What are some interesting startups in the education space? Why are they interesting?
I've recently starting working for a very interesting startup called CodePath. More about CodePathWe're focused on providing the high quality education in the world for free. Some of our recent students include a director of engineering for Yammer, the lead iOS developer for Dropbox, and Amazon Fire's lead Developer.Our curriculum is currently focused on mobile software development for experienced engineers but we hope to expand.You can't change a system by accepting it's constraintsI've worked in education for a long time. My first startup was actually a nonprofit whose mission was to prevent high risk high school students from dropping out. I saw first hand how difficult it is to change a system from within.With CodePath, we have started with the premise that not just knowledge but also curriculum should be free. Feel free to take a look at our Android Curriculum here - CodePath Android Cliffnotes.How is it free?Though we offer free seats to engineers, we also provide in house mobile training to some of the top technology companies in the world such as Facebook, Yahoo, and Youtube.We're profitable, growing, and on a mission to share everything we learn so that it's easier for others to learn as well.Feel free to email me with questions at michael@codepath.com
Which university is most stressful for undergraduate (Harvard vs MIT vs Yale vs Stanford vs UPenn vs Cornell)?
I was going to skip this question, but I decided that it was important to say the following:I don't think there's any such thing as a stressful University. There are, however, many students at schools where they don't belong.I went to UPenn and I was never, ever stressed by the school. There was a certain amount of stress associated with my inability to handle calculus, but that would've been true anywhere. There was also a bit of stress when three professors in the philosophy department drafted me as a fourth in their Friday afternoon bridge game, but there was also a certain amount of swell-headedness about even being included.On the other hand, just stepping on to Swarthmore's campus gave me the heebie-jeebies. Every tree was perfectly pruned, no blade of grass dared tilt South-Southwest in a field of southerly facing verdure. Haverford felt altogether too Calvinist and rigid. I would have coped well at Bryn Mawr a decade later, when being a lesbian was not such an issue, but in 1970, I would've been terrified at being at such a small school where I could be so easily outed.Penn was full of active, intelligent people, rushing purposefully through campus, but still in a perfectly comfortable urban environment that I had in fact visited several times I was in high school, since it was only a mile from our school and we had several different field trips there. Penn was where I took my SATs, and my national merit test (yes, it was a separate test back then). Classes were large enough that one could be totally invisible, but professors were accessible enough that one could be known whenever one wanted: a perfect combination for someone who wants to be recognized for academic skills while being in the closet as regard sexual orientation.I was a city kid 50 years ago, and now I'm a senior city-zen. I love Stanford, but I don't think I could walk that far from one class to the next. That would stress me out!
Why don't colleges care about middle school grades?
Basically middle school grades don't count but are simply encouraging sources to boost your performance and make you do better the next time. However, the grades hold no importance yet is considered to be the most reliable performance report.Grades don't determine intelligence but test the obedience.So, getting unsatisfactory grades might have fretted you. But you shouldn't care. Grades are spurious evaluation of performance.I got an A on the third quiz in American history, an A, dammit. Last time I got a Bup from a Cand my father said,"if you can get a Cyou can get a B,if you can get a Byou can get an A."-I got an Aand my father said,"grades don't mean anything.Grades may discourage you to be inactive and rebel. Some students excel under pressure, and there are those who crumble beneath it. It’s easy to praise the students who continuously work hard, but let’s try not to berate those who find it difficult to focus.The Current Perception of the importance of grades in academics dumbfounds me, because I think that by caring too much about grades, most students are missing the point of education.If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. - Steve JobsIn short, don't let grades decide who you are. A single piece of paper will not decide your future, dude. Cheers !!!Hope it helps. Upvote if satisfied.