In today's world, it is a lot harder to get a job, isn't it? And there is a growing skills and education gap here in America that, by the time its economy fully recovers, will leave a lot of people behind because they won't have the education and skills to be employable in tomorrow's economy. It's a bleak picture, and I'm concerned about it too, as a commentator in a global economy. But I've found a way to overcome this.
I'm going back to school-and so can you! In today's economy hardly anyone can afford college tuition, which keeps going up. But neither can anybody afford not to have a college education. Yet there is a way to have a university-level education without tuition. And you can even get credit for it. That way is from the public library, in a free university-level liberal arts education called "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. It's available in DVD and CD. It's a series of university courses taught by top professors in their fields who have been chosen as the most engaging professors in their fields. Like Music Professor Robert Greenberg, who is very informative, enthusiastic, and funny-all at the same time! These professors won't put you to sleep! They are top public speakers, just like I'm training to be at Toastmasters International!
Those of us who are older and haven't been to university classes in over twenty years, as well as younger people today who can't afford a university education, can benefit from "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company. For example, there is current information, based on recently research that wasn't available over twenty years ago, in these courses.
In addition to the DVDs and CDs, there are booklets-reading course guides-that outline and synopsize each lecture, and gives essential and optional reading sources, which, when fully used and learned, will get you up to date on that field. "From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History" has six DVDs and three course guidebooks, each covering two DVDs with a professor bio of Kenneth J. Hammond PhD and Associate Professor of History at New Mexico State University, a table of contents, scope of the course, scope and outline of each lecture, essential and supplemental reading sources, questions to consider, a map of modern China, a timeline, glossary, biographical notes, and a bibliography.
This is a perfect example of an education that wasn't available a generation ago to most Americans. Then, World History meant European History or Western Civilization. Today, World History IS World History, and I'm taking advantage of that by taking "Great Courses" like "Great Minds of Eastern Intellectual Thought" alongside "Great Minds of Western Intellectual Thought", a prehistory or archeology course that covers Neanderthal and other humankind before Modern Man. There are development of human language and theology courses. Philosophy, music, art, sciences (including meteorology, which I've watched), mathematics, literature, and economics.
And we need to know them all today. Harvard University's School of Business tells its students that it isn't enough to know the business world. To survive in today's global economy, you have to have a liberal arts education so that you'll have a working knowledge of every field. "The Great Courses" by The Teaching Company will give you that. And you can list these courses on your LinkedIn profile under "Training and Education" to claim credit on your LinkedIn resume. All for free from your public library, or for a nominal fee, through inter-library loan. That's why these courses are worth our time and effort!
