Love it or leave it! You’re either with me or a’gin me. Either we walk or take a taxi! Each of these examples is a blatant fallacy: what critical skills people and rhetoricians label “a classic false-choice” proposition. (Want more? Listen to politicians of all stripes talking in front of crowds….). Another instance of a […]
Counseling Matters: Summertime at college; something for everyone…
OK, OK… the Memorial Day Weekend passed, and you didn’t get to fly on a fantastical jet with security, lounges and wet bars to a sprawling playground estate near Florida waters on Air Force One, at taxpayers’ expense: Oy. Still, the summertime holds many little-known opportunities ahead – at nearby Diablo Valley College, for […]
Counseling Matters: Mother Goose, Papa Thelonious…and the Trilogy
Who invented the phrase “.. in the merry, merry month of May?” Was it the revered Bard himself? The prankster/satirist Chaucer? Or a drunken reveler in an early incarnation of “The Renaissance Faire?”. What about that English poet whose seductive refrain of “… come Corrina, let’s go a-maying….”. Hint-hint: They weren’t talking about collecting pollen […]
Counseling Matters; Choosing the next stage: College!
Spring reveals a busy, often anxious stage for those who plan to be college bound next Fall. At DVC, we fully expect to see students grow a “third ear” with their cells affixed to their ear-drum 24/7. UCLA reveal their transfer student acceptance decisions on April 30th, while Cal seems to relish in sharing their […]
Counseling Matters: Majors and careers and … joblessness – oh my…
Numbers? Y’ want numbers?! A recent MarketWatch article has ‘em: Two researchers from Oxford University, the world’s No. 1 rated university, include Michael Osborne and Carl Benedikt Frye being quoted by the lead Global Economist for the Vanguard Corporation, Joe Davis: In five years, 47 percent of U.S. jobs will be automated, affecting – and […]
Counseling Matters: Choosing a major for college
While a great deal of energy goes into choosing which college we wish to attend, and where, and how much is it likely to cost, the matter of what major to pursue often receives less attention. If you’re undecided, you’re not alone; in fact, some two-thirds of college students change their major at least once. […]
Counseling Matters: Oh, the places you’ll go…
On Saturday morning, June 10, several hundred graduates of Benicia High School will attend their graduation ceremony in the stadium at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. They will celebrate the end of a some 12 years of schooling, often in the Benicia Unified School District. There will be celebration aplenty, bottles popped and toasty […]
Counseling Matters: Yesterday at Kent State University
Yesterday, when I was 19, was 46 years ago; wait, that can’t be right… On that day, in a low-profile, mid-west college campus’ commons, an event occurred that was among the most unforgettable of my brief life. It still is. Some background: My older brother volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War, entering as a […]
Counseling matters: Waiting for that little white envelope…
We’re not very good at waiting – our western culture rather abhors it. And up ’till now, many of Benicia’s families and students have been doing it for months – years, in some cases. For these days, you can hear certain sounds ripping the air from the families of Benicia’s high school seniors: sighs and […]
Counseling Matters: And now for some real learning …
I’VE SPENT A LIFETIME attending, representing and appreciating schools and colleges: with classrooms, instructors, desks, books, screens, gates, grades, student IDs, quizzes, attendance, etc., etc. Most of it I’ve liked/loved, some of it I’ve occasionally put up with — and some of it I’ve slept through. It’s true that summer coursework is more plentiful than […]