So I'm reading this
cool Commentary from Fortune by a one Clara Shih, CEO of a firm
called Hearsay Social (www.hearsaysocial.com).
The company seems to
provide social media solutions to business.
Ms. Shih's article was
on the growing trend of the "Internet of Things,"
essentially a term identifying the state of how people are connected
to each other via the Internet, phones, and other networks through
the use of devices like smartphones, smart watches, health
telemetering devices (Like FitBit, Polar, and other "fitness"
devices that monitor heart rate, strides, and the like.)
That was one facet.
Another was the mention
of how current health and fitness devices are moving forward from
simple measurement, toward being enabled to provide real time
solutions for health issues
Shih suggests: "In
2015, we’ll evolve from simple
measurement, tracking, and analytics to offering prescriptive action.
An example: 23andMe, funded by Google and Genentech, is already
working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so it can analyze
your DNA to provide you with hundreds of health reports that
accurately predict whether you’re
prone to certain illnesses or conditions. Another company, Halo
Neuroscience, is developing technology that stimulates your brain to
boost memory and cognition (Disclosure: my husband Daniel S. Chao,
M.D., M.S. is CEO at Halo Neuroscience.)"
The last part of that
quote got me to thinking, so I looked up Halo Neuroscience.
I've suffered from
memory deficits and cognitive learning disorders since I started
school. Kindergarten--where I was yelled at and castigated in front
of my peers because I "scribbled" in my coloring books.
Read: Early Hand-Eye Coordination Problems.)--started the ball
rolling.
When a teacher of
preschoolers resorts to yelling, and your impressionable peers
observe you being scolded by your teacher... Etc. You get the idea.
I was pretty a social
outcast in elementary school, which, for me, was K-4.
Fifth through Twelfth
wasn't much better. I barely graduated with a nearly flat 2.00 GPA in
1984, and, even with a "Learning Disabled" diagnosis, I've
found very few, if any, "reasonably decent" resources
available to me that can help me overcome and enable any latent
abilities that couldn't be developed during my younger years.
So I look up Halo to
see if some real science were being done to try to understand if
light electrical simulation of the brain can increase learning
ability. (The name of the technique is Transcranial Direct Current
Stimulation, or tDCS.)
This link from Halo's
blog explains the technique: haloneuro.com/how-does-tdcs-work/
Some results seem
noteworthy. However, New Scientist, in a 28 November 2014 article,
is, perhaps, a bit more sobering (always a good thing in science.)
Link To New Scientist
Article:
www.newscientist.com/article/dn26636-has-the-brainzap-backlash-begun.html
Why I'm interested in what science can do for me is due to the fact I'm nearly completely fed up with people, and is the reason I'm not doing well academically in schools.
Colleges, Trade Schools, Technical Schools, you-name-it! I've attended them all and have never been able to apply myself enough to be able to succeed. Or get the help I've needed, regardless of effort!
Colleges, Trade Schools, Technical Schools, you-name-it! I've attended them all and have never been able to apply myself enough to be able to succeed. Or get the help I've needed, regardless of effort!
So what gives?
I mean, I want to
succeed! Badly!
Which
is why I'm interested in science and what it can do to enable
me instead of me being
disabled.
However,
science is only one part of the entire matter-at-hand. The other
part of the equation are the instructors, government agency
counselors, and staff of the institutions I wish to attend!
Case-in-point:
I'm attending a certain Missouri technical college for Computer
Networking back in 2011.
This particular educational track was decent, at first, but when I
finally started to attend the actual Networking classes, everything
was fine until I had to do a particular type of IP-Addressing
Mathematics.
We
were given a given range of Addresses, then we had to figure out what
ranges were available for the given problem. Well, I couldn't do it.
At all. My brain just doesn't function in certain situations unless
extra time is spent with me on the problems.
Most
instructors, one would think, would be delighted to assist a student
attending what is, essentially, a Community College; albeit one with
very specific and highly professional curriculums.
However,
I wasn't enrolled in the Auto Mechanics curriculum, or
the Cat Diesel Technician program, or the Heavy Equipment Operator
programs, either. My field of interest is Information Technology, or
IT.
I Love Technology!
I would've enjoyed some extra time talking with someone for whom I,
initially, had the deepest respect, about
technology, the latest equipment and industry t
However, that was before
the incident that shattered
any idea of my being able to be successful at that school.
Here's
what happened: After struggling for twenty minutes, I was called up
to do a problem on the board, and said I couldn't do it; I wasn't
understanding it. So the instructor looks at me and says something
to the effect of: “Well, I can't dumb down the class.”
I
was quite shocked to hear those words come out of an instructor who
was nearly the same age as me (46 or so, give or take), essentially
insult me in front of a majority of eighteen-year-old-average young
men and women.
I
asked for help continually in that class, until one day when the shit
hit the fan in a way I've never experienced before in higher
education, and hope to never experience again, anywhere!
I
had been having problems with certain learning issues all week, and
was trying, unfruitfully, to speak to the instructor alone for a few
minutes so I could highlight my learning issues and what I felt could
be done to accommodate them.
Privacy
was non existent, as instructors shared offices, and I didn't feel it
appropriate to have other
non-department personnel
involved, possibly interrupting me if I said something they didn't
like, etc.
I
finally had to confront—and that's really the only word I can use
to describe this, as this
person possessed an extremely
confrontational type of personality—the instructor at their desk,
during class time, because I had absolutely no other choice.
I
was polite, but firm, and was not yelling at all. I
presented my case, regardless of others present because
I had a verifiable and real need for accommodation so I could
succeed . We bantered back and forth for a few moments, every student
in the class watching, and the instructor just completely lost it and
blew their stack at me!
Instructor
proceeds to storm out
of the classroom, straight to their department head—the head of the
entire IT department—yelling something like “He's Out
of Here!
To
say I was a bit put out is putting it mildly. I've paid for my
classes with my student loan and grant monies. I expect
professionalism and assistance form instructors in a state-run
college. I wasn't mean. I wasn't disrespectful. Still, I was
treated with contempt, ill regard, and made to feel
less-than-adequate, then, essentially, thrown out with the
trash!
I
did fine in my Honors Composition class. I did fine in my Computer
Hardware—essentially an A+ Hardware Certification prep class—class.
Got an A in it, actually. All these classes worked. Why? Because
the instructors were concerned about their students and
acted like adults, not temper-tantrum-throwing, older teenagers!
I
didn't go back to school until January of 2013.
Keeping this short, I attended a small “real university”
for a change, my first time at a school with tenured professors who
had their own research projects of varying kinds.
I
liked the overall experience, but, as I was attending under the
auspices of Vocational Rehabilitation,
I was, by their own internal policies—which I tried to have altered
slightly to accommodate my needs but without success—made to Attend
Full Time!
Full-time
attendance—for Financial Aid considerations—is a minimum of
Twelve (12) Credit Hours in Missouri. I knew that I was going to
have trouble keeping up with that heavy of a load, regardless of the
classes. I could have taken all “easy electives”
and still failed—which I did!
In
this last case, it was the government agency of Vocational
Rehabilitation that failed me,
by making me attend classes full-time, instead of part time.
Confusing the issue further is the fact that this was supposed to be
a test semester to see
what issues, if any, I might have attending future classes.
All
this fuss to just get a degree!
So
just what have I learned from all the foregoing? Quite a lot, but I
still have nothing brought to fruition.
Lessons
Learned
1.
I must not interact with instructors of a particular temperament,
who are inflexible. Being Learning
Disabled
by itself, denotes a need for flexibility in instructors and
curriculum.
2.
Govenment agencies, when utilized, must not have inflexibility in
internal policies which by their very implementation and nature,
Disable Instead of
Enable Me, Their Client!
3.
I am, probably, going to have to rely completely on the private
sector for success. However, without a degree, this is proving to be
very difficult. Some things have to be learned in an ordered
fashion, as in a classroom or small study group, and I, at the
present time, do not have access to the former, or know of anything
local to the latter.
Summarizing,
unless I can Become
Enabled
through whatever means are available to me—public or private—and
I can actualize
(make work in real life) those means—I
will, in all equal measure, continue to experience failure.
Thank
You For Reading
--THF
http://humblefishe.blogspot.com/
