CREATIVE ACCOUNTING

in these days of budget cuts
when social services are slashed to teh bone
and the bones then crushed beneath fiscal bulldozers
a true story was shared last night-about a streetwise philosophy Professor
whose dedication to public service led him to becoming Assistant Chancellor
of a University under a highly critical government
who kept slashing the University funding every year
He decided to trust his own people-said-
"we have Faculties here for Engineering,Architecture-
why should we offshore building contacts and privitise contracts?
So students learned and earned at the same time
and all otherwise assigned funds were spent inhouse
and he also shared that there be spaces for free speech on campus
where poets might be employed to engage students in conversation
encourage them in free speech and critical thinking
and de facto add to their chosen community..
These measures were such a success the University increased enrollment
seven times on one seventh of the cut budget
and the standard of learning grew too
no mere rote-applied knowledge
building Blake's New Jerusalem on the land where you are standing right now


LEAD IN TO GOLD
She teaches @ACC,and shares "sometimes @Monday lectures
i see students nodding off.I ask them why this is...Mondays are hard on all of us"
They have children,and jobs,are sleep deprived,and share this with her
She asks them why they are here.They reply-"to get a better job"
She then suggests there is intrinsic value in learning(more than earning)-
and that they need value the opportunity to learn while it is possible
":Few people have the time to simply question,absorb knowledge
and grow in wisdom in a distracted world.YOU ARE NEEDED.
This is the time for clear and conscious dedication
Your time and attention needs be applied while possible
Time and energy are gold-leave the dull lead prose of rote
enter that spark of critically applied mind and heart and spirit
Your full attention is required-this world needs you
More than gold.