Connecting the Dots

1. Connecting the Dots

2. Connecting the Dots A Gwendolyn Trotter Production

3. Connecting the Dots A Gwendolyn Trotter Production With a little help from her friends

4. Let’s start with our “Dot #1” – Dr. Joe A. Lee, President, Alabama State University(2006, August 16)

5. “There’s a mousetrap in the farmhouse.”

6. “There’s a mousetrap in the farmhouse.”

7. And his famous Einstein quote….

8. However, it is not only that if we keep doing what we have always done we will not move ahead. If we keep doing what we have always done, we are even unlikely to achieve the same success as in the past, as conditions change.

9. Thomas Friedman helps us to see the mousetrap and understand Einstein a little better… he helps us to

10. CONNECT THE DOTS

11. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century Thomas L. Friedman Pulitzer Prize Winning Author New York Times Journalist

12. How Many of You Have Read This Book on Globalization?

13. Christopher Columbus assumed the world was round and that he could reach India by going west from Spain.

14. Christopher Columbus assumed the world was round and that he could reach India by going west from Spain. He miscalculated the distance and could not find a water route through the Americas. However, he was glad to make the Indians he met his slaves and to take their riches for Spain.

15. Thomas Friedman set out for India, from the US. He flew east, via Europe.

16. Thomas Friedman set out for India, from the US. He flew east, via Europe. He, too, found Indians, but instead of seeking their gold, silver, silk, and spices, he found software, brainpower, knowledge workers, and call centers.

17. What Friedman found shook his faith in the notion that the world is round. He found Americans in India and Indians who had taken American names.

18. What Friedman found shook his faith in the notion that the world is round. He found Americans in India and Indians who had taken American names. He found Indians doing imitations of American accents and running call centers, software labs, banking operations, accounting operations, etc.

19. He learned that in 2003, 25,000 US tax returns were done in India. In 2004, that number rose to 100,000. Last year it was estimated to be 400,000.

20. He learned that in 2003, 25,000 US tax returns were done in India. In 2004, that number rose to 100,000. Last year it was estimated to be 400,000. Next year????

21. There are currently about 245,000 Indians answering phones from all over the world or dialing out to solicit people for credit cards or cell phones.

22. There are currently about 245,000 Indians answering phones from all over the world or dialing out to solicit people for credit cards or cell phones. In America, these were low-wage, low-prestige jobs. In India, they became high-wage, high-prestige jobs. India competes for them.

23. The Globalizing World • When you live in China and are “one in a million,” there are 1,300 other people who are also “one in a million.”

24. The Globalizing World • When you live in China and are “one in a million,” there are 1,300 other people who are also “one in a million.” • India will soon top this figure.

25. The Globalizing World • In the US, 60% of the nation’s top science students and 65% of the top math students are children of recent immigrants.

26. An Example from NASA Of NASA’s employees: • 40% are over 50 • Those with 20 years of government service are eligible for retirement • Only 4% are under 30

27. NASA is having difficulty hiring workers with the sufficient science, engineering, and technology skills

28. Why Is NASA Having Difficulty? • The number of American 18 to 24 year-olds who receive science degrees has fallen to 17th in the world.

29. Why Is NASA Having Difficulty? • The number of American 18 to 124 year-olds who receive science degrees has fallen to 17th in the world. • In the US, 31% of university students seek science or engineering degrees, compared to 60% in China.

30. Why Is NASA Having Difficulty? • The number of American 18 to 124 year-olds who receive science degrees has fallen to 17th in the world. • In the US, 31% of university students seek science or engineering degrees, compared to 60% in China. • The percentage of foreign-born Ph.D.s in science occupations in the US is now 38%. Those individuals can now work in their own countries with wages and conditions similar to here.

31. The world is flattening, if not already flat!

32. The world is flattening, if not already flat! Natural resources and geographic location no longer determine a nation’s potential. A nation’s power no longer determines an individual’s potential --

33. The world is flattening, if not already flat! Natural resources and geographic location no longer determine a nation’s potential. A nation’s power no longer determines an individual’s potential -- education, creativity, vision, and drivedo!

34. What does this mean for us here at Alabama State University?

35. My Job May Not Exist Five Years from Now –

36. My Job May Not Exist Five Years from Now –Yours May Not Either

37. Why My Job May Not Exist • Technology may replace me with interactive teaching/learning over the Internet from professors in India or the Philippines who will work at 1/10th of my wages

38. Why My Job May Not Exist • Technology may replace me with interactive teaching/learning over the Internet from professors in India or the Philippines who will work at 1/10th of my wages • Unless they are exceptional, there may be far less demand for our ASU education students as teachers, therefore less demand for us to prepare them

39. Why My Job May Not Exist • Technology may replace me with interactive teaching/learning over the Internet from professors in India or the Philippines who will work at 1/10th of my wages • Unless they are exceptional, there may be far less demand for our ASU education students as teachers, therefore less demand for us to prepare them • The state and national economies may not be globally competitive and there may be far less money for colleges

40. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Friedman’s Five Categories of Action: • Leadership • Muscles • Cushioning • Social Activism • Parenting

41. Leadership • Explain to people the world they are living in • Explain what they need to do to thrive in it • Inspire them to compete • Educate – knowledge, skills, and dispositions What does this tell us about advising our ASU students?

42. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Friedman’s Five Categories of Action: • Leadership • Muscles

43. Muscles • Lifetime employability is not guaranteed • Individual workers must manage their own careers, risks, and economic security • Government must provide the muscles: • Portable benefits • Opportunities for education and lifelong learning What does this imply about advising here at ASU?

44. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Friedman’s Five Categories of Action: • Leadership • Muscles • Cushioning

45. Cushions • Globalization, the flattening world, creates winners and losers -- some temporary, some more permanent • Every worker has both general and specific skills • When a worker is displaced from a job, the specific skills may no longer be applicable to other jobs • There must be a cushion (wage protection and education) to allow the worker to learn new skills\ How do we help our students to be able to be effective in the political arena to obtain such a cushion?

46. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Friedman’s Five Categories of Action: • Leadership • Muscles • Cushioning • Social Activism

47. Activism • The balance of power between global companies and their individual employees is shifting in favor of the companies – look at WalMart and the oil companies • Social and environmental activists are needed to help to force companies to be more profitable while making the flat world more livable How can we prepare our students, and ourselves, to be more effective advocates?

48. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Friedman’s Five Categories of Action: • Leadership • Muscles • Cushioning • Social Activism • Parenting

49. Parenting • Helping individuals adapt to a flat world is not only the job of schools, companies and governments – it is also the job of PARENTS How can we prepare our ASU students to be successful in working with parents, and AS parents?

50. Some Related Comments from Friedman’s July, 2006 Speech at the “Campus of the Future” Meeting in New York Selingo, J. (2006, July 12). Rethink higher education for a changing world: Best-selling author tells conference goers. The Chronicle of Higher Education, np.