Big Data, it seems, is suddenly very big. Among the social scientists with whom I spend time, newly massive, deep-tissue-massaged bodies of data have found currency. As a research tool, the emergent technique seems to promise a rehabilitation of conventional, sometimes dismayingly narrow, quantitative analysis because it involves the use not just of MORE raw [...]
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March 10th, 2013 In trying to understand how American high-tech education forecloses political criticality, I’ve been reading a 1982 article by Michael Ryan in Yale French Studies called “Deconstruction and Radical Teaching.” Ryan writes of emerging justifications for the growing capitalist influence on “the social and cultural life of the U.S. and much of the world,” including as [...] February 24th, 2013 Last week I visited UCSB to talk about ideas circulating around labor, education and high-tech innovation in America today. I had prepared a couple of talks that weren’t exactly upbeat; I have little confidence in the promises currently being made about biotech, greentech, and nanotech as sources of “middle skills” jobs, as this blog has [...] December 1st, 2012
Edie Fraser, meet Adam Davidson. Fraser, an expert on human resource issues in STEM-dependent industries, is the author of “The Root of Real Jobs: Filling the STEM Talent Gap.” This piece appeared in the Huffington Post the other day and can best be described as skills-gap boilerplate. The widely circulating trope that she makes [...] November 17th, 2012 Itching to know which ideas about the economy actually solidified during the recent campaign season? Which ones Obama toted, intact, through the onslaught of right-wing rants about the 47% (according to Romney, people who remain jobless because lazy…or, shiftless AND shiftless—get it?!), now to function as memes for the second term? Then you might want [...] April 29th, 2012
Poster from Federal Art Project/WPA This blog usually focuses on opening the door to science occupations for groups traditionally under-represented in those fields. Obviously, one aim here is the creation of more opportunities for rewarding and remunerative STEM-related careers for women, minorities and persons with disabilities. All good. But I have to [...] January 25th, 2012 In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama took another step in his effort to rebrand community colleges. He sees the nation’s two-year colleges as playing a big role in preparing those who will work in emerging high-tech manufacturing industries. Putting worries about his job-creation strategy aside for a minute (I’ll believe [...] October 25th, 2011 I can hear the disgust in his voice. When Michael Ellsberg tells us that college is a waste of time for many creative Americans, based on his observation that our most successful inventors and entrepreneurs (such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg) typically never finish their undergraduate degrees, his contempt for higher education [...] August 29th, 2011 An article in Sunday’s New York Times magazine, focused on lithium-ion battery makers in Michigan, does a nice job of laying out the many factors involved in creating manufacturing jobs for Americans. In “Make or Break,” author Jon Gertner describes prevailing business models that discourage the slow-return, incremental investments needed to bring new factories into [...] August 1st, 2011 Is it safe to assume that when CNN reports on a presidential economic or educational initiative that’s been around for awhile, there’s some serious White House PR effort under way? A “CNNMoney” column today titled “Recovery at Risk: Community Colleges Step in to Fill ‘Skills Gap’” by Tami Luhby lays out the basics of [...] |
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