Education Problems And Solutions 2009

So I have decided to get back into school again 1 year after I've graduated with an Electrical Engineering BS degree and minor in Computer Science.

First off, going back to a government educational institution right now is horrible due to all the budget cuts in California and probably nationwide. I thought only the fees were increased but actually a lot more of surprises came as school started. Our school has more "closed" days than before and also each professor must choose and discard 5 additional days during the semester. With an increase in the fees and reduction in the courses/lectures this seems good for people who want an easy education ... but not for those who actually want quality education.

So it looks like the future students of San Jose State University will have limited knowledge and less skills than previous students... because of the many setbacks and reduction in teach. My lecturers all have reduced their course objectives and have a few topics normally taught in the class. I believe this is only the beginning and a lot of issues will arise later.

It was also very difficult to get into courses because of the limited seating that is now enforced. Before you could get add codes easily if the professor allows it - but everyone now needs to ask permission and codes from the top.

I just started reading a book from this Stanford professor (economics) and it has a very interesting first chapter. The professor always gives this assignment of "if i gave you $5 make as much profit as possible within 2 weeks" and it is similar to the situation right now at SJSU. I think i should give this book to one of those professors at school and maybe they will get some of the ideas that have sparked in my head.

San Jose State should step up to this budget problem and find alternatives to generating income... the first chapter clearly shows that you can generate lots of money without money at all. Organizations should be started around school to create income for the school. The university is full of bright people, they should be able to start projects that eventually brings in some profits. Simple things like the printing shop across the street started by one of the professors probably donate income to the school - there should be student groups that do such things.

I would repair bikes at school for free and just put a donation can in front of myself to help generate income for the school (like an example in the book). Although it does sound weird to offer free services - most things are easily fixed and people end up donating more than they would for a repair. The CS courses I have been taking should offer consulting services to nearby organizations and possible get some sorta donation later. I have signed up to work with cinequest and in return i get some free movie tickets.

Well the ideas are endless and I'm sure SJSU is capable of figuring it out - they just need to stop looking at their problems and look at alternatives.

I LOVE MY T61 LAPTOP! BEST $900 EVER!!

Often times i regret spending over $800 for this laptop i'm using now to write this blog entry but the past few weeks have made me appreciate this little machine much more than before. The picture shown above is the product of my labor for the past few weeks and also the work of many other thinkpad owners around the world! It shows the successful installation of OS X on a lenovo thinkpad T61.

Ever since those Mac and PC advertisements i've grown some hatred towards Mac because of their consistent jokes about PC users. Anyway i finally get to see what the Mac OS X is all about and i have to say it is a unique blend of features for an operating system that places it ahead in some ways. I like the OS X because it makes you feel like Apple Computer is run by perfectionists that spend hours and hours until they are satisfied with their product.

Anyway, the reason why i'm so happy with my laptop is that it is 100% compatible with the x86/OSX operating system that has been always proprietary to Apple Computers. Most laptops out there are far from being 100% compatible with this operating system and will always have something to keep them from fully experiencing the software. The most common things missing are wireless capability and graphics support; without these the experience would be unpleasant and most would revert back.

The reason for installing the OS in the first place was because i decided to take a challenging course in "iPhone Development" which is a new course here at SJSU taught by professor that i'm close with. Because of Apple's common behavior, they would only allow their SDK to run on newer Apple computers that have the latest and greatest. Initially i thought about investing into an older model macintosh computer to setup my environment in, but the search proved to be a challenge. The lowest prices i saw on ebay were $350 for used "Mac Mini"s that should retail for $300 new. Anyway, i have heard about "hackintosh" - the term used to describe a PC running the Mac OS and decided to start. 

The first day I spent most of my time researching forums and starting my downloads - the first disc i installed was a complete failure and it was very discouraging. As i searched more "stable" builds i got to my first checkpoint - installing and running the OS successfully. I was so excited that i went and showed my friend nearby but it ended up showing me how unstable these installs were and ended up wasting time re-installing. Eventually on the second day i was quite confident of my machine and decided to start downloading the SDK - and as i opened the program it informed me that my OS was outdated and needed and update. The update ... trashed my install and my two days worth of work! Anyway, it was clear that the more stable build did not support the SDK and i started back at square one and decided to go for the latest, less tested, builds. At this point i was clear on what must be done and have gone through the install process a few times already. Eventually everything came together and I have gotten everything to work properly with the exception of stable bluetooth detection and CPU speeds reduced by 10%.

When i brought the machine to school many were in awe and gave me props for getting the dev. environment working. Even a few mac owners were envious of what i had - the feeling was great and now i'm looking for a spare machine to play around with and also to replace some parts on this machine.

LONG LIVE THE THINKPAD T61, THE GREATEST LAPTOP I'VE BOUGHT!! Despite the crappier body made by lenovo!

Now i get to program iPhone apps and get a student developer license from school.