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2.11.2011

College for a healthy economy

As I've explored before, attending college is bad for our brains. So what?

  • Isn't high school bad for our brains too? Yes!
  • Won't the employment for college graduates be as bad for their brains as college courses and college prep was for them? Yes!
  • Isn't college as bad for the brains of faculty and administrators as for the students? Yes!
  • Isn't it good to get adapted to environments that are bad for our brains in order to benefit from steady employment and high incomes? That depends!

As I've pondered this "bad for our brains" issue further, it seems it's inevitable for a toxic portion of our economy that machines high volumes of consistent outcomes. The pressure to deliver reliable results on a committed schedule creates employment that is bad for our brains. Anyone who plans on a career machining these results needs to get adapted to all that debilitating adversity in college.

There are other facets of our economy that can be good for our brains. I expect these sectors to grow in the near future while those which crank out consistent products, services and programming fade from their preeminent position. These healthy facets of the economy:

  • provide individualized attention to each beneficiary
  • employ self structuring talent to fill continually changing roles
  • solve problems as they arise in the context of that beneficiary
  • rely on the intrinsic motivation and good judgement of each caregiver
  • work with the beneficiaries in collaborative, peer2peer arrangements
  • produce new innovations that happily vary from previous ones
  • involve continual growth, learning and personal development for each participant

Preparation for contributing to this economy requires college experiences that are good for brains. They need as much preliminary adaptation to prepare for future healthy employment as those getting inured to debilitating adversity. This sector will redefine what is meant by the term "healthy economy" from capital flows, trade balances and employment levels to economic activities that are equally good for our brains as for our financial measures.

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