Daily does of inspiration

Go to: http://online.wsj.com/public/page/journal-women.html

And click or search "Best Advice"-We asked 10 women leaders to
share their best advice with the rising generation of women.
Here's what they had to say.

Access to information and ideas

There has recently been a movement. A movement to open up ideas, to create forums, to create Think Tanks, to put great minds together to make great things happen.

How is it that for so long another aspect of this was overlooked? This video makes you think about making information publicly or even semi-publicly available. If great minds really do work together, then is there any limit to what we can achieve?

How can you channel that into your business, your organization, and your daily life? How are you going to bring the great minds together and make great things happen? Don't be scared of letting your ideas and knowledge out into the world, it's only through collaboration that great things can happen.

Rewarding Education

I read an article today that says the Gates Foundation will doing research into whether financial incentives for low-income students will be effective. It shows a few similar projects that have already been successful, such as an "incentive scholarship program for mostly African American single mothers attending community college in Louisiana". The program was showing to be strongly beneficial, but had to be stopped due to Hurricane Katrina. Another such example are students in elementary, middle and high schools in Chicago, New York and Washington D.C.

The debate turn to: if students will go to school only because of financial incentives, will this even change their behaviour in the long run? What if some classes they don't get paid for, will they not attend? Shouldn't classes and professors be reason enough to motivate students to attend?

Well, let's think about these arguments for a minute. In their underlying nature these arguments assume that students of low income don't go to class because they do not have a desire for the education itself and will only attend for the money. Clearly we can see the flaw with this argument, and while it may resonate with some students, making such requirements for the money as needing to achieve a certain grade point average and attending a certain amount of classes makes it seem really more like a widely spread available scholarship.

We hear so much complaining about why more people aren't getting educated, how students that have gone through university will on average be better off than their counterparts. Why wouldn't we try to implement any program that will help at least a handful of those students that can't attend school simply because the opportunity cost for them is too great- ie. they would have to give up their job for a few hours a week, aka their income for the family. If they are paid enough for that barrier to substantially decrease, then imagine what this dedicated and hard working student could achieve with a little more help. Doesn't everyone deserve the chance?