It's Saint Patrick's day, so what better time to consider the celebrated Irish author Frank Delaney. His website features his superb observations on literature and a line by line analysis of James Joyce's novel Ulysses. In a series of very enjoyable podcasts Delany makes Ulysses accessible to all. Who says you can't get educational resources of the highest quality for free on the internet! --

Writes Delaney:

"Re: Joyce! On the international literary feast day of Bloomsday, June 16, we launched a podcast to commemorate James Joyce's mighty novel, "Ulysses", the action of which took place in 18 hours of June 16, 1904. Now, every week, here on the website, you'll find a five-minute mini-essay from me designed to take you through this extraordinary novel. Ulysses is on every list of the greatest books ever written and it's on every list of books that readers begin but never finish. Even though it runs to some 375,000 words,I mean to go through the text sentence by sentence if I have to, in order to convey the full brilliance of this novel - and the enjoyment to be had from it. So I'll be podcasting for some time to come! One follower has already called this exercise "the people's Ulysses." It's such an absorbing book, it's got diamond mines of references, it's so compassionate, so tender, so moving, so funny - and most of us never know that, because most of us have long been daunted by it. No need to be afraid any more - that is, if you make a habit of listening to these podcasts."

Find the introduction to the Frank Delaney series of podcasts on Ulysses here.

Let's Get Real About the Bachelor's Degree

Due to degree inflation* the bachelor’s degree has lost it’s relevance as a measure of intellectual achievement. It has become more of a badge of employability than anything else. Government and corporate employers figure that if you were docile enough to fork over the big bucks for a four-year degree and able to withstand the institutional time waste, you’re probably manageable enough to be good employee material.

Smart education shoppers would either try to streamline this process, get it over as quickly and cheaply as possible, or skip it entirely. By skipping it I don’t mean to say that ignorance is bliss, I mean, of course, to promote the benefits of self-education.

In a more perfect world we would see a lot more independent study pathways opening up and a lot less of the idea that you have to take anthropology and music classes before you can get your employment permission slip.

I mean if you want to be an engineer you should be able to opt out of any program that wants to load you down with extra classes designed to make you a “well rounded person” (and to drain your bank account and waste your time). You’re a free adult, it should be your choice.

To build on the engineering example: If you’ve got your sciences, maths and the reading and writing part down after high school, you should be allowed to go right to the engineering classes. High school, and then a year-and-a-half, or two, of concentrated study in your chosen field and bam! You’re ready for an entry level professional job. Another two years and you can get a masters.

Cut out two years of high school part II (lower division college), waste less time, save tuition and get into the productive phase of your life sooner. Overall you’ll be staring life $150,000 ahead of the game. There aught to be a movement to see to it that this becomes a lot more common. Just say no to educational BS!

*Degree inflation is caused by a form of social promotion. Unqualified students are given degrees or diplomas because the society expects it. Because parents and students who've paid big bucks and spent years hanging out at or near a college campus feel that the stigma of not giving the hapless student a degree would be so great that it might damage the larger economy. Students pretend to learn, the colleges pretend that they're earning degrees and employers pretend that it qualifies them to earn an adult sized paycheck. The result is that (almost) everybody knows that the modern bachelor's degree is a poor imitation of what it used to be.