College is not for everyone, and while tuition and fees have increased over the past year by 14.1% for public institutions and 6% for private ones, there is a growing need for individuals to assess whether or not college is the best route to go (over the past two decades, these prices have doubled). Simply spending $20,000 a semester for a degree you won’t ever use is not always the best use of your time and resources. My goal in this post is not to persuade you one or the other what you should do, but to provoke you to ask fundamental questions before making a decision that will impact the rest of your life and career.
Before we start, there are some career options today that absolutely require graduate studies. If you want to become a doctor, psychiatrist, lawyer, dentist, or physicist (among other similar jobs), your only route is to immerse yourself in the college life, submit into a graduate program, and eventually get some kind of masters degree or Ph.D. With our current social institutions, there are no other ways to get these jobs without formal education at a higher learning facility. Before deciding not to go to college, make sure you have chosen a career path that doesn’t mandate it.
As the economic recession continues to prolong, many of those in the workforce, both employed and unemployed, are wondering if now is a good time to further their education in order to get a hedge in the job market. But spending another 2 years in the classroom may not be the best use of time, money, and labor which you could otherwise be spending learning on your own, networking with others, and starting your own productive endeavors. Today these alternative options are more available to us than ever before.
An article written last year in The Chronicle warned that graduate college may not be the best path to build careers in the humanities and arts. A lot of the information and advice can also be applied to businessmen, entrepreneurs, and other career choices that require more creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, which cannot always be fostered in an environment designed for standardized education. While most graduate programs integrate independent work and hands-on training, much of this can also be replicated in the work force through internships, entry-level jobs that have upward mobility, and our own self-directed studies – often achieved at a fraction of the price.
One major benefit of self-learning over formal education is that individuals can adapt a curriculum that fits their specific interests, and modify this curriculum as their studies progress. Here are some resources I have found particularly useful over the past year:
1) iTunes University (this is a direct link to the plug-in): This resource has literally thousands of video and audio lectures from over 100+ universities all over the world, including ivy leagues like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn State, and Cornell. They also have material for grades K-12 as well as “Beyond Campus” curriculum from other educational institutions. This is a truly indispensable resource for anyone who loves learning and never wants to stop. The biggest problem is that there are too many interesting lectures, and not enough time.
2) YouTube: Despite a lot of the nonsense and trash that gets posted by amateurs, there is also a lot of quality content here (if you are willing to search for it). OpenCulture.com has a great article called “70 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube” which has a large list of informative YouTube channels including videos from TED.com, Fora.tv, Google Talks, BigThink.com, National Geographic, New Scientist, among others. YouTube also has some full-length documentaries you can stream, and it’s a great place to search for interviews if you discover a new scholar, artist, businessman, or philosopher who you want to learn more about.
3) Wikipedia: Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia on the web. This is one of the first places I go whenever I hear of a new theory or concept. It is a resource best used to build breadth in a field or topic you don’t know anything about. One caveat, however, is to make sure that you follow-up on your sources at Wikipedia to see if they are valid, or to learn more about the subject. This is important because anyone can edit Wikipedia and insert wrong information. Although, studies have shown that Wikipedia has proven to be just as accurate (or have just as many errors per submission) as other reputable encyclopedias like Britannica. While college professors are often known for discouraging its use, Wikipedia is a valid resource.
4) News and blogs: I’ve found that having a diverse array of news sources and blogs is also a great way to stay informed about current events, politics, economics, science, health, business, etc. Over the past two months I have created three different feeds (NewsRoundup, PsychNews, and Libertarian Minds) to help stay up-to-date on my favorite websites. I like to wake up every morning and browse through the latest headlines, opening up new tabs on my browser, and then reading through the articles in between sips of coffee. This is a good way to build breadth, get introduced to new things that I wouldn’t otherwise know about, and just keep my mind sharp. As I discover new sites that I enjoy I add them to the feed.
5) Forums and social bookmarking: One not-yet-mentioned component of learning is being able to discuss these ideas with others and get new perspectives. Ever since I first discovered the internet I have been a part of one forum or another. These provided me with an avenue to talk about interests that I don’t usually share with friends or family. Social bookmarking sites are a way for users to post interesting links from all over the web and then discuss (or argue) about them. I currently spend a lot of my time using Reddit.com, but there are also other sites like Digg, Newsvine and Delicious. Don’t underestimate the utility of these sites. Knowledge without communication is just a bunch of ideas sitting in your head with nowhere to go. Being able to articulate what you have learned is a great step toward more effectively putting that knowledge to action.
Conclusion
The best part about all of these is that they are absolutely free. While some ideas you may find more useful than others, together I bet you can put together a very comprehensive educational program specifically designed to meet your goals.
My main point here is that there are alternatives to the blueprint provided to us by modern education. College and graduate school can seem like logical and safe-bets, but they also come with costs and limitations. Of course you won’t have a degree to show after listening to 30 lectures on iTunes, but you will have knowledge that you can hopefully apply to the real world (and often that is more important).
We are in an always evolving world in the midst of very fragile economic times. Following old blueprints may give us a sense of security, but they don’t always offer us the tools we need to move forward in the direction we want. Steering away from formal education is risky, and those who do it need to be motivated and self-directed if they want to be successful. It’s not for everyone, but it is an option that we don’t often hear about.
1. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker? by Noam Shpancer, Ph.D
- “In one recent study, healthy adults viewed fearful and calm faces while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure activity in the amygdale, the part of the brain that forms and stores emotional memories. Half of the participants were within 1.5 miles of the World Trade Center on 9/11 and the other half lived at least 200 miles away. Participants who were near the World Trade Center on 9/11 had significantly higher amygdale activity when looking at the fearful faces compared to those who were living more than 200 miles away. “Our findings suggest that there may be long-term neurobiological correlates of trauma exposure, even in people who appear resilient,” said Dr. Barbara Ganzel, the lead researcher, “We have known for a long time that trauma exposure can lead to subsequent vulnerability to mental health disorders years after the trauma. This research is giving us clues about the biology underlying that vulnerability.” When trauma and hardship do leave a mark, it is usually a bruise under the skin, not a notch on the belt.”
- Personal note: I’ve written from experience that I think some negative events can be transformed to make us stronger. I think these findings ultimately depend on the individual and their coping strategy. In general people have a tendency to let traumatic experiences keep them down, I think this research does a good job at illuminating this fact, although I by no means believe that “once broken, always broken.”
2. Cognition, Motivation Linked In The Brain by Todd Braver Ph.D, Washington University
- “[A study] published in the Journal of Neuroscience, identified a brain region about two inches above the left eyebrow that sprang into action whenever study participants were shown a dollar sign, a predetermined cue that a correct answer on the task at hand would result in a financial reward.
Using what researchers believe are short bursts of dopamine – the brain’s chemical reward system – the brain region then began coordinating interactions between the brain’s cognitive control and motivation networks, apparently priming the brain for a looming “show me the money” situation.
‘The surprising thing we see is that motivation acts in a preparatory manner,’ says Adam C. Savine, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in psychology at Washington University. ‘This region gears up when the money cue is on.’ “
- Excerpt 2:
- “In this kind of test, as in the workplace, many distractions exist. In the midst of a deadline project with an “eye on the prize,” the phone still rings, background noise of printers and copying machines persist, an interesting world outside the window beckons and colleagues drop in to seek advice. A person’s ability to control his or her cognition – all the things a brain takes in – is directly linked to motivation. Time also plays a big factor. A project due in three weeks can be completed with some distraction; a project due tomorrow inhibits a person’s response to interrupting friends and colleagues and allows clearer focus on the goal.”
3. Fear and the Biological Non-Existence of Morality by Srini Pillay, M.D.
- “The challenge in human existence is that our brain studies are showing us that the moral systems in the human brain live side by side with the formidable and often much more powerful systems for fear and craving and that the desire to forgive is also challenged by the desire for retribution. My point here is that these brain studies show that none of these ideas is absolute; that as human beings we are prone to a certain struggle of duality and opposites that live together in the brain, and that try as we may to restrain this, I do not believe that we can at the level of these systems. As Einstein said: ‘You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created’ – which begs the question: if we are to solve this internal battle, what “level” can we access to do this?”
4. Do-Gooders Get Voted Off Island First: People Don’t Really Like Unselfish Colleagues
- “Parks and Stone found that unselfish colleagues come to be resented because they ‘raise the bar’ for what is expected of everyone. As a result, workers feel the new standard will make everyone else look bad.
It doesn’t matter that the overall welfare of the group or the task at hand is better served by someone’s unselfish behavior, Parks said.
‘What is objectively good, you see as subjectively bad,’ he said.”
- Personal note: While this might reveal an ugly tendency in some humans, knowing this will be useful for organizations and businesses when trying to develop a social structure that limits tension between members or employees. I also wonder how true this is for professional sports teams which seem to share a strong collective identity.
5. Award-winning Research Launches Positive Neuroscience by Denise Clegg, Program Officer at the University of Pennsylvania
- “In July 2009, I described the The Positive Neuroscience Project of the University of Pennsylvania and the John Templeton Foundation, including a new research initiative inviting proposals for Positive Neuroscience Research Awards. The recipients of the 2010 Templeton Positive Neuroscience Awards have now been announced. $2.9 million has been given to 15 new research projects at the intersection of neuroscience and positive psychology. The winning projects explore a range of topics including how the brain enables humans to flourish, the biological bases of altruism, and the effects of positive interventions on the brain.”
- Personal note: I’ve written before about Positive Psychology and I am very glad to see that research is still advancing in the field. Taking a look at the neural correlates of these phenomena should shed a lot more light on how the brain corresponds to positive attitudes and mental well-being.
6. Test your attentional focus: is multi-tasking a good thing? by Dr. Pascale Michelon
- “Human attention is limited. Think about your attentional focus as the beam of a light. If the light is on an object it cannot be on other objects at the same time with the same intensity. Only dim light will be available to light up the objects in the periphery. The same happens in your attentional system. Dividing attention results in less attentional power devoted to all the different tasks that you are trying to do at the same time. The more tasks, the less attention can be devoted to each. The result is more errors and waste of time. Although we all have the feeling that multitasking saves us time, it is often not the case.”
7. Naming Tools Is A Hands-On Task
- “Brain imaging studies have shown that when you identify a tool by name, the part of your brain that’s involved in manipulating the tool also turns on. Jessica K. Witt, of Purdue University, heard about some of this research and wanted to know whether it’s possible to slow down the process of coming up with the name by making the hands busy. We said, ‘shouldn’t there be some behavioral consequences?”
In one experiment, each volunteer sat in front of a computer, squeezing a foam ball in one hand. They watched the screen while pictures appeared; each one showed either a tool or an animal. The participant was then supposed to name the tool or animal. People were generally slower at naming a tool if its handle was oriented toward the occupied hand. (They had no such problem with animals.)
The results suggest that keeping the hand which was closer to the tool’s handle busy interfered with people’s ability to think about the tool and retrieve its name. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.”
8. Laughter Can Play Key Role In Group Dynamics Even In A Serious Situation
- “[Researchers] found that ‘laughter matters, even when it is a serious group task,’ Keyton says. ‘Laughter is natural, but we try to suppress it in formal settings. So, when it happens, it’s worth closer examination.’
For example, at one point a jury was unclear on whether a sentence related to one of the charges was for 30 days or 30 years. This confusion led to widespread laughter. ‘The laughter allowed the jurors to release some tension, while also allowing them to acknowledge they had made an error – so they could move forward with that error corrected,’ Keyton says.
‘Laughter is one way of dealing with ambiguity and tension in situations where a group is attempting to make consequential decisions and informal power dynamics are in play,’ Keyton says. ‘There are very few opportunities to see group decision making, with major consequences, in a public setting,’ Keyton explains. ‘It is usually done in private, such as in corporate board meetings or judicial proceedings. But laughter is something that occurs frequently, and not only because something is funny. Nobody in the jury was laughing at jokes.’
9. Loading up on berries a smart way to boost brain function
- “A study presented at the American Chemical Society national meeting Monday concludes blueberries, strawberries and Amazonian acai berries act as a “housekeeper” to recycle toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and decline in mental function, said Shibu Poulose. The berries help fuel the body’s own scrubbers that remove toxic chemicals before they can do damage, according to the study.”
10. Moderate Exercise Enhances Connectivity in Brain Circuits
- “A group of “professional couch potatoes,” as one researcher described them, has proven that even moderate exercise – in this case walking at one’s own pace for 40 minutes three times a week – can enhance the connectivity of important brain circuits, combat declines in brain function associated with aging and increase performance on cognitive tasks.
The study, in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, followed 65 adults, aged 59 to 80, who joined a walking group or stretching and toning group for a year. All of the participants were sedentary before the study, reporting less than two episodes of physical activity lasting 30 minutes or more in the previous six months. The researchers also measured brain activity in 32 younger (18- to 35-year-old) adults.
Rather than focusing on specific brain structures, the study looked at activity in brain regions that function together as networks.
‘Almost nothing in the brain gets done by one area, it’s more of a circuit,’ said University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute Director Art Kramer, who led the study with kinesiology and community health professor Edward McAuley and doctoral student Michelle Voss. ‘These networks can become more or less connected. In general, as we get older, they become less connected, so we were interested in the effects of fitness on connectivity of brain networks that show the most dysfunction with age.’”
- Personal note: Coincidentally, I just wrote a short piece earlier this week about the mental costs of physical inactivity. A lot of this research has been hypothesized for a very long time, but it is still good to see that we are learning more details on how physical exercise improves brain function.
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More and more I am wondering how accurate the Buddhist notion of annata, or “no self,” really is in the context of Buddhist philosophy and ethics. Metaphysically, it can make sense to attribute some beings as not a part of our conventional understanding of a self; after all, the self/other dichotomy in all its forms is our most common and prevalent view of reality. However, if the notion of “no self” in Buddhist literature is supposed to act as a guide toward understanding interconnectedness between all beings, than might it make more sense to consider this new self a rich and “expansive” self, rather than an empty one? And if this “expansive self” is a more accurate description than “no self,” perhaps anatta should be appreciated more as a stepping stone to truth (or even a thought experiment), rather than an accurate explanation of reality [1].
If it is metaphysically true that no self exists, then Buddhist ethics, free will, and karma seem to evaporate. To act selflessly would be to act without a mind and without intention. Yet, Buddhists often attribute the accumulation of karma to “right understanding” and “skillful volition” [2] – neither one possible without some self to process it’s environment and consciously act on it.
If I can truly act selflessly, then who or what accumulates karma for this deed? It can’t be me, since I don’t exist – so is it someone else? What if we had a Buddhist utopia and everyone acted selflessly – would any of us be conscious at all, or just cogs in a machine? In what other form can selflessness take besides self-annihilation – a rejection of consciousness itself – which, taken to its logical extreme, sounds principally anti-Buddhist.
Buddha never specified whether or not a self does or doesn’t exist. He refused to answer the question, presumably because it gave power to the self/other dichotomy, which he consider illusory and the source of all suffering.
I admit by contemplating these things I am to some degree falling for this dichotomy myself, but I thought this was worth philosophizing about; I so often see people preach “no self” as the ultimate ideal, end-goal, or enlightenment of Buddhist practice, yet I find it to be misleading, nihilistic, and potentially self-destructive. At best “selflessness” is a concept that serves as a means to a goal – a technique, a strategy, a stage, or a stepping stone – not an end to be achieved. I think the idea of “selfless” is intended to break apart our conventional understandings of a self, not to be a claim of something that is true.
The problem with the self is that we often think of it too narrowly. It becomes a prison, instead of something expansive, creative, and resourceful. Helping others should be viewed first and foremost as not something self-less but something self-evolving. In this light, Buddhist morality – the drive to be compassionate and kind to others – becomes strengthened rather than diminished. Interconnectedness is the nature of the self, not selflessness.
Sources
[1] “Not self” as a strategy in Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s “No self or Not-self”
[2] The Theory of Karma by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw
Ever since Darwin, and perhaps long before him, it has been theorized that our emotions play a crucial role in adapting to our environment. This means that emotions are not just an inconvenient byproduct of consciousness, but a form of higher cognition – an ability for living beings to experience their world in deeper and more complex ways.
Humans are a species that thrive on social relations, and our emotions become a gauge on morality and justice. They help facilitate our interactions by giving us clues on how to connect with others in meaningful and productive ways. When someone makes us feel bad our emotions tell us to ignore them, while when someone makes us feel good our emotions tell us to appreciate them.
Emotions however come in many different qualities, degrees, and intensities. While “positive” and “negative” are the broadest sense of emotions (and also the types most commonly researched), theorists have devised hierarchies and scales that range anywhere from 36 different types of emotions [1] to 65 types [2] to 135 [3]. These differences can often depend on the culture being studied, or the intentions of the reseachers to construct an emotional framework that fits their line of research. For example, Laros and Steenkamp often do emotional research related to consumer behavior [1].
Perhaps more important than how researchers conceptualize different emotions is how we experience them. You can probably reflect on some past experiences right now and write down a handful of common emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, etc. You might also recognize that different experiences elicit different intensities of each emotion. Eating some ice cream might give you a mild sense of happiness, while winning the lottery would give you a much stronger sense of happiness. Researchers can try to measure this based on arousal response in the brain.
The first key to emotional intelligence is being able to identify these emotions while they occur. This requires some sense of reflection or introspection into our internal state. While this seems like commonsense, many people can go about their day being grumpy without ever consciously thinking, “Boy, I’m really grumpy today.” Instead we experience and act on these mental states unconsciously, which is a sign of poor emotional intelligence.
Of course even after we are aware of our emotions it doesn’t mean they can’t mislead us to undesirable actions. That is why the next step to emotional intelligence is to assess the origins of our feeling. In other words, ask yourself, “Why do I feel X?” If we attribute the origins of our feelings correctly, then we have a better idea on how to modify our behavior. There is no need to meditate to achieve results (although meditation will speed up the practice): just the will to be mindful and the seconds spent doing a quick “mental check-up” whenever one notices increased emotional arousal.
As reflective and rational beings, we all have the resources we need to adapt to our emotions in ways that facilitate our livelihood. Some use these resources more effectively than others, but we all have the ability to improve with practice – and, it is actually quite easy to practice because 1) Most of our conscious experiences have certain emotions integrated into them, and 2) Mindfulness is a skill that can be applied to all activities.
Sources
[1] LAROS, F., & STEENKAMP, J. (2005). Emotion in consumer behavior: a hierarchical approach. Journal of Business Research, 58, 1437-1445.
[2] McNAIR, D. M., LORR, M., & DROPPLEMAN, L. F. (1971). Profile of mood states. San Diego: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
[3] ZUCKERMAN, M., & LUBIN, B. (1985). The multiple affect adjective check list revised. San Diego: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
The old maxim “a healthy body is a healthy mind” has been held as folk wisdom for so long that it just seems like commonsense at this point. Yet, after breaking up with a loved one, experiencing stress at work, or feeling anxiety about an upcoming exam, the last thing we want to do are some push-ups, or hit up the gym, or take a short jog.
Sometimes the more the mental distress, the more we just want to curl up in a ball or vegetate in front of the TV – even though this is exactly the opposite of what we need.
Modern research continues to beat us over the head with increasing evidence of physical health being intricately correlated with mental health and cognitive sharpness. But instead of following our intellect, we remain apathetic, lazy, or sleepy whenever the mental-going gets too tough.
I could give you a whole list of news and research claiming the mental benefits of physical exercise, but you already know all this – don’t you, smartie, so why don’t you do it?
I’ve written some tips before about how to stay committed to a change in behavior, but maybe it’s because of how people frame the advice that attributes to its inefficacy. A doctor or psychologist could say, “Hey, look at all these benefits you will get if you exercise more often,” but you might decline to follow this advice because life right now is already “tolerable,” and you don’t see any urgency to change your habits.
It is unfortunate, but most people don’t feel the need to change anything about their life until the problem has reached a point of critical mass. We wait until we have absolutely no other options left – and then we seek change (sometimes after it is already too late). This means our actions are often motivated more by avoiding pain, rather than seeking rewards. We ask ourselves, “What happens if I don’t do X?” and if we imagine something awful happening then we will do it.
What if instead of framing physical exercise as a positive, we framed physical inactivity as a negative? Then, ask yourself, “Whenever I am depressed, stressed, or anxious, what happens if I choose the couch instead of the gym? What happens every week I don’t run a mile or do my hour-long yoga session? What costs are contingent with those inactions?”
Whenever we spend extended periods of time not working out our bodies (in one form or another) we risk a decline in our mental state as well. Sometimes it can develop without us even realizing it: our attention-skills may not be as sharp as they could be, we may experience self-confidence issues which could otherwise be avoided, or we may be more anxious than usual during a job interview. Life could be better, but we aren’t usually aware of it.
Some individuals are reward-seeking, but, for others, reframing this desired behavior can lead to a different motivational charge. We know what to do. We know the benefits of exercise on mental health. Now let’s find a way to do it and be consistent. Whatever it takes to get yourself out of bed and active – do it – because we know it’s important, even if you have to imagine yourself being fat, lonely, stupid, and depressed 10 or 20 years down the line.