As a young child, I was self motivated to learn because I wanted to overcome my challenges. I’ve had the privilege of having great mentors in my life and the drive to succeed when faced with obstacles. My parents brought my family out to Marin County, California, after leaving the small town of Rogers, Arkansas when I was a small child. At the time, both my parents highest education degree were a couple highschool diplomas. When I moved to Tiburon, California because my Dad had a job offer for some construction work, the scene was totally different from Arkansas. Parents in Tiburon had trust funds and college swag for their children before they made it to grade K. The liberal environment of Marin was a change too. The spirit of the community gave me inspiration and motivation to learn and tackle my obstacles in school.
I had a learning disability called dyslexia. For me, the words would move around the page and I couldn’t get them to stay still in a straight line with my eyes. In 2nd grade I started to attend special education classes outside of regular class. Thus, I was working twice as hard as my peers and constantly falling short in the classroom. (Dyslexia is actually pretty common and many great minds have struggled with it like Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, for example). It took a while for the school to figure out what was going on with me, but because of their fine resources and small teacher to student ratio I was able to get the help and assistance I needed early on. At the time the California school system had funding and dedicated those resources toward my education. Ironically, I wasn’t able to read until 4th grade, however, by 6th grade I graduated special ed and my teachers started to give me B’s and C’s for my work without additional help. I have my mother and the once funded California school system to thank.
In 9th grade I was recruited to apply for a leadership and mentorship program targeted at low income/high potential youth called Summer Search. I applied and was accepted for telling my story and being myself. It was pretty great! The founder, Linda Mornell, personally mentored me through high school. She gave me scholarships for summer learning programs, a college counselor, and after school tutoring for my college aptitude tests. Upon graduating high school I wrote my college essay about how Summer Search was like a family.
By the time I finished high school, much of which I spent home schooled, at Stanford University and a in the wilderness, I graduated with honors and was awarded seven scholarships to Ivy League’s and Colleges back east like Emerson College and Mount Holyoke. Linda Mornell and my college counselor, Sandy Pebbels, encouraged me to attend Mount Holyoke so I went!
Today I value my accomplishments in school. I have a 3.85 GPA as I’m currently getting my MBA in Business Management at Dominican Universities Pathway program for working professionals. Dominican has the most perfect program for me and is located close to my home town in Marin County, California. Ironically, it was my father’s suggestion to go back to school because, while I was away at college on the East Coast, he went to a similar program at Saint Mary’s College of California where he earned his BA in Business Management.
If it were not for the encouragement I received from my community in Marin County, my mentor Linda Mornell, and all of Summer Search I probably would not have had the opportunity to overcome my learning disability and go on to higher education. If I had stayed in Arkansas I would have found little motivation to learn because I wouldn’t have had the stimulation there. As I complete my MBA at night and on the weekends, I decided it would be a good time to take on anouther mentor. I’d like to proudly announce my new mentor, Larry Kramer.
Larry Kramer is local to Tiburon, California and a pioneer in digital media. He served as president of CBS Digital Media and prior to that founded MarketWatch. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to work and learn with Larry.
Albert Einstein once said, “according to this conception, the sole function of education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the school, as the outstanding organ for the people’s education, must serve that end exclusively.” Einstein may or may not agree with Malcolm X. You decide! In the essay “Homemade Education” Malcolm X talks about how education changed his self perception and the perception of others. Malcolm X is the perfect example of how the pen is mightier than the sword because he used his homemade education to achieve greatness and become one of the most memorable public speakers of our time. All this he did by himself in a jail cell. Getting an education and getting a degree are two similar yet different propositions. Getting an education is based on one’s interests and what makes him or her happy. People who get an education do so because they want to live in freedom of the mind. Getting a degree is different because it’s about going through a process and finishing with an ending.
Getting an education has no ending. It will go on as long as the mind wants to consume. Education is stepping into the light and learning about things we were ignorant about before. The “light,” according to Plato, is being educated. It is being able to see the sun and being in the right place to do so. Getting an education is similar to getting a degree because they will both bring you into the light and open opportunities.
When I first became involved with technology I did not learn about it in school. I was 12 and did not have a computer so I used the computers at school at lunch break and after hours. As a teen, I learned about tech by going to meet-ups, informational conferences, and social gatherings around tech in the Silicon Valley and Bay Area. There was nothing that could get in my way because I was so passionate about the power of technology and the possibilities of social media.
By the time I was 21, I attended 32 different conferences internationally and nationally, interviewed over 200 technology leaders, created over 300 videos about tech, and wrote 182 blog posts about tech. By the time I was 19, people started calling me a technology leader. This happened because I had an education, but not because I had a degree in technology. Getting a degree is similar to getting an education because they both will take you places.
Steve Wozniak, who didn’t get a degree, ironically wrote my college letter of recommendation as he told me I didn’t need to get a degree. He said that with my experience and leadership I wouldn’t have a problem getting a job, however, the only reason I should get a degree is so I can tell my kids to get a degree. (So many hires want at least a Bachelors degree). I have always looked up to Woz as a leader in tech along with Jobs and Gates. Woz would agree that getting an education is just as good as getting a degree.
Getting a degree is similar to getting an education because along the way to a degree one does become educated. You are forced to see the light. The difference from getting an education and getting a degree is when you get a degree you finish with an ending. You take required classes along the way and graducate with a single sheet of paper that says you did it. Getting a degree is important to many and unimportant to some.
p.s. As many of you know, I’m a full time student with an end goal. I like the structure of school and the joy it brings every day. For part of my high school experience I was home schooled. I learned that I didn’t need anyone else to help me learn. That’s why I decided to take education into my own hands. Be it in school, the real world, or both, education will set you free!
Hi Everyone! Welcome to SarahAustin.com. I’ll be publishing blog posts here now. As many of you know, I’m a writer, producer and blogger who first became popular with my Silicon Valley tech show, Party Crashers, where I notoriously crashed into TechCrunch. After that, I went on to become one of the first lifecasters on Justin.TV as well as Livestream, Flixwagon and Watchitoo (my current sponsor). Currently I’m in the alpha stage of a super secret new show set to launch in February of 2010 in conjunction to my efforts as creator and host at Pop17.
I’m geeky and looking for ways to express myself in tech. Having sponsors to help is what makes what I do possible. Ford Motor Company, Watchitoo, Media Temple and T-mobile are doing their part to sponsor me and Pop17. If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring then see the sponsor page for more information.
I want to enable people to come together for a common purpose to help humanity. I want the right parts of tech to come together . That’s why I’m doing my part to help humanity with SummerSearch mentorship programs.
The human capacity is a twisted thing. Women’s self concept is the result of society’s attitudes towards women. There is too much room for exploitation in the media, porn and the acceptance by society. Sadly, the media promotes, exploits and contributes to the vicious cycle. The cycle involves the message, conditioning and reinforcement.
I remember when Vanity Fair Magazine published a controversial article and photo spread of Miley Cyrus, a popular teen celebrity, wearing nothing but a sheet. People responded negatively to the photos and argued the pictures were inappropriate for her age. These people said Vanity Fair Magazine and Miley Cyrus were promoting the exploitation of women. The message sent out to millions of Miley’s fans was that in order to be sexy girls should take off their clothes. Unfortunately, this scenario is the fault of the conditioning the media as a whole has forced upon young women.
You should check out Greg Wilker’s post about thishere.
The media is affecting young women and girls. The more self-conditioning by the group and society, the more we see exploitation of women. Porn is one form of media that adversely conditions females and forces the message upon society that women are the play toys of men. Porn is intended to cause sexual arousal and does have that effect. Similarly to Miley Cyrus, Riahnna’s most recent album cover displays her without clothes wrapped in barbed-wire, like a suffering victim. Is that supposed to be attractive? Perhaps it’s the fact that she was in an abusive relationship with Chris Brown and is conditioned to believe that she is worthless and the only value she has to offer is sex. Riahnna’s conditioned by Chris Brown to have a low self-esteem. She is reinforcing the message to her fans with the album cover saying women are the trapped objects of men.
The media and porn is affecting women more and more by self-conditioning by the group and society. Self-esteem is shaped by one’s own life experiences and, unfortunately, messages about women in the media creeps into these critical moments in our lives. Unless we do something about the way women are portrayed. I am not arguing for the illumination of porn. I am arguing that women and society start to view women as equals to men. For example, camera angles from below looking up at a woman shows the woman is powerful whereas a shot of the woman from above her head looking up shows her subordinate.
Society will be affected because the role of the women and men will be more masculine overall. The conditioning and acceptance is what will increase a masculine state. Exploitation of women will, in the end, reinforce the message because they will be conditioned to accept that they are less valuable than their male counterparts.
Twitter
Email
Facebook
Facebook App
Facebook Fan Page
YouTube
Viddler
Daily Booth
Flickr
Twitpic
Justin.tv
Ustream
Getting An Education v.s. Gett...
Hello World