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JerseySmarts.com

Graduated High School? Good! Time for…Nothing?

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MSNBC.com posted an article today that I found surprising and interesting. Apparently some of America’s highest-regarded institutes of higher learning are suggesting that graduating seniors take a year off before they start college. Fascinating! From the article:

It’s called a “gap year.” And while it’s been a common and popular rite of passage in Australia and the U.K. for decades, the concept is now starting to gain significant steam here in America.

A gap year, huh? Lump me into that portion of the American public who went to nursery school, then immediately to preschool, then immediately to grade school, then immediately to high school, then immediately to college, then immediately to graduate school, and then immediately into the full-time workforce. I started my education at 2 years old and I finished it (for the time being) at age 25. No “gap” year for me…or most of the people that I know, quite frankly. More from the article:

A growing number of high school seniors are balking at riding the academic conveyer belt from preschool all the way to university. They’re burnt out. Or not quite ready. Or they want to explore a few interests before deciding what to study in college. So instead of packing their bags in anticipation of freshman year, they’re volunteering in New Orleans or teaching in Thailand. They’re starting the great American novel, or interning to help figure out what they want to do with their lives.

I love it!

What a brilliant idea, if you can afford it. Using hindsight as 20/20, I would have loved to travel for a little bit before going to college or before going to graduate school. Of course, I couldn’t do that before graduate school because if you don’t go back to school, then you have to start paying back your loans. However, taking a year off before college to do something else would have been a good idea – especially this idea of trying to get an internship or two in the off year. Good thinking.

I would have loved that internship idea because honestly, at 27 years old, I’m not entirely sure that my current field is one that I want to stay in for the long-term. Anyway, this is an interesting idea and I wish that there was some data to show that taking a year off after high school provided a net benefit for the student. I’m also lured by the idea of a “gap” year where you have no “real world” responsibilities! I was just telling one of my roommates that once I pay off my student loans and all other major outstanding debts AND I put aside enough money to live a scant life off of the interest, it has always been my plan to either take a sabbatical from my job or leave the workforce for about a year. Again, I’ve never really had a “break” from school or athletics or work and I’m not willing to wait until I’m 67 for my first long-term vacation!

But I have to get there first… Wish me luck! 🙂

Entertainment Ideas In New Jersey

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The following article comes courtesy of the folks at New York Jersey Boys Tickets.

Sandwiched between Pennsylvania and New York, the state of New Jersey also known as the garden state has often been likened to a tapered barrel open at both ends. Overshadowed by the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, New Jersey is often not given its due by visitors, though it is a wonderland in its own right. Coasts, mountains, national parks, the arts, sports, theatres, amusement parks and casinos, New Jersey has them all.

Home to approximately 40 museums on themes as diverse as arts, aviation, military, children, agriculture, golf, mining and what not, New Jersey does not disappoint a knowledge crawler. Add to this, the 15 major theatre companies and concert halls that compete with the theatrical magnificence of Broadway across the bay and have over the years held fort. Evita, Cats and Annie are all there for the culturally inclined.

42 Parks, 11 forests, 3 recreation areas and over 50 historic sites and districts are enough to satiate your activity urge and keep you away from home and your nagging wife / husband long enough. New Jersey was a hotbed of revolutionary unrest during the American civil war days and there are many well preserved historical sights of American importance.

Keeping up to its promise of something for everybody, the state packs about 10 amusement parks including Fantasy Island, Clementon, Hurricane Harbor and the land of the make believe. Camden waterfront, sky lands and Cape May all add up to one big family adventure. Roll up your fishing rods; dig out your camping gear and get the RV ready for that long promised trip with the kids.

But any mention of NJ entertainment is incomplete without the mention of Atlantic City, which truly lives up to its slogan of “always turned on”. Atlantic City is much more than just a humongous Casino; it is NJ’s answer to Vegas. With events, nightlife, spas, golf, fishing and water sports vying with slot machines and roulette tables, it is a fantasy land, a “must experience” in any NJ entertainment plan. It’s a place where the high and mighty shake a leg with the wannabes, where dreams are born and hopes shattered at casino tables. Where the gambler and the rationalist in you shamelessly expose the multiple personalities we all have inside us. Bally’s, Trump Plaza and the famously infamous Trump Taj Mahal are all inviting you to roll the dice, coaxing you to stake, ready to seduce you with its glamor.

And towering above all this is the grand lady, the symbol of America to the rest of the world, the famous Statue of Liberty. Entertaining in its own ways with the loads of trivia surrounding it, for example, how many of us Americans are aware that the statue was made in France? And gift from the republic of France to the great new hope called America? Now that is entertaining, isn’t it?

Al is the author and webmaster of a New York Jersey Boys resource website.

The Danger of Harping on “Change”

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Unless you live under a rock or you don’t follow politics to any great degree, then you know that the new buzzword in the Presidential campaigns is “change.” The Iowa caucuses and the national polling data all indicate that the people want change from their government. I agree – I want change from my government, too. So far in the campaign the term “change” has largely benefited Senator Barack Obama, though the Republicans and Senator Hillary Clinton are trying to put the concept of change to work for their campaigns.

But I hope someone who is working for their individual campaigns is telling these candidates that winning the Presidency on the concept of “change” is not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the populace in the long-term. Why, you ask? Simple. What does change mean to you?

Think about it. What does change mean to you? Change, to me, means that I won’t be stuck in a position where roughly 35% of my income goes towards paying student loans when I was a straight A student all throughout my academic career. My change means that my desire to trade in my current gas-guzzling SUV for a hybrid car would become a reality in short order (my finances say otherwise). For me, change means that we stop spending hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars on other countries and we redirect that money back into America and American technology. I consider change no longer hearing the right/left bickering in America and, instead, seeing a strong third party or even a third and fourth party rise to break the grip that this double-headed monster has on American politics.

I could go on and talk about how change should mean more tax dollars directed towards upgrading America’s physical infrastructure (roads and bridges) and how change means that local police forces will be mandated to truly serve and protect and not act as a fundraiser for local governments. I would say that change means taking care of unfinished business: i.e. making the accepted language for the last 400 years in the American settlements, colonies, and states the official language of this country. Change should mean that if the United Nations is going to be a feasible world-body, then it should be equitably funded by ALL member countries and it should be corruption free. My concept of “change” means that we – as a nation – will respect every last letter in the Constitution and if that means that the majority of America rules over the minority, then that’s what it means (it’s what it’s supposed to mean!).

There’s so much more that “change” means to me, but this is exactly my point. Any Presidential candidate who embodies change (and Obama embodies it the most right now) will need to have a clearly defined agenda during the second half of this Presidential campaign. Saying “change” will win primaries today and it may win an election tomorrow, but when the American people do NOT see things changing around them, then things can start to get very, very ugly.

What does change mean to you? I’d be interested to know.

Do You Apologize?

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One of the bigger (and more useless) debates going on in New Jersey right now is whether or not the state should officially recognize the evils of early American slavery and then apologize for slavery. This seems like a nice gesture and I guess there is no material harm done by issuing an official, “My bad,” for slavery. I do wonder, however, the relevancy of such an apology given that it’s 2008 and the slaves were freed in 1863…145 years ago.

Not only was no one who is currently alive on this earth alive back in 1863, but many people in America (especially the Northeast) are second and third generation families of immigrants. My grandparents on my Father’s side only came to America in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s! And, being of Italian descent living in New York City, they were subject to many types of racial and ethnic discrimination. Of course you never hear about the American-Italians asking for apologies or reparations…

So I don’t have an ideological problem with New Jersey saying sorry, but I certainly would not add my voice to that chorus. I have no reason to be sorry because my family wasn’t here during that time period and further, my “people” were discriminated against in their own way (I’m Irish and Italian – my “people” got beaten up in many different ways!). I am, however, somewhat sad to hear that this is what New Jersey legislators are debating. You would think lowering the state’s expenses, finding a way to equitably fund schools, saving the thousands of New Jersey homeowners who are stuck in bad subprime positions, and ensuring that suburban sprawl is minimized while smart growth is maximized would be at the top of the agenda. I guess not…