True Grit

For my kin and I, childhood summers were often spent on our grandparents’ farm.  I can remember 6 am peal of my grandfather’s cowbell rousing us from our slumber for another day of farm work.  Unlike Christopher Walken, I would have been fine with less cowbell.

Our grandparents had a simple and effective ways of motivating their grandchildren in their various work projects.  They paid a prorated salary, where workers got $2 dollars an hour and “shirkers” got 50 cents. It was a simpler time, before iPods and smartphones, and a couple weeks on the farm would provide a ten year old with enough cash to buy fireworks and bubble tape to last most of the year.  While they gave generous and unsolicited opinions about our wood stacking and fence building skills, it was (and is) clear that they cared about us and were more interested in our character development then our ability to rake gravel. Suffice to say $2 an hour was motivation for enough for all of us, and esteem as a “hard worker” was highest praise from our depression era grandparents.

I am part of the education team at BGI, and this quarter we are studying KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools, a non-profit charter network that seeks to increase college enrollment and completion for low-income students. It has been very successful. As of 2011, 94% of its students graduate from high school and 84% start college.  But this is only part of the problem.  Only 36% of its students complete their four-year degrees.  What is missing?

ONE Goal, is a Chicago based college persistence program that works with low-income high school students. It boasts a 95% college enrollment rate, and even more remarkably, 85% of its students graduate from college.

Like KIPP, ONE Goal, focuses on five principles of leadership: resilience, ambition, resourcefulness, integrity, and professionalism.

Paul Tough is researcher and writer who recently addressed the issue of student success in his fascinating book How Students Succeed.  He posits that while intelligence has historically believed to be the most powerful indicator of academic success, a growing body of research suggests that the intangible soft skills of perseverance, hard work, optimism and curiosity are actually more important. Much of his book is based on his research of similar program to KIPP, called ONE Goal.

The reason that this works, Tough says, is programs that are challenging and reward effort and encourage autonomy result in a heightened sense of personal agency.  In other words, if you are told given the resources to succeed, but also told that you are the architect of your future, your ability to do well is greatly improved.

Both KIPP and One Goal emphasize soft skills and qualitative criteria of character in addition to academic rigor. Why One Goal is so much more effective at securing college completion than KIPP is not entirely clear, as they seem to be similar programs.  At the same time, KIPP with its college completion rate of 38 percent is still higher than societal average of the United States. Perhaps we all could take a page from their book.

While it is hard to argue with the efficacy of the ONE Goal approach, many teachers balk at the prospect of becoming “character coaches” a role many belief outside the purview of educators.  In an era where teachers are feeling increasingly scrutinized and criticized, perhaps the onus for these things should be on parents or community leaders.   This is very valid concern, however, many students do not have the luxury of a stable home life. As a society, I believe it is time we recognize education as a holistic empowerment and equipping for life, rather than a dissemination of academic information.

That is one commonality that I have seen with our BGI education. I have found that the qualities that have served me best are persistence and endurance through the rewarding and arduous learning process here. I believe this renewed sense of self-direction and agency will be more valuable than the important knowledge I am learning.

Grandparents would approve. Though I no longer spend most of my wages on fireworks and bubble gum, I can appreciate the invaluable lessons that they taught me. Life is a gift and you get what you put into it. It is yours to live, and to have the means and agency to follow your passion is the greatest of privileges.

Paul Bunyan Needs A Makerbot

One day over Christmas break, my father and I were participating in his favorite pastime; cutting up trees for firewood in the our native Ozark hills. During a break, he lamented the poor design of a chainsaw fuel cap, which had broken in half as he tightened it that afternoon.

Musing aloud, I wondered if we could get a 3D printer to make a new one of better plastic.  Our subsequent conversation sparked some interest regarding what 3D printers could mean for businesses and the future of innovation.

3-D printer is a machine that makes 3 dimensional  solid objects from a digital model. It does this by adding successive layers of material with multiple passes from a printer. After multiple passes, it creates the object.  This is distinct from traditional machining which drills and cuts away material from a solid block to create the object.

3-D printers and rapid protyping machines have been around for over twenty years, but recent technological developments have made them affordable for DIY hobbyists. Makerbot is a company that has been instrumental in bringing 3D to the masses. Founded in 2009, it’s goal has been to bring desktop 3D printing to the consumers at an affordable price.  Current versions of their Replicator model cost under $1800.

I listened to a recent interview of Bre Pettis, Makerbot CEO and cofounder, and was intrigued by his vision for 3D printing, particularly with respect to industry disruption.  Pettis believes that the 3D printer is an example of “democratizing technology”, and  will in turn spur innovative ideas and businesses.

Many of us have seen Square, a smart phone attachment that allows small retailers to scan credit cards without costly credit card contracts and equipment.  Square Helper is a small plastic device that keeps the Square from spinning around its jack when the card is swiped.  A simple invention, Square Helper has been made possible because of the capabilities of the makerbot, which manufactures these units at extremely low cost, and small scales. It is also significant because it allows someone to manufacture with very low capital investment, compared to plastic extrusion and molds.

Another customer that has seen the potential of the makerbot is NASA. It has recently used a makerbot to prototype for its research. Ford plans to supply desktop units for every engineer's work station.  This is significant in its savings for rapid prototyping, compressing  the iterative design process from weeks to hours.

DIY enthusiasts are excited as well.  I recently perused Thingaverse, a website that provides opensource 3D digital models for hobbyists to print. I was astonished by the variety of useful (and not so useful) things that people had made. Everything from camera lens caps to Ipod holders, even a bicycle.  All of which were replicable by someone with internet and a 3D printer.

In the same way that Youtube and cheap video making equipment have democraticized media and art, it will be exciting to see what cheap and accessible 3D printing will do for design and innovation.