Article- Age is No Obstacle in Entrepreneurship

Interesting article highlighting senior citizens who have decided to become entrepreneurs in the later stages of their careers. These cases demonstrate that entrepreneurs can come from many different demographics of people, and reinforce that there is no “mold” to fit in order to be a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship may offer an option for elderly people to help support themselves as they prepare for retirement, particularly as many older workers find themselves in a less competitive position for some jobs in comparison to younger workers just entering the workforce. These older workers years of accumulated experience may make them better prepared to manage or run a small business, and thus more likely to be successful entrepreneurs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/business/retirementspecial/for-some-age-is-no-obstacle-to-entrepreneurship.html?_r=0

Not all illegal immigration is what people think

Lost in a lot of the media coverage and public debate is the fact that a significant number (this article suggests 40%) of illegal immigrants arrived legally, but overstayed a visa. Does this impact the policy initiatives intended to address the problem?  Should it? If so, how?

http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/sep/06/john-carter/john-carter-claim-40-percent-nations-illegal-resid/

Should Academic Research Be a Marketable Product?

Here is an interesting piece discussing “Cornell Tech”, a new school that Cornell University is opening to hopefully expand New York’s tech sector. The school will take an equity stake in each company developed through their university instead of licensing rights to patents. Is this a better or worse approach to fostering innovation?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/02/cornell-tech-universities-profit-from-student-research.html

A shift in employer attitudes may boost the value of that online degree

Article Link: http://qz.com/180247/why-google-doesnt-care-about-hiring-top-college-graduates/ 

This week we discussed the disruptive innovation embodied in the rise of for-profit, online colleges and universities.  During that discussion, we talked about the value, prestige, and hiring prospects of degrees from traditional “brick and mortar” institutions compared to those of degrees from for-profit, online (or other proprietary) higher-ed institutions.  That discussion, in my opinion, seemed to rest on a basic assumption: that the latter type of institutions continue to fuel the higher-ed bubble because they produce graduates with less valuable degrees and worse job prospects.  The attached article challenges that assumption.

Even if the assumption is true today, the article’s anecdote indicates that this assumption may not continue to hold into the future.  If employers are truly less concerned with the prestige of brand-name schools, and more concerned about hiring students who are capable of “learning on the fly,” then a shift in employer attitudes may favor non-traditional college and university graduates.  Specifically, if Google’s hiring attitudes prevail in the labor markets of the future, then self-guided learners from these non-traditional colleges and universities may be developing learning skills that  employers like Google are now finding matter most.

This shift in hiring attitudes could improve the value of at least some non-traditional degrees, and it could further legitimize and exacerbate the disruptive innovation of online education.

Plus, you should read the article because, around here, we can all think of a few people who lack intellectual humility. It’s refreshing to know Google finds them as annoying as you do! 😛