internships. Now she has been hired by Booz Allen and she's a management consultant.
What efforts have you made to recruit minorities and women into the program?
We do a slew of tours to attract people from diverse backgrounds. We have a diversity-at-Smith event. We utilize our student clubs, we have a Hispanic club, a Black MBA club, an LGBT club—and those are all interconnected. The bottom line is, when we craft a class, we want to give each student the best experience they can get within a class. For them to experience that, I think it is the admissions and recruitment team's responsibility to craft a class that is diverse in its female-male ratio, ethnic minorities, and international ratio.
Have there been any changes to the curriculum recently or are any coming soon?
We introduced a new curriculum two years ago, really settling upon the infrastructure of globalization, entrepreneurship, and technology. At that time, we cut down 14-week classes into seven-week classes so that people could take more classes. We are going to introduce an opt-in venture track now—[students] are going to be partnered with one of our centers for research and excellence and they will do research into a certain business area. They will have to take a global study trip and they have to be involved in a social responsibility nonprofit.
Can you tell me about any changes that the school is making to help students find jobs in light of the current economic situation?
The key word is diversification. Five, ten years ago, students came in pretty set on certain positions. [Now] you need to come with a plan B, maybe even a plan C. Maybe your dream job might not be within reach, but you could go to another job as a stepping-stone to your dream job. [Career services] is doing a major reorganization in terms of what we want to give to the students. Up until a year ago, we had general career coaches. But we figured recruiters are looking for more specific things, so we have hired many career advisers already and we are naming them as expert industry specialists. We have five expert industry career specialists and those are in consulting, finance, marketing and consumer goods, nonprofit marketing and so forth, and also in the technology sector. So if a student comes into our MBA program and they are interested in consulting, they will be matched up with our expert industry specialist in the consulting arena.
Are there any common misconceptions about the Smith School of Business that you'd like to dispel?
We were one of the premier schools with our tagline "leaders for the digital economy." And I think about 10 years ago when that happened, everybody thought that our MBA was kind of a techno-MBA. That wasn't the point. The point was, we realized technology could make a huge difference in many areas of an MBA education. The bottom line is how can technology help your business, your MBA.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2010/bs2010091_391590_page_2.htm

 

A Course Load for the Game of Life

AS a Harvard professor who teaches introductory economics, I have the delightful assignment of greeting about 700 first-year students every fall. And this year, I am sending the first of my own children off to college. Which raises these questions: What should they be learning? And what kind of foundation is needed to understand and be prepared for the modern economy?
Here is my advice for students of all ages:
LEARN SOME ECONOMICS You knew this was coming. Perhaps I am just trying to protect my profession’s market share, but I hope it is more than that.
The great economist Alfred Marshall called economics “the study of mankind in the ordinary business of life.” When students leave school, “the ordinary business of life” will be their most pressing concern. If the current moribund economy turns into a lost decade, as some economists fear it might, it will be crucial to be prepared for it.
There may be no better place than a course in introductory economics. It helps students understand the whirlwind of forces swirling around them. It develops rigorous analytic skills that are useful in a wide range of jobs. And it makes students better citizens, ready to evaluate the claims of competing politicians.
For those who have left college behind, it is not too late to learn. Pick up an economics textbook (mine would be a fine choice), and you might find yourself learning more than you imagined.
Not convinced? Even if you are a skeptic of my field, as many are, there is another, more cynical reason to study it. As the economist Joan Robinson once noted, one purpose of studying economics is to avoid being fooled by economists.
LEARN SOME STATISTICS High school mathematics curriculums spend too much time on traditional topics like Euclidean geometry and trigonometry. For a typical person, these are useful intellectual exercises but have little applicability to daily life. Students would be better served by learning more about probability and statistics.
One thing the modern computer age has given everyone is data. Lots and lots of data. There is a large leap, however, between having data and learning from it. Students need to know the potential of number-crunching, as well as its limitations. All college students are well advised to take one or more courses in statistics, at least until high schools update what they teach.
LEARN SOME FINANCE With the rise of 401(k) plans and the looming problems with Social Security, Americans are increasingly in charge of their own financial future. But are they up to the task?
Few high school students graduate with the tools needed to make smart choices. Indeed, many enter college without knowing, for instance, what stocks and bonds are, what risks and returns these assets offer, and how best to manage those risks.
The evidence of financial naïveté shows up every time some company goes belly up. Whether it is Enron or Lehman Brothers, many company employees are often caught with a large fraction of their wealth in a single stock. They fail to heed the most basic lesson of finance — that diversification provides a free lunch. It reduces risk without lowering expected return.
College is an investment with a great return. The gap between the wages of college graduates and those with only high school diplomas is now large by historical standards. If those college grads are going to manage their earnings intelligently, they need to study the fundamentals of financial decision making.
LEARN SOME PSYCHOLOGY Economists like me often pretend that people are rational. That is, with mathematical precision, people are assumed to do the best they can to achieve their goals.
For many purposes, this approach is useful. But it is only one way to view human behavior. A bit of psychology is a useful antidote to an excess of classical economics. It reveals flaws in human rationality, including your own.
This is one lesson I failed to heed when I was in college. I never took a single psychology course as an undergrad. But after the birth of behavioral economics, which infuses psychology into economics, I remedied that mistake. Several years ago, as a Harvard faculty member, I audited an introductory psychology course taught by Steven Pinker. I don’t know if it made me a better economist. But it has surely made me a more humble one, and, I suspect, a better human being as well.
IGNORE ADVICE AS YOU SEE FIT Adults of all stripes have advice for the college-bound. Those leaving home and starting their freshman year should listen to it, consider it, reflect on it but ultimately follow their own instincts and passions.
The one certain thing about the future is that it is far from certain. I don’t know what emerging industries will be attracting college graduates four years from now, and neither does anyone else. The next generation will shape its own economy, as the young Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg shaped ours. Those now packing up their clothes, buying textbooks and meeting roommates hold the future in their hands. Every year, when I look out over my 700 eager freshmen on that first day of class, the view gives me optimism about the path ahead.
N. Gregory Mankiw is a professor of economics at Harvard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/economy/05view.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Replacing a Pile of Textbooks With an iPad

When I’m not blogging away about technology for the Bits Blog, I’m also an adjunct professor at New York University in the Interactive Telecommunications Program.
The program is a technology-focused graduate course, so it came as no surprise when four of my students walked into class in early April with fancy new Apple iPads in hand. After the students got past the novelty factor, a debate ensued about how the iPad would fit into their school life. One factor the students discussed was the ability to carry less “stuff” in their backpacks: the iPad can replace magazines, notepads, even a laptop.
Now there’s an iPad application that could further lighten the load. A new company called Inkling hopes to break the standard textbook model and help textbooks enter the interactive age by letting students share and comment on the texts and interact with fellow students.
Matt MacInnis, founder and chief executive of Inkling, said in a phone interview that the company wants to offer a textbook experience that moves far beyond simply downloading a PDF document to an iPad.
One unique feature the service offers is the ability to discuss passages of a book with other students or professors. By selecting a piece of text you can leave a note for others to read and develop a conversation around the text.
The application also breathes life into textbooks by giving publishers the tools to create interactive graphics within a book. In a demo version of the application, available for download in the iTunes store, “The Elements of Style” includes quizzes that help students learn by touching and interacting with the screen. There’s also a biology book that offers the ability to navigate 3-D molecules from any angle.
Some other features include the ability to search text, change the size of the type, purchase individual chapters of books, highlight text for others to see and take pop quizzes directly within the app.
Mr. MacInnis said that some universities began using the textbook application this week, including the University of Alabama and Seton Hill University. “Professors are really excited about the ability to leave notes for the class in specific areas of the book and to also see commentary from their students,” he said.
One question that will likely come up for college students is the price. The program is currently only available for the iPad, a device that starts at $500. Inkling hopes to solve that problem by reducing the cost of the digital textbooks as compared to their paper counterparts and by allowing students to buy books one chapter at a time.
The cost of college textbooks on paper can easily surpass $1,100 a year. If students find that the price of the iPad and the digital textbooks balance out, then the iPad investment could quickly make sense.
And finally there’s the weight factor. Inkling’s frequently-asked-questions page points out that even if you fill your entire iPad with Inkling books, it will still weigh 1.5 pounds.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/replacing-a-pile-of-textbook-with-an-ipad/?partner=rss&emc=rss

To M.B.A. or Not To M.B.A.?

I was a nontraditional M.B.A. candidate. At my business school the liberal arts majors were nicknamed "poets," but I'm pretty sure I was the only one who spent most of college actually writing poetry. My economics education was comprised of one high school summer class, where a typical day involved watching the movie Wall Street and then discussing it for 15 minutes.

If that doesn't paint a clear picture of my background, let me add that I had used Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) Excel exactly four times before business school: once to make the invite list for a barbecue, once for a housewarming party and twice to make the grocery lists for those events. As far as I could tell, Excel's major feature was columns. Columns.

But in other ways, I wasn't all that unusual. More and more, women like me are heading to business school as a way to give themselves the tools and credibility to realize their vision--whether to start a socially responsible business, lead a nonprofit or change systems and institutions to better serve people.

If you are a woman who wants to do meaningful work and contribute something positive to the world, and think an M.B.A. might help you do it, here's my verdict on the pros and cons of the experience.

The Upside

I balanced out my brain
Two years immersed in business school balanced me out as a person. Before, I was comfortable with creating a vision, but unsure how to execute. I was comfortable with words, but avoided doing heavy lifting with numbers. After business school, I was as comfortable with strategy and implementation as with vision. I never grew to love math, but I could deal with it just fine. My classmates with more traditional backgrounds also balanced their brains, though in different ways: finance geniuses took classes about the "people side" of business. People who knew big companies learned about start-ups, and vice-versa.
I learned to see the big picture
Through the business school curriculum, I was trained to see organizations from the CEO's point of view. I learned how to understand an organization's big picture, think about strategy at the highest level and see how all the functional pieces fit together and support (or don't support) that big picture. That's been invaluable to my career.

Gained credibility

No question: I gained a lot of credibility through the degree. Even in the nonprofit sector, my M.B.A. gave me authority and a common language with donors and board members, who were often business people.

Developed relationships with amazing women
The women I met in business school were very different from my other friends. Many work in very corporate, male-dominated environments. They have a passion for business. They are smart, adventurous can do-ers who anyone would be lucky to have on their team. Right now they are doing things like figuring out the market viability of a new medicines, starting management consulting offices in Africa and overseeing divisions of major Internet companies…while running marathons on the weekends. They inspire me and enrich my life. And yes, I developed many wonderful friendships with great men as well.

Connections and resources
It's often said that the best reason to get an M.B.A. is the network.If you are planning to go into a typical M.B.A. career (investing, management consulting, etc.) that network is particularly valuable, because you'll meet many people relevant to your career. If you are planning a less traditional M.B.A. career--such as one in the nonprofit sector--the network may be less valuable, but it's still a significant asset.

On the Other Hand: M.B.A. Myth-Busting
"I'll still be able keep up with everything in my life"
Most M.B.A. programs (even part-time ones) are intense and immersive. Most women I know set out with great intentions to keep in good touch with family and friends, stay well-rested and in shape, take time to reflect on their experience and all of that good stuff. Most of us failed miserably. It can be done, but it takes good boundaries and real commitment.

"I'll find the answer to, What should I do with my life?"

A lot of people go to business school with the idea that the classes, internships and time out of the workforce will allow them to figure out what they want to do with their lives. For most people I know, business school didn't do that. The intensity of the M.B.A. experience, the early start of recruiting for jobs and the nature of career services at most business schools are not conducive to that.

"What should I do with my life?" is a really important question. It gets answered by setting aside time to do the real work of identifying your interests, strengths and lifestyle needs, and by having the courage to face the truth about what is and isn't important to you--what really makes you happy. It's about looking inward and stepping into a more authentic you. It's about finding the courage to do that. Business school can't do that for you. Business school can't even help you do it.
"Once I have an M.B.A. then I’ll be able to…."

Sometimes women who want to change the world think they need a particular degree or education to before they can start that organization or business, before they can feel more confident, exercise more leadership or speak up about their ideas. That's a cop out.
An M.B.A. has many wonderful benefits, but many women also use it as cozy way to postpone stepping out of their comfort zones, owning their abilities now and taking some risks to pursue their dreams. Ask yourself: are you doing that? Pay attention to the answer--the one that comes from your gut not from your head.

For me, the training I received was more than worth it, for all the reasons outlined above. What an M.B.A. can offer is very valuable and tangible: skills, knowledge, connections--and the degree itself.
If you are looking to business school for more than that--for end to insecurities or a roadmap to pursuing your dreams, be careful. Only you can give yourself that, and you can give yourself that starting now.

Tara Sophia Mohr, a 2006 graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is a coach and writer. You can receive her free goals guide, "Turning Your Goals Upside Down and Inside Out (To Get What You Really Want)" here. Follow her on Twitter @tarasophia.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/23/mba-business-school-education-forbes-woman-leadership-networking_3.html 







 
 

Admissions Q&A: Cornell

Randall Sawyer says Cornell is looking for team players who are intellectually curious and passionate about the school 

Randall Sawyer doesn't mind that people think Cornell's Johnson School of Management (Cornell Full-Time MBA Profile) is a friendly place. The Ithaca (N.Y.) school values MBAs who work well with others, and their passion for the school often influences prospective students. Says Sawyer: "We have a lot of people here who love the Cornell experience, so when people come up to visit, our people are very friendly to them."
But Sawyer, the school's assistant dean of admissions, financial aid, and inclusion, doesn't want anyone to assume that because this Ivy League B-school is friendly, students aren't hitting the books. "I can assure you that friendly does not equal lack of academic rigor," he says. "I don't want anybody to think it's easy, because it's not."
Sawyer recently spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek's Zachary Tracer about what it takes to get into Cornell and how living in Ithaca affects the job search. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.
Zachary Tracer: What is unique about the Johnson School, and why should an applicant pick it over other business schools?
Randall Sawyer: I think we're unique for a lot of different reasons. Students who come to the Johnson School have the opportunity the second semester to take our immersion program. [It's] a program that immerses you, for lack of a better phrase, in the program you want to study. For example, if you want to do brand management, then all the classes you take—every lecture, guest speaker, theory, case study, field trip in the second semester—has to do with brand management. Also, we're a very collaborative community.
What sort of student are you looking for at the Johnson School?
We're looking for people who are academically or intellectually curious. We're looking for students who see value in a community, in working together in teams. I often say to students, if you like to go to class and then go home by yourself and study by yourself, Cornell's probably not the right school for you. I think that predominantly, we have a lot of type A students, like every other business school, but our folks are very outgoing and very excited to be at Cornell. There's a reputation that goes along with Cornell, and they're excited to be here and be a part of Cornell's legacy.
Drilling down a bit into admissions, are you looking for a minimum number of years of work experience?
We have students with limited or no work experience all the way through [several years of work experience]. I think this year we have a couple of students with 9-plus years of work experience, so we really run the gamut. When we look at the average candidate and how many years of work experience they have, traditionally in the average class we see 4 to 5 years of work experience. But if you have one or two or zero, [that doesn't] preclude you from getting into the class.
What about the GMAT? Is there a minimum score you want to see?
We really don't have minimums on the GMAT. While our average is traditionally in the high 600s or low 700s, and our median is somewhere in the 700 to 710 [range], I urge everyone to apply. Some people are bad test takers, and we can talk about that.
When you are reading through these applications, what are some of the most common mistakes you see?
First off, I'd like everybody to answer the questions. When you're done writing, take off the questions and give your answers to a friend and say, "What's the question here?" If they can give you the [question] back, then you've done very well. If they can't, then maybe you should go back and tune it up a little. A lot of students copy and paste their essays if the questions are close enough.
So when I read, "and that's why I want to be at Wharton," I go, "O.K., well, you're going to the deny pile, because this is Cornell."
Do you have any tips on how students should choose recommenders?
I always urge students to pick two great references to write the letters of recommendation. But they have to sit down with these people and say to them, "Can you write me a positive recommendation?" If [a recommender] says, "I'm not really sure if I can," the student can use it as a wonderful learning opportunity. Put their pride in check for a moment and say, "Could you explain for a moment why you wouldn't? Help me understand how I can be better or do better." And that can lead to some really eye-opening conversations.
Who then do you specifically recommend that people get their references from?
A direct supervisor, someone who does their performance evaluations. If you can't get your current direct supervisor, how about one whom you've had at your job [in] the last couple of years.
Once you've reviewed the applications, what percentage of people get an interview, and how do you recommend they prepare for it?
We probably interview about 50 percent, sometimes 40 percent. If you get an interview with the Johnson School, you probably have a little less than a one-in-two chance of getting an offer from us. Our interviews are more conversational than they are stand-and-deliver. I cue off the conversation you and I have. I'll get the answers to the questions I want, but I won't directly ask you, "Can you tell me about your leadership skills." I always ask students to be prepared to address anything on their résumé.
There has recently been a big increase in the percentage of women in the Cornell MBA program, from 28 percent to 39 percent. Could tell me how you achieved that?
We're affiliated with a number of organizations like Forté [Foundation] and the Consortium of Management Leaders for Tomorrow. One of the things we want to do is increase our diversity numbers and our women numbers. We started strategically using our Forté affiliation to award Forté fellowships. In addition, we have a program whereby if you were to apply to the Johnson program, and we made you an offer, you would hear from one of our first years and one of our second years, as well as from one of our alums [who's] near where you live and one of our alums who is working in the industry you're interested in. So when it came to women, we had a lot of our women alums make those phone calls. And I think that when a woman prospective student talks to [an] alumna who has faced the same challenges that woman is going to have in front of her, that conversation makes a difference.
Are there any curricular changes that have occurred recently or are planned for the next few years that students should know about?
We've added a few concentrations that you can acquire your second year, in finance, and marketing, and so forth. You might come in and study sustainable global enterprise and end up getting a concentration your second year in finance or something like that. That provides us with a little bit of flexibility for the second year students to hone another skill.
Could you tell me about some of the downsides of living in Ithaca?
We lose some great students to the very southern schools because they can golf every month they are at school. You cannot golf every month here. Ithaca is four hours away from New York City. Our investment bankers go down every Thursday or Friday to do their informational interviews and to start building their network, and that's the cost of doing business. It means it's going to be more work on your part to build that network, but there are a lot of students in the city who go for investment banking, they go to Columbia or NYU, and they don't get jobs. People think you need to go to school close to where you want to work—you don't need to.
Do you have any trouble getting recruiters to come to Ithaca?
We do. We have a healthy crop of recruiters who do come. We do our best to work with [recruiters] for résumé drops. Sometimes they may just pick a handful of students and fly them to wherever they are.
Last year, just 75 percent of your students received a job offer within 3 months of graduation. How are you working to help students find jobs, particularly given the state of the economy?
We hadn't seen numbers like that since [after] the tech bubble. We have started an alumni outreach [program] whereby we ask our alumni that they find one job [for a Cornell MBA graduate] in the company they're working for. We also continue to build our reputation and our relationships with longtime employers. We had a day in the [Bay Area] and a day in Boston last year—we flew our students or they drove to different cities where we paired up with other schools to have spaces and students available for recruiters. They could have an opportunity to go to one location where all the students from our schools were going to be, and then we set up breakout rooms and interview rooms for them and did résumé drops for them.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2010/bs2010084_030469_page_2.htm

 

The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching

In their book, Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track, authors Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg point out that today's education system is seriously flawed -- it focuses on teaching rather than learning. "Why should children -- or adults -- be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can?" the authors ask in the following excerpt from the book. "Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create?"

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught."

-- Oscar Wilde

Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without its being taught to us. A child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being taught these things. Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is remembered is irrelevant.

In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Most of what is remembered is remembered only for a short time, but then is quickly forgotten. (How many remember how to take a square root or ever have a need to?) Furthermore, even young children are aware of the fact that most of what is expected of them in school can better be done by computers, recording machines, cameras, and so on. They are treated as poor surrogates for such machines and instruments. Why should children -- or adults, for that matter -- be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can? Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create?

When those who have taught others are asked who in the classes learned most, virtually all of them say, "The teacher." It is apparent to those who have taught that teaching is a better way to learn than being taught. Teaching enables the teacher to discover what one thinks about the subject being taught. Schools are upside down: Students should be teaching and faculty learning.

After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture. After some complimentary remarks, he asked, "How long ago did you teach your first class?"

I responded, "In September of 1941."

"Wow!" The student said. "You mean to say you have been teaching for more than 60 years?"

"Yes."

"When did you last teach a course in a subject that existed when you were a student?"

This difficult question required some thought. After a pause, I said, "September of 1951."

"Wow! You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught to you; you had to learn on your own?"

"Right."

"You must be a pretty good learner."

I modestly agreed.

The student then said, "What a shame you're not that good a teacher."

The student had it right; what most faculty members are good at, if anything, is learning rather than teaching. Recall that in the one-room schoolhouse, students taught students. The teacher served as a guide and a resource but not as one who force-fed content into students' minds.

Ways of Learning

There are many different ways of learning; teaching is only one of them. We learn a great deal on our own, in independent study or play. We learn a great deal interacting with others informally -- sharing what we are learning with others and vice versa. We learn a great deal by doing, through trial and error. Long before there were schools as we know them, there was apprenticeship -- learning how to do something by trying it under the guidance of one who knows how. For example, one can learn more architecture by having to design and build one's own house than by taking any number of courses on the subject. When physicians are asked whether they leaned more in classes or during their internship, without exception they answer, "Internship."

In the educational process, students should be offered a wide variety of ways to learn, among which they could choose or with which they could experiment. They do not have to learn different things the same way. They should learn at a very early stage of "schooling" that learning how to learn is largely their responsibility -- with the help they seek but that is not imposed on them.

The objective of education is learning, not teaching.

There are two ways that teaching is a powerful tool of learning. Let's abandon for the moment the loaded word teaching, which is unfortunately all too closely linked to the notion of "talking at" or "lecturing," and use instead the rather awkward phrase explaining something to someone else who wants to find out about it. One aspect of explaining something is getting yourself up to snuff on whatever it is that you are trying to explain. I can't very well explain to you how Newton accounted for planetary motion if I haven't boned up on my Newtonian mechanics first. This is a problem we all face all the time, when we are expected to explain something. (Wife asks, "How do we get to Valley Forge from home?" And husband, who does not want to admit he has no idea at all, excuses himself to go to the bathroom; he quickly Googles Mapquest to find out.) This is one sense in which the one who explains learns the most, because the person to whom the explanation is made can afford to forget the explanation promptly in most cases; but the explainers will find it sticking in their minds a lot longer, because they struggled to gain an understanding in the first place in a form clear enough to explain.

The second aspect of explaining something that leaves the explainer more enriched, and with a much deeper understanding of the subject, is this: To satisfy the person being addressed, to the point where that person can nod his head and say, "Ah, yes, now I understand!" explainers must not only get the matter to fit comfortably into their own worldview, into their own personal frame of reference for understanding the world around them, they also have to figure out how to link their frame of reference to the worldview of the person receiving the explanation, so that the explanation can make sense to that person, too. This involves an intense effort on the part of the explainer to get into the other person's mind, so to speak, and that exercise is at the heart of learning in general. For, by practicing repeatedly how to create links between my mind and another's, I am reaching the very core of the art of learning from the ambient culture. Without that skill, I can only learn from direct experience; with that skill, I can learn from the experience of the whole world. Thus, whenever I struggle to explain something to someone else, and succeed in doing so, I am advancing my ability to learn from others, too.

Learning through Explanation

This aspect of learning through explanation has been overlooked by most commentators. And that is a shame, because both aspects of learning are what makes the age mixing that takes place in the world at large such a valuable educational tool. Younger kids are always seeking answers from older kids -- sometimes just slightly older kids (the seven-year old tapping the presumed life wisdom of the so-much-more-experienced nine year old), often much older kids. The older kids love it, and their abilities are exercised mightily in these interactions. They have to figure out what it is that they understand about the question being raised, and they have to figure out how to make their understanding comprehensible to the younger kids. The same process occurs over and over again in the world at large; this is why it is so important to keep communities multi-aged, and why it is so destructive to learning, and to the development of culture in general, to segregate certain ages (children, old people) from others.

What went on in the one-room schoolhouse is much like what I have been talking about. In fact, I am not sure that the adult teacher in the one-room schoolhouse was always viewed as the best authority on any given subject! Long ago, I had an experience that illustrates that point perfectly. When our oldest son was eight years old, he hung around (and virtually worshiped) a very brilliant 13-year-old named Ernie, who loved science. Our son was curious about everything in the world. One day he asked me to explain some physical phenomenon that lay within the realm of what we have come to call "physics"; being a former professor of physics, I was considered a reasonable person to ask. So, I gave him an answer -- the "right" answer, the one he would have found in books. He was greatly annoyed. "That's not right!" he shouted, and when I expressed surprise at his response, and asked him why he would say so, his answer was immediate: "Ernie said so and so, which is totally different, and Ernie knows." It was an enlightening and delightful experience for me. It was clear that his faith in Ernie had been developed over a long time, from long experience with Ernie's unfailing ability to build a bridge between their minds -- perhaps more successfully, at least in certain areas, than I had been.

One might wonder how on earth learning came to be seen primarily a result of teaching. Until quite recently, the world's great teachers were understood to be people who had something fresh to say about something to people who were interested in hearing their message. Moses, Socrates, Aristotle, Jesus -- these were people who had original insights, and people came from far and wide to find out what those insights were. One can see most clearly in Plato's dialogues that people did not come to Socrates to "learn philosophy," but rather to hear Socrates' version of philosophy (and his wicked and witty attacks on other people's versions), just as they went to other philosophers to hear (and learn) their versions. In other words, teaching was understood as public exposure of an individual's perspective, which anyone could take or leave, depending on whether they cared about it.

No one in his right mind thought that the only way you could become a philosopher was by taking a course from one of those guys. On the contrary, you were expected to come up with your own original worldview if you aspired to the title of philosopher. This was true of any and every aspect of knowledge; you figured out how to learn it, and you exposed yourself to people who were willing to make their understanding public if you thought it could be a worthwhile part of your endeavor. That is the basis for the formation of universities in the Middle Ages -- places where thinkers were willing to spend their time making their thoughts public. The only ones who got to stay were the ones whom other people ("students") found relevant enough to their own personal quests to make listening to them worthwhile.

By the way, this attitude toward teaching has not disappeared. When quantum theory was being developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century, aspiring atomic physicists traveled to the various places where different theorists were developing their thoughts, often in radically different directions. Students traveled to Bohr's institute to find out how he viewed quantum theory, then to Heisenberg, to Einstein, to Schrodinger, to Dirac, and so on. What was true of physics was equally true of art, architecture...you name it. It is still true today. One does not go to Pei to learn "architecture"; one goes to learn how he does it -- that is, to see him "teach" by telling and showing you his approach. Schools should enable people to go where they want to go, not where others want them to.

Malaise of Mass Education

The trouble began when mass education was introduced. It was necessary

• To decide what skills and knowledge everyone has to have to be a productive citizen of a developed country in the industrial age

• To make sure the way this information is defined and standardized, to fit into the standardization required by the industrial culture

• To develop the means of describing and communicating the standardized information (textbooks, curricula)

• To train people to comprehend the standardized material and master the means of transmitting it (teacher training, pedagogy)

• To create places where the trainees (children) and the trainers (unfortunately called teachers, which gives them a status they do not deserve) can meet -- so-called schools (again a term stolen from a much different milieu, endowing these new institutions with a dignity they also do not deserve)

• And, to provide the coercive backing necessary to carry out this major cultural and social upheaval

In keeping with all historic attempts to revolutionize the social order, the elite leaders who formulated the strategy, and those who implemented it, perverted the language, using terms that had attracted a great deal of respect in new ways that turned their meanings upside down, but helped make the new order palatable to a public that didn't quite catch on. Every word -- teacher, student, school, discipline, and so on -- took on meanings diametrically opposed to what they had originally meant.

Consider this one example from my recent experience. I attended a conference of school counselors, where the latest ideas in the realm of student counseling were being presented. I went to a session on the development of self-discipline and responsibility, wondering what these concepts mean to people embedded in traditional schooling. To me, self-discipline means the ability to pursue one's goals without outside coercion; responsibility means taking appropriate action on one's own initiative, without being goaded by others. To the people presenting the session, both concepts had to do solely with the child's ability to do his or her assigned class work. They explained that a guidance counselor's proper function was to get students to understand that responsible behavior meant doing their homework in a timely and effective manner, as prescribed, and self-discipline meant the determination to get that homework done. George Orwell was winking in the back of the room.

Today, there are two worlds that use the word education with opposite meanings: one world consists of the schools and colleges (and even graduate schools) of our education complex, in which standardization prevails. In that world, an industrial training mega-structure strives to turn out identical replicas of a product called "people educated for the twenty-first century"; the second is the world of information, knowledge, and wisdom, in which the realpopulation of the world resides when not incarcerated in schools. In that world, learning takes place like it always did, and teaching consists of imparting one's wisdom, among other things, to voluntary listeners.

http://knowledge-stage.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2032&specialid=80