"as
teachers we should strive to be the ordinary heros the moral exemplars to the
people we mentor"
"Tunnelling is the awarding of contracts to firms owned by
family members. Chaebol heads typically own only a small
portion of their firms, but are able to maintain control through complex cross-holdings;
tunnelling offers a means of exploiting that control to get richer, quicker. In
2007, for instance, the Fair Trade Commission, an official watchdog, fined
Hyundai Motor for, among other things, giving 1.3 trillion won ($1.4 billion)
of business to Glovis, a firm owned by the son of Hyundai’s chairman—without
any tendering." The conglomerate forces of South Korea have a
similar impact on governance as the Chinese conglomerates, also running in the
same (non democratic) fashion, but as all governments are business run,
including the United States, we should give fair notice to the rising economies
of the day and how nothings changed.
Another similarity between China and South Korea has to do with
the leader being a business man himself (Lee Myung Bak) ordering all
conglomerates to do something whether it is hire more women or more youth
without a degree. Glutted with Grads
Once you go up, you must come down. South Korea is an amazing feat. Very
interesting among economists and IR scholars alike. Due to its rise a mix
of people have been thrown together. Those who knew life without
technology or even electricity are suddenly thrown into the mix with the
iPhone. Generation gap is much bigger, culture, etiquette, and tradition
seemed to be melting in the face of technological development for the sake of
making a buck. Well not just any buck, a lot of bucks. But can
South Korea handle the natural flow of an economy's downturn? When such a
spike of success leads to great wealth and overspending, just like the US is
there regulation and watchdogs or moderate the natural downward flow? Can
Koreans of this generation live without all the accessories if need be.
Asia is pretty good at doing what is needed or the whole, however basic
community values, as I have said, have been lost. Such as humility and
selflessness. I think nowadays that is only found in the country side
where less than 1/3 of the country's population lives.
We
are trying so hard to protect ourselves, in the US, that we lose site of what
really founded the innovative country we are so proud of. That the freedom
to create something out of nothing. Nowadays with the numerous
regulations everyone needs just to get an entry level job people are being
squeezed into this Korean-like education system of higher is better.
Whats wrong with vocational school? Does nobody want to fix cars
anymore? If no one fixes, improves, sells the cars, where is our
automobile industry headed?
"His
ideas are of particular importance in the context of this country’s ongoing
shortage of students entering the critical STEM fields: science, technology,
engineering, and math. And the irony was certainly not lost on Jobs—a
remarkably astute observer of social norms, cultural dynamics, and the behavior
of young people—that a country with a ravenous appetite for technology must
figure out some way to increase the production of it."
If
you want to get back in the game allow Americans to innovate education
themselves. If making it a business is what it takes, we have the
legislation to protect workers when people get too greedy.... now just
implement it and let those innovators go!
Overall
a balance between the rule of law and the slack there of is needed to improve
our education system in the US and drive innovators to compete on a level
playing field with the Asian conglomerates. Asia also needs a balance to
protect their citizen's investments and avoid fraud and overworked citizens.
