Jedi Academics During War: A counterpoint to Dan Drezner

The trailer for The Last Jedi was released last week and we are a distant two months until the 8th chapter in the Skywalker Saga is in theaters. But there is a great disturbance in the galaxy. Begun, the overanalysis has. Fans are pouring through the details of the two minute trailer hoping to figure out the plot of the movie. What will happen to Luke, Leia, Rey, and Kylo Ren? Who is Snoke? Will Porg-mania take over?

As I am often prone to do, I read a lot of smart takes on Star Wars. I have an entire page of links of articles analyzing Star Wars - from military operations, religious understanding, to business and media.  I am expecting to add to the list upon the release of The Last Jedi.

Beating the pack to overanalysis of The Last Jedi is an article on The Washington Post website by political scientist Dan Drezner. Drezner extrapolates a few scenes from the trailer and advances a theory that Luke Skywalker and other Jedi in the saga are flawed professors and it is this inability to properly teach that dooms their pupils and opens up opportunities for chaos in the galaxy.

Drezner cites as evidence several Jedi and apprentice relationships that failed:

I am increasingly of the mind that it is a saga about poor mentoring. Think about it: Obi-Wan fails Anakin, Palpatine fails Anakin, Obi-Wan lies to Luke (don’t give me that “different point of view” crap), Yoda fails to get Luke to stay in Dagobah to complete his training, and Luke fails Kylo Ren. This is an appalling track record, and it bodes ill for Rey. In the seven films that have been released, we only witness one example of competent mentoring: Qui-Gon’s tutoring of Obi-Wan. And even that was cut short.

I've read Drezner's blogs for close to 10 years. I have his book International Relations and Zombies (review here). Normally I agree with his views or he at least makes me think. But here his analysis is missing a very important point. A point so large as to ruin his entire premise.

Drezner's theory fails to account for the fact that all the training we see in Star Wars occurs during a time of war. As many military members with a collection of colleges and courses can attest, deployments and military exercises wreak havoc on academic aspirations. This is not the instructors' fault, but the fault of circumstances.

(By the way, modern academia has three advantages over Jedi training:

• No need for spiritual training.


• Long distance or online classes. Rarely do we see Jedi training via hologram.


• Diploma mills.)

In Star Wars, interrupted Jedi programs are not only the norm for a generation of Jedi, but a problem that becomes more prominent as time goes on. Unlike Sith training, which is highly emotional, Jedi training is a long, elaborate process of mind and body.

If we assume the Republic was at relative peace prior to the tiff between the Trade Federation and the Naboo, or there was at least no large scale galactic war (the Mandalorians were probably at war, as usual), then the first padawan we know of (Obi-Wan Kenobi) was taught in a much calmer time. There were no Sith or Inquisitors hunting Jedi and padawans had the full luxury of the Jedi Library and all the Jedi mentors at their disposal. Kenobi was basically trained in a Jedi University.

While Anakin (Obi-Wan's padawan) also had the Jedi Temple, Library, and mentors to learn from, he was often in combat for the Republic. Time for study was not a priority during the Clone Wars, with deployments and missions on a regular basis.

If war does not make one great, there was no way Anakin could have become a great Jedi since most of his time was spent participating in war.

Anakin's training was on commanding Clone Troops and training insurgencies as it was Jedi training. He was as much warrior as academic, almost equivalent to Special Forces training in both culture and combat. So although he passed the Jedi Trials, he probably had to rush through the training - possibly only memorizing the answers and not understanding them in context or meaning - a huge problem for spiritual understanding and the reason he was exploitable to social engineering.

The war climate also prevented the completion of training for two characters in the acclaimed cartoons: Ashoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus. In The Clone Wars, Ashoka was Anakin's padawan and accompanied him on many deployments and missions throughout her teens and twenties. Her involvement in the war may have led to her unfortunate dismissal and subsequent shunning of the Jedi order. It is probable that without the overarching conflict, Ashoka would have become a strong Jedi Master. Due to the war and the politics of a Jedi Order woefully struggling with its new place in a government at war, she became a rogue Force wielder.

For Kanan Jarrus of Star Wars: Rebels, Jedi training was cut short as his master was killed on the battlefield during Order 66.  Throughout the Rebels cartoon, Jarrus must mind the few lessons he learned during the war, picking up lessons along the way from Tano and the spiritual guidance of Yoda. From the cartoon, we don't know if Jarrus went through the Jedi Trials. Was he ever a Jedi Knight? Did the war and the resulting rebellion allow Jarrus the time to reach any standard of training?

Jarrus continues to complicate Jedi training by taking a padawan, Ezra Bridger. At first, Jarrus is hesitant as he is unsure of his own abilities, but he is encouraged to train Bridger and does so the best he can. But is again during a time of war. There is no ability to visit Coruscant and the Jedi Library and gain any formal knowledge. While they visit random smaller Jedi Temples and we see Jarrus and Bridger interact with a Jedi holocron, the main institution of formal Jedi training is not available to a generation of aspiring Jedi.

Following The Clone Wars and Order 66, there is no longer any way to formally train a Jedi, especially in the far reaches of the galaxy. War made Jedi training catch-as-catch can.

And this brings us to the least formally trained Jedi in Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker. While Luke had brief tutelage under Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, his training was often interrupted by rebellion and battle. Even if had stayed at Dagobah with the elderly Yoda, how much more could he possibly learn? Granted, he is a Skywalker and Dagobah is rife with the Living Force, but Luke would still never be as formally or thoroughly trained as Obi-Wan.

Luke's lack of training is not Yoda's fault. It is circumstantial.

By Episode 6 (Return of the Jedi), Luke has developed as a Jedi. Those of us who only see the movies and cartoons are left to guess how this happened. Did he return to Dagobah? Did he sneak into Coruscant to study at the Jedi Library? Did he find a holocron? Did he meet with other Jedi in hiding - perhaps Kannan, Bridger, or Ashoka Tano?

However he did it, Luke became so powerful that 30 years after the fall of the Empire, people searched the galaxy for his assistance.

Although we can postulate Luke's power, based on what we know thus far, we can't fully analyze Kylo Ren or Rey's training. We know Kylo Ren has been trained - both by Luke and by Snoke.

From what we know about a generation of Jedi education and what little we know about what happens, it is impossible to blame Luke Skywalker for Kylo Ren or Rey's skills or faults. There is no way to compare Jedi training during the Clone Wars, the Galactic Civil War, and the resulting conflict with the First Order to previous Jedi training or the luxury and relative comfort held by American professors and students.

To blame Luke is not true, even from a certain point of view.

The problem with student loans and poor guidance

There were two very interesting, very different stories about college graduates written last week.

The first, written in the FSView & Florida Flambeau (which I used to write for), tells the story of recent FSU grad Giovanni Rocco. According to the FSView, Rocco is the poster child for the horrible plague of student loans and increasing college costs. The FSView writes that Rocco now owes $42,000 for a dual degree in Political Science and Communications.

The same day, NBCNews.com posted an article on Michael Vaudreuil, a 54-year old father of three who graduated after working as a janitor at Worchester Polytechnic University for eight years. According to NBCNews, Vaudreuil graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in mechanical engineering with a minor in psychology. He took advantage of the university's policy of free tuition for employees and completed one to two classes per semester.

In the big picture, this is what is wrong with our university systems. They push the idea that students have to complete undergrad programs in 4 to 5 years and that they have to do these programs immediately after high school.

College administrations need to do better.

Yes, college costs have risen. Yes, student loan rates have risen. But students make their schedule. Vaudreuil took an adult approach to his education. He saw his resources and applied them to his situation, figuring as long as he maintained the course, he would reach his goals.

I don't mean to pick on a younger Seminole, but Rocco did everything college students shouldn't do.

• He knew he didn't have the funds, but took loans anyway.


• He majored in a program that leads to low paying entry level jobs.


• He participated in student clubs instead of working.

“I decided that it was more important for me to get a quality education and not focus so much on how to pay for it,” Rocco says. “If you’re only thinking about how to pay for it and not what you’re going to get from it, that might cheat you out of a good opportunity.”

This is what college students need to be talked out of. Opportunities are great, but maturity means balancing opportunities with cost.  The typical student is already facing enough learning experiences in college. They are learning their capacities in social relationships, academics, group involvement, and time management. They should not be left to flounder in financial management.

By the simple fact they barely out of their teen years, most college students do not think about long-term risks. Most also don't think about long-term financials. They need to be given better information on how their debt will grow. They should also be given realistic plans that incorporate not only their academic needs, but also their financial budget. College student loan counselors need to work better with academic advisors in crafted plans for each individual student.

And if the case calls, counselors need to tell kids to stop taking on debt. Even if that means delaying their education.

Of course, Vaudreuil faces his own challenges now. According to US News, people over 50 face increase challenges finding new employment. The workforce is getting younger, faster, and more fluid and Vaudreuil needs to compete with his new skills against many young workers half his age. As a mechanical engineer, he might never make senior management. Time might have passed him by for a lengthy career in the field.

But he is still debt free. And in the big picture of taking care of his family, an entry level job in mechanical engineering should pay more than his current job as a janitor. In the long run, he and his family can look forward to improving their status in life.

Meanwhile, Rocco will be saddled with debt for most of his working life. He will struggle to pay off the balance as the interest on his loans begins to accumulate. When he buys a house or a new car, his personal debt will continue to grow.

From an employers' perspective, the fact that these two stories are public, we can make some judgement on the personal traits of each. Hiring managers will look up Rocco's name and read about a student that while intelligent, made poor financial decisions and didn't think long-term. He might also be more likely to jump to higher paying opportunities sooner, turning off hiring managers at organizations that might not pay as much.

For Vaudreuil, hiring managers will see someone with determination. The right company will see someone they can plug right into their corporation and get maturity and someone who plots a goal, understands the risks, and is dedicated.

As someone who enlisted in the military so I could get the GI Bill to pay for college, re-enlisted in the National Guard to pay for my first graduate degree, then put aside money made in Afghanistan to pay for my second master's degree, trust me, there is nothing wrong with taking your time to get through college.

If college takes 10 years to graduate, then it takes 10 years. A career path is not a race.

Business Communications Lessons

I am currently taking an MBA class in Business Communications. One of our assignments is to create a blog, a twitter account, and a LinkedIn account. Then we have to write a blog post and share some professional insights and lessons learned in business communications.

Since the first day of class, I've been able to check most of these boxes. A welcome respite from classes where had to put a lot more work in, such as in Finance, where I was in the library three hours a night every other night. Some things come easier to some people than to others.

(To be honest, that's something I have become very conscious about since I started my MBA work. Nothing bothers me more than when a Finance professor or classmates says "this is easy" when discussing a math problem I am struggling with. I have worked hard to get my math skills up to par. Saying something is easy while I struggle with it is insulting. So with that in mind, I definitely watch when talking about writing, communications, and social media with people who don't have those experiences. What is almost second nature to me might not be to others. I guess that's a communication lesson learned, right?)

But on to actual lessons I have learned from years in the workplace. As mentioned in my Professional Highlights tab on my site, most of my experiences have been in a military environment. But as you can see from my blog, I don't exactly fit the military mold. So that leads me to my first lesson learned:

Know your people

I've worked in Bosnia, Qatar, and Afghanistan. I've worked for senior military people and in military command centers. But I've also done stand-up comedy, posed for pictures with pro wrestlers, and done freelance writing on local DJs. Although I am successful in the environment, my mind doesn't fit the military mold. To reference Gordon MacKenzie, I tend to "orbit the hairball". And few hairballs are denser than the military-industrial complex.

I have been a challenge to many managers. I have worked for a few that tried to keep me in a box. I worked for an older manager whose attempt led to my departure. I worked for a younger manager who was in charge only because he worked for the government and I was a contractor. Our differences led to me moving to a night shift where our only interaction was when we passed notes on our respective shifts. It was a happy compromise.

But a few managers recognized my thought process and let me run. One of my managers in Afghanistan compared me to Michael Jordan and said "I'm going to give you the ball. If you miss too often, I am changing the game plan. But as long as you succeed, you can run how you want."

That's knowing your people. It takes effort and it takes talking with your people and understanding their thought process and creating an environment where they can do their best. If I had that support in the high-pressure environment of Afghanistan, it is possible everywhere.

Establish Credibility

Credibility is incredibly important. More time than not, no one listens to the new guy. So the faster you can establish credibility, the easier communicating will be. Credibility can be established by mentioning experiences and relating with people. Be sure to be likeable, and do not come off as a braggart. Don't claim your experiences, education, or skills make you better than anyone else. Just mention how they can help the situation.

Sometimes appearance helps to establish credibility. In Afghanistan, for example, I grew a long beard. Not only did the locals admire the beard, as beards are looked at positively in their culture, but US military members also recognized the beard as a symbol of my tenure in Afghanistan. It established immediate credibility as a veteran of the environment.

Understand Resistance

As important as it to communicate, sometimes even your best efforts fall on deaf ears. Or ears with fingers in them. Even if your credibility is recognized.


One of the most important communications lesson to learn is when people don't want to cooperate, especially if you want them to. Some managers might not feel it is their best interest to work with you. Or they feel you are giving them unnecessary work to do. The difficult solution is to try to see things from their perspective. Are they busy? Are they being stubborn to make a point? Are they just being lazy? Is your request ruining what they think is a good thing?

It is best to try to talk people and gauge their concerns when faced with resistance. People usually push back for a reason. The goal is to prevent them from doubling down. Once they are entrenched in their position, there is little you can do except bring in someone with more credibility or authority.

Know when to call in the Big Guns

One of the underrated skills in Business Communications is when to call in the big guns. No manager likes when subordinates can't solve their own problems. But some problems require more power than a subordinate is able to muster. Especially if there is resistance.

Knowing how to tell your manager you are facing a problem is also a skill. You don't want to sound like you didn't try or give your best effort. You want to tell your manager your attempts and the result. Then you want to ask them for help. Sometimes you receive that help. Sometimes all it requires is for them to send an email or make a phone call to grease the wheels of progress. Sometimes they have to fight the battle at their level. And sometimes they determine the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Granted, most of my experience has been in a conservative-minded military environment, where information is held close and sharing isn't a priority unless it has to be. I am sure there are environments with less difficulties. On the other hand, I am sure there are companies with more communication complications.

But these are my experiences. With any luck, they will come in handy when I move into a position in the corporate world.

Interviewing a 5-year old on creativity and imagination

I've made some creative videos in the past, but this is one of my favorite ones ever.

As part of an MBA class I took last year, I had to create a project that described my thoughts on creativity, especially as it pertains to the workplace. The premise was to inspire thought and out-of-the box thinking - things I have never been short on. While there was really no way to fail, the more creative the project, the better.

I knew from the start I wanted to create a video. This is only a sample of the whole video, which had samples my stand-up, clips from home movies, and bits from other endeavors. The video was a "journey" through a life of creativity. What follows is the "new" part of the journey, an interview with a pure-of-mind and imaginative young person.

I like to think I did his imagination justice.

Math Anxiety and the Quest for an MBA

Math is something new to me. Or at least something I haven't done in over 10 years. As an Arts & Sciences major and with a Master's in a Social Science, quantitative problems were never part of the curriculum. Methodologies weren't tested through formulas. Teachers in social science only want to know if you understand the facts and the concepts.

Do you know Israel and Palestine went to war five times since 1948? Can you explain why? What peace plan do you think would work best?

There is no right answer here. There are of course, wrong answers. There are answers that are so far in left field it becomes obvious the student didn't have the right knowledge before taking the test, but these questions use a totally different train of thought than mathematics, science, or any other field with calculations.

Recently, I have found myself in a conundrum. I am seven classes into an 20-class MBA program at the University of South Florida and have been working with math and concepts I haven't seen since my freshman or sophomore years in college, way back in the 20th Century. Even then, I wasn't very good at math.

Although my mother insists I was good at math once upon a time, way back in elementary school, I can't remember ever liking math. I was never enthused to sit at the kitchen table or a desk and do repetitive problems. I could never get excited about math. I think this dislike of mathematics eventually led to an avoidance which spiraled into me falling behind in math in high school. Math courses - from algebra to pre-calculus - were always my worst grades. They were my only "D"s in high school. They were the only courses I was not in honors-level classes.

I had no idea business classes were so chock full of math. I minored in business as an undergrad and took courses such as Business Law, Marketing, Advertizing, Economics, and Organizational Management. I've read Forbes, Fortune, a few Wall Street Journals, and some stock reports. I watched CNBC and Bloomberg. I thought that's all there was to business, and never imagined there was a world of business math.

Last semester, I struggled through Accounting. First, there were the terms such as "debit" and "credit" and meanings I had never been exposed to; that took learning. While other students enjoyed the refresher of their previous business undergrad lessons, I studied hours every night to stay afloat. I achieved a "B" in the class, but only by the slimmest of margins, and only after being aided by an extra credit assignment.

This semester I am taking Finance. For those who don't know, Finance is a mathematical-based class where students compare stock value, find the value of money, and evaluate portfolios. At least that's what we have done so far.

Needless to say, there is not much writing.

After three weeks in class I was petrified. The word problems the teacher handed out were in the English lagnuage, and the words were familiar, but I had no idea how to find the solutions. There was math I had to do, I knew that. I also knew I couldn't skip the math and rely on my strengths in writing to get me through. There was no writing to do.

As the test approached, I decided to start studying a week out. The first day, I stared at the problems. I had no idea what to do. The teacher's notes had formulas and variables that might as well been in Sanskrit. After an hour, I put the notes and the study guide down and quit for the day. I still had six days.

The next day, the same result. I was frozen. I decided I would visit the professor in his office the next day and talk to him about my problem. That night, however, I googled "math phobia". Surely someone had been down the same path. Sure enough, among the first entries was a Wikipedia page that caught my interest:

"Mathematical Anxiety"

I clicked.

Math anxiety is a phenomenon that is often considered when examining students’ problems in mathematics. Mark H. Ashcraft, Ph.D. defines math anxiety as “a feeling of tension, apprehension, or fear that interferes with math performance” (2002, p. 1)

Hmmm.... tell me more.

Ashcraft(2002) suggests that highly anxious math students will avoid situations in which they have to perform mathematical calculations. Unfortunately, math avoidance results in less competency, exposure and math practice, leaving students more anxious and mathematically unprepared to achieve. In college and university, anxious math students take fewer math courses and tend to feel negative towards math. In fact, Ashcraft found that the correlation between math anxiety and variables such as confidence and motivation are strongly negative.

Interesting. But what causes it?

Math is usually taught as a right and wrong subject and as if getting the right answer were paramount. In contrast to most subjects, mathematics problems almost always have a right answer. Additionally, the subject is often taught as if there were a right way to solve the problem and any other approaches would be wrong, even if students got the right answer. When learning, understanding the concepts should be paramount, but with a right/wrong approach to teaching math, students are encouraged not to try, not to experiment, not to find algorithms that work for them, and not to take risks.

Very interesting. Then I read a paragraph that really hit home.

Active learners ask critical questions, such as: Why do we do it this way, and not that way? Some teachers may find these questions annoying or difficult to answer, and indeed may have been trained to respond to such questions with hostility and contempt, designed to instill fear. Better teachers respond eagerly to these questions, and use them to help the students deepen their understand by examining alternative methods so the students can choose for themselves which method they prefer. This process can result in meaningful class discussions. Talking is the way in which students increase their understanding and command of math. Teachers can emphasize the importance of original thinking rather than rote manipulation of formulas. This can be done through class conversations. Teachers can give students insight as to why they learn certain content by asking students questions such as "What purpose is served by solving this problem?" and "why are we being asked to learn this?"

Holy cow. That is my elementary and junior high math experiences in a nutshell. As you can see on this little website, I am the creative sort. I ask questions. I analyze. That's been my thing since I was kid.

So often, however, math teachers in my early years dismissed my questions, said they didn't have time to explain, or taught strictly by the book. I am not blaming them, but that could be the reason my for negative attitude towards math. My questions were never answered so I never bothered asking again. I was never taught in a way that fit my learning style.

Now here I am, 15 years since my last math class with a need to learn.  I've decided to take a step backwards before taking more steps forward. After I get through Finance - IF I get through - I am going to enroll in a lower level math course, either statistics, business calculus, or college algebra, to brush up or add to my skills. I think the pressure of having math homework will force me to do the problems and practice getting solutions. Perhaps the professor can also answer why.

It's humbling to know that I don't know what I should know in these classes and that the skills I do know aren't that good. Hopefully I get better at math in the next few months and my increased skills will lead to increased confidence. Of course, increased skills and increased confidence are good things to have when looking for a job. So is math.

In the meantime, I'll keep watching Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land for inspiration.

Unemployed vets, liberal arts majors, and understanding the economy

A few months ago, I read an article on the increasing unemployment numbers for military veterans, especially those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. According to David Lerman of Bloomberg News, these veterans, especially those ages 18 to 24, have faced an increasing unemployment rate, “even as the national jobless rate declines”.

Lerman writes about several young military vets in the combat arms who fail to find gainful employment because their job skills don’t transfer to the civilian economy or they fail to communicate what skills they have to civilian employers.

Although I feel bad for anyone who wants to work but can’t find a job, here is the problem: too many recruiters are pushing kids to military jobs that have no bearing on the civilian economy. Jobs such as infantry, artillery, or even military intelligence are not jobs that translate well in the private sector. Without attractive private sector skills, young vets are forced to lean on leadership, discipline, and other intangible factors of their time in the military.  Their rationale is that those skills are so important, people would rather hire them and train them for a specific skill than hire someone with the skill who needs to be groomed to be a leader.

From my private sector experience, that’s not exactly true. Not all companies are looking for a military-style manager. And depending on what type of position needs to be managed, military management might not fit. Even as a manager, you still need to speak the language and understand the culture of the civilian job. Those are things people expect new managers to understand, otherwise you start at the bottom, where basic skills and not leadership experience are more important.

The ill fit of recently discharged young vets is not unlike those who graduate with Art History degree who wonder why the private sector doesn’t want to hire them. It’s because their skills are not marketable or they are not looking in the right places for their skills. Both of these groups, the young vets and the arts & sciences majors, need to understand what the economy needs. It needs computer programmers. It needs engineers. It needs scientists and mathematicians. It is also hiring financial experts, doctors, and web designers.

One should not aspire to be a middle manager without a niche.

In both cases, I blame the recruiters or the counselors. These are the people who should guide young people towards a career they will enjoy, yet one that fits the outlook of the nation. Too many of them are guiding people towards dead end jobs or degrees that are nearly impossible to fit the private sector.

Although they are only 18 to 21, individuals who sign up for the military or who are in college need to consider the economy when making decisions that will affect their future job potential. Especially if they think they will be moving on to other positions eventually. If a soldier loves being infantry and wants to be infantry for 20 years, God bless ‘em, that’s a career move. But if they are only considering being infantry for three or four years, and have no plan beyond that, like the art major who only takes classes because they are fun, that’s a problem.

Now before anyone criticizes me for being anti-military or anti-liberal arts, I am exhibit A on what I am talking about. I did four years in the military then received a degree in English/Creative Writing. Both of which are completely not useful in the civilian sector. I have only worked outside of the Department of Defense or affiliates for my time in college and four months. If I wanted a job in the private sector, I know I would need additional training. And that’s what the money from my trip to Afghanistan will probably go towards.

Freakonomics is now questioning Steroids of the Mind

Quick post, as I am working on something more extensive:

I read an interesting post on the New York Times Freakonomics Blog today. In a post entitled "Are Ritalin-Taking Students Cheaters?", the Freakonomics folks link to an article on an Australian site that discusses the scientific work of an Australian researcher who claims concentration drugs could become a problem for academia.

Sound familiar?

Back in July 2007, I posted a letter I wrote to the Florida State University newspaper in 2005. That letter, entitled "Ban Steroids of the Mind", addressed this exact problem, of course in my own hyperbolic and over-exaggerated way of looking at it.

According to Vince Cakic, author of the study "Smart drugs for cognitive enhancement: ethical and pragmatic considerations in the era of cosmetic neurology",

"Reports in the popular press suggest that smart drugs or "nootropics" such as methylphenidate, modafinil and piracetam are increasingly being used by the healthy to augment cognitive ability. Although current nootropics offer only modest improvements in cognitive performance, it appears likely that more effective compounds will be developed in the future and that their off-label use will increase. One sphere in which the use of these drugs may be commonplace is by healthy students within academia. This article reviews the ethical and pragmatic implications of nootropic use in academia by drawing parallels with issues relevant to the drugs in sport debate. It is often argued that performance-enhancing drugs should be prohibited because they create an uneven playing field. However, this appears dubious given that "unfair" advantages are already ubiquitous and generally tolerated by society. There are concerns that widespread use will indirectly coerce non-users also to employ nootropics in order to remain competitive."

Compare that to what I wrote in 2005 and repeated in 2007:

"Similar to growth enhancement products, mental enhancers promote an unfair advantage and distort the academic "playing field". Whereas neither physical nor mental supplements provide magical results without at least a level of skill or subject understanding, the similarities between these products are quite eerie."

It's about time other smart people caught on to what I've been talking about. Once again, I am ahead of the power curve. Maybe one day I'll have a forum like Freakonomics.

Are Ritalin-Taking Students Cheaters? - Freakonomics, October 2, 2009

'Academic doping' set to rise: expert - abc.net.au, October 1, 2009

Smart drugs for cognitive enhancement: ethical and pragmatic considerations in the era of cosmetic neurology - Cakic, Vince, Journal of Medical Ethics 2009;35:611-615; doi:10.1136/jme.2009.030882.

"Ban Steroids of the Mind" - The Serious Tip, July 2007

A Response to Virgil Griffiths' "Music That Makes You Dumb": Part 2

Ok, I apologize for not finishing this sooner. This is Part 2 of my defense of Hip-Hop in response of Virgil Griffith’s well-publicized “Music That Makes You Dumb” study. I know I said I would have this "tomorrow", but if you slept for two weeks, then today actually is closer to tomorrow. But I digress ...

(In case you forgot what this is all about, see Part 1 here.)

Before I go defending hip-hop and attacking Mr. Griffith's study yet again, I figured I should give a little background pertaining to my music tastes and my education level: I’ve been listening to hip-hop since 1990 or so and I have a Master’s Degree. The first hip-hop song I remember really liking was admittedly M.C. Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”. Through the years, I've credited hip-hop for instilling a hustle-like drive in me. Although I didn’t grow up anywhere near the ghetto, songs like Biggie Small’s “Juicy” and much of Nas’s “Illmatic” album influenced me to make more of myself and to leave the safe suburbs of Central Florida for more adventurous grounds.

Now I can’t say whether or not hip-hop affected my SAT scores, as Virgil Griffith’s well-publicized study would infer. I wasn't that great of student back in the day. To be honest, it probably was more due to my laziness than my musical tastes. And I sincerely doubt either of the two (my laziness and my music taste) were related in any sort of way. Looking back on my own academic history, I wonder if Mr. Griffith had performed his research 15 years ago, when I took my SATs and ACTs, would he have found Snoop Doggy Dogg and other chart-toppers of yesteryear as the music favorited by students with low test scores?

Today’s hip-hop, like that of the mid-90s, is unfortunately too easily dismissed as music for the ignorant. To quote Michael Eric Dyson, “Hip-hop’s critics make a valid point that the genre is full of problematic expressions. It reeks of materialism; it feeds on stereotypes and offensive language; it spoils with retrogressive views; it is rife with hedonism; and it surely doesn’t side with humanistic values”. (Dyson, 2007)

Dyson defends hip-hop, however, claiming it is “fundamentally an art form that traffics in hyperbole, parody, kitsch, poetic license, double entendre, signification, and other literary and artistic conventions to get its point across”. (Dyson, 2007)

Although I am far from the hip-hop scholar that Dyson is, my view on hip-hop definitely mirrors his. More specifically, I believe there are four elements of hip-hop that, when studied and analyzed, have the opposite effect on listeners that what Griffith claims and actually make people smarter.

Hip-hop as History

Hip-hop is the latest derivative of African-American music. The music that started with the old slave chants and drum rhythms morphed into the call and response of gospel and blues. From blues came early rock and roll and rhythm and blues. From there came soul and funk and from there disco and the earliest roots of rap. There is no doubt hip-hop is a window into the history of music.

Although none have, to my knowledge, reached out to perform with the music performers of yesteryear (as early British rockers did with the old Mississippi blues men in the late 1960s), there is at least a growing appreciation among veteran rappers for those who blazed the trail. Many rappers have in the last few years raised the profile of the history and the roots of hip-hop. Two examples of rappers exhibiting their musical roots include Chuck D’s presence and essays in Martin Scorese’s “Blues” and Nas’s song “Bridging The Gap” which while played with his father, blues singer Olu Dara, contained a sample of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy”.

Personally, hip-hop taught me my musical background as well. Starting with Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and the gangsta rap of the early ‘90s, I discovered George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. From George Clinton came James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. From Hendrix came Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and dozens of other blues legends. Rap and hip-hop spawned in me a great appreciation for American music. I think this has made me a smarter and more culturally appreciative music fan.

Hip-hop as Globalism

As well as being the next step in American music, hip-hop is also the most inclusive and racially tolerant of all American musical art forms. At its most basic, creators of hip-hop music have “dug through the crates” to find beats and sounds from all sorts of various musical pieces. Hip-hop DJs have sampled jazz, blues, rock, classical, cartoons, country, and even world music to create the melting pot that has become hip-hop music.

Hip-hop’s inclusiveness stretches beyond the barrier of beats, however. Hip-hop is celebrated around the world in a way that no other music has ever been. What originated in New York City is now popular in Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Aspiring rappers worldwide are drawing influence from over 20 years of American hip-hop and creating their own sounds and trends. And these sounds, in turn, are making their way back to America to influence domestic artists. Hip-hop is creating a global musical community.

Although there was, and probably still remains, some geographical “beef” between east and west coast rappers, global appreciation for hip-hop has resulted in a more open-minded, accepting population. A population that is both smarter and more global connected.

Hip-hop as Verbal Expression

Granted, according to a Hip Hop Word Count, some (ok, most) rappers rate poorly in their use of complex, multi-syllabic word use and express themselves at basically an eighth grade or lower reading level. (Here is where we can get into socio-economic plight and its effect on education.) Despite the perception of an uneducated majority, hip-hop features many rappers who use the beat and their songs to express complex ideas on the world around them.

The most famous hip-hop group to educate the masses is probably Public Enemy. Front man Chuck D has made a living, as Bob Dylan put it, “talkin’ ‘bout the government” and rapping about what is going on in the African-American community. There is no way listening to Public Enemy makes someone dumb. Same with other “social conscious” rappers like Paris, The Coup, KRS-1, Dead Prez, Nas, or even to an extent 2Pac. Although many performers and listeners are using hip-hop as a celebration the “gangsta” lifestyle, there are those who use it as a method of communication or teaching. Those are the ones we should be listening to. The ones who are actually making us more aware of the world around us.

Hip-hop as brain music

I’ll admit these responses are a bit longwinded. I think I have probably written more in defense of hip-hop than Mr. Griffith wrote portraying it as the music for the uneducated. There is one thing to remember however, mainstream music will always be dumbed down to the lowest denominator. Corporate music will be sold to the person with an average IQ. Expecting to sell something the masses won't understand is a poor marketing plan.

My guess would be if Mr. Griffith had done this same study 20 years ago, he would have found Motley Crue, RATT, Poison, Bon Jovi, and maybe even Winger as the music listened to by those with the lowest test scores. Of course, had he done that and attacked the more traditional rock’n’roll, it is doubtful his study would have garnered the worldwide attention it did.

A Response to Virgil Griffiths' "Music That Makes You Dumb": Part 1

In the last week, several people have asked my opinion on a recent study proclaiming that Hip-Hop, among other music, “makes you dumb”. This is the first part of my two part response. Today, I will dissect the study itself and tomorrow I will defend hip-hop against those who would use the study to show it is an intellectually lesser form of music.

The study:

According to Virgil Griffith, a 26-year old student at Cal Tech, certain genres of music can be associated with the average entrance exam scores of college students.

To quote Mr. Griffith’s methodology

1. “Get a friend of yours to download, using Facebook, the ten most frequent "favorite music" at every college via that college's Network Statistics page on Facebook (manually -- as not to violate Facebook's ToS). These ten "favorite musics" are perhaps indicative of the overall intellectual milieu of that college.

2. Download the average SAT/ACT score (from CollegeBoard) for students attending every college.

3. Presto! We have a correlation between musical tastes and dumbitude (smartitude too)!

Music <=> Colleges <=> Average SAT Scores

4. Plot the average SAT of each "favorite music", discarding those with too few samples to have a reliable average.

5. Post the results on your website, pondering what the Internet will think of it.

Ok, so if this scale was made specifically from data from my alma mater (Florida State), and the average SAT/ACT score at Florida State was 1600, and the only music listed among Florida State Facebook users was “the sound of toddlers banging pots and pans”, then “the sound of toddlers banging pots and pans” would rate as a 1600. If another school’s students listed “the sound of toddlers banging pots and pans”, but only received an average score of 800, then “the sound of toddlers banging pots and pans” would drop to an average test score of 1200. Hence, “the sound of toddlers banging pots and pans” would rank somewhere between Bob Dylan and U2.

(Actually, FSU ranked 265th out of 1352 colleges with an average test score of 1154 across 31,347 students with listening preferences of Jack Johnson, Sublime, Coldplay, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pink Floyd, John Mayer, Weezer, and The Fray.)

Points of Contention:

As I explained, what Mr. Griffith listed was the listening preferences of the smart colleges versus the listening preferences of less academically prestigious colleges. First of all, he does not go into academic study. Of course, colleges specializing in classical study will have more kids who listen to Beethoven, the music linked to the “smartest scores”. On the flip side, colleges specializing in urban anthropology may have more students listing to Lil Wayne (889 average score) and Nas (1071 average score).

Second, looking at Mr. Griffith’s chart, I immediately noticed most of the music on the lower IQ side derives from African beats and influences. Of course, the most basic instinct would be to label this as yet another study supporting racism and minority intellectual inferiority. The website ThisIsRealMusic.com blasts Mr. Griffith along this assumption. However, TIRM fails to mention where or how Mr. Griffith got his information. They just proclaim he is a closet racist. I don’t think that is fair, nor is it a good way to do a counterpoint.

Where I do believe Mr. Griffith dropped the ball is in his title and its associated media blitz. In labeling his study “Music that makes you dumb”, he is opening himself up for comments and negative attention. The proper title of his study should have been “Music Preferences of Facebook-Using College Students Based on School Average SAT/ACT Scores”. But that wouldn’t have garnered him any attention.

Also of note is that several Historically Black Colleges are listed in the bottom quarter of Mr. Griffith’s school data along with their students’ music tastes. I have little doubt Mr. Griffith saw this trend emerging as he graphed his data. Here again I fault Mr. Griffith’s presentation of the data.

What does it say then about Historical Black Colleges that they score so low? Either HBCs are letting in students who are not stringent in their academic requirements or the students of HBCs are not as smart as students in the top schools. The latter theory can of course be countered by the idea that minority students (assuming they make up the majority of HBC student bodies) are not being prepared well enough to score well on college entrance exams. Some even go as far as to label the tests racist. So where does the bigger fault lie: in the music HBC students listen to or the school systems they come from?

The bottom line is that Mr. Griffith was irresponsible in releasing his findings in the manner that he did. He should have known the societal repercussions of his display. The fact that he attempts to cover up his naivety in the cloak of statistical impartiality does not hold water. And honestly, instead of playing with numbers and pinning music to test scores, he would have been better off trying to devise a statistical way for students to do better on their entrance exams.

By the way, as for Mr. Griffith and his personal music tastes, according to the FAQ he listens to Daft Punk (not on the list) Tool (1083), Radiohead (1220), and Metallica (1063). Averaging the available scores, and using his musical tastes as an indicator of his own intelligence, Mr. Griffith probably received an 1122 on his entrance exam. However, this would put him nearly 400 points below the average Cal Tech student, who received a 1520.

So either Mr. Griffith is far below the academic standard at his university or, if he did score among the average test taker, his musical preferences are not indicative of his intelligence. If he then is an outlier in his own study, why should we attach his system to any other test taker in any other school?

Saying we are supposed to correlate attributes to people when the creator of the attributes is such a drastic outlier is like saying a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, would want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks. It obviously does not not make sense.