As high school students contemplate college and their choice of major, they would do well to consider some of the current buzz about the future of higher education. Many experts are questioning the failure of these institutions to adapt to a changing society.

Last November, Kent Pitman, was one of those folks raising some concerns. In “College: An Overpriced Monopoly” Pitman offered some excellent points as to why the current system may well be outdated.

More importantly, he offered some suggestions for the next generation of students, ideas that reinforce the growth of the online education model even as he suggested the eventual demise of the traditional on-campus, four-year program.

Too Much About the Sheepskin?

The first interesting Pitman assertion is that colleges today are selling degrees to students. But he is not talking solely about those diploma mills that provide a worthless sheepskin for a few dollars.

No, Pitman is suggesting that all colleges are guilty of this endeavor. The only difference is that the established schools ask for a significant commitment from the student before providing that diploma: four years, 120 hours of coursework and tens of thousands of dollars.

Pitman notes that in theory, during those four years students master certain skills and gain the requisite knowledge necessary to be successful in their field and future career. But what has come to matter far more is something other than the knowledge gained.

Instead, all of society has come to support the notion that it is the degree that matters, that without it your future will be far more limited, your earnings far lower, and your chance at a long successful life almost nonexistent.

At the same time, as Pitman notes, we are seeing a very extraordinary development. In what is considered an incredible opportunity for the public at large, “MIT has made its online courseware of about 1800 courses available online for free.” Several other highly-thought of institutions have followed suit.

Now everyone has free access to the curriculum of some of our nation’s finest schools. Learners with an Internet connection have been given the chance to develop significant competencies without so much as shelling out a dollar.

But there is one thing missing. Completing the MIT courses (or those of another school) at home leaves you without the critical component valued by society, a degree.

Pitman insists that this “is a cue that something is amiss.” Looking deeper, Pitman has this to say about the move by MIT: “At the same time as it (MIT) offers knowledge to many, it seems to me to also say, ‘we’re secure in our understanding that our value is in our name, and we’re keeping that just as scarce as it was before, even if the understanding we offer is made ubiquitously available.’

“Of course, they might be saying that the lectures just aren’t good enough to get across the course material and that the real value of their program is in the ability to ask questions interactively. But I somehow doubt that. I think it’s about the brand.”

The Purpose of College

While it may be easy to knock the current structure, there is one thing that must be made clear. Society has come to value the bachelor degree credential so much (right or wrong) that aspiring workers must play the game if they are to have an opportunity in today’s challenging job market.

At the same time, one might ask, what ultimately is the purpose of attending college? Is it solely to earn that sheepskin or is it about a series of life experiences that helps one develop as a person? Should it be all that and more?

Here Pitman speaks bluntly: “The first goal of college must be to get a proper basis for getting started with a job, and preferably a career.” Yet he goes further: “anything beyond that is great, but is not a basic educational requirement.”

Therefore, while it may be nice to be able to set four years of one’s life aside to “really think and grow in ways that don’t even relate to work,” that perhaps has become just too costly for a large number of American families. Today students need credentials; they do not necessarily need the peripheral experiences associated with college.

The key element is that students must first carefully consider how much they are willing to expend to earn the credential. But at the same time, students must determine for themselves what experiences are essential to preparing them for that career of choice.

Pitman notes: “I think the solution is to get more serious about packaging the education part in a way that doesn’t force you to bundle in all the extras.

“Yes, it will be sad for some people to miss out on all the extras. But it will be sadder still if you hold rigidly to the elitist line that college must be all or nothing. Because that kind of statement is spoken by someone who’s used to getting the all, not the nothing.”

The Future of Higher Education

Pitman insists that higher education must change its format moving forward, that the acquisition of knowledge and skills has to become the thing that matters. If he is right, then the time has come for us to determine a way to figure out how to measure whether or not a student has acquired that intellectual background.

But the vast majority of schools are not currently seeking such a path. Instead, according to Pitman, most colleges today “seem focused on selling a particular type of hand-holding at a premium price rather than on maximizing the amount of learning per dollar.”

In contrast, the future will belong to those schools that can deliver their product at a price students can afford to pay.

Add to that notion a rather different development, the notion of a very different, 21st century working world. Whereas once upon a time a single four-year period of education might prepare a person for a lifetime of work, the general consensus today is that future jobs will last only a few years.

With people potentially changing careers several times, the idea of attending school once in one’s younger years seemingly will have to give way to a pattern that features frequent returns for further schooling. That will also mean the development of additional credential forms, a format other than the traditional bachelor’s and master’s degree program, to distinguish this move towards life-long learning.

Online Education Flourishing

Given the developments noted by Pitman it is easy to see why online education has become the choice for so many students. First, it eliminates those bundled extras, focusing instead on the learning. There is no costs for room and board and no athletic fees.

Second, while professors design courses and hold students accountable, there is no hand-holding. Credit comes from demonstrated mastery of the curricula, not some time sitting in a classroom. Students progress at their own pace and do their coursework at a time and place that makes sense for them as individuals.

Lastly, online education is far more attuned to the needs of those with multiple interests and responsibilities. If new credentials are to be earned, most workers are not able to simply stop working to attend classes. Family and work demands are not conducive to on-campus classes or four-year commitments.

Meanwhile, one would think that other models would soon emerge that provide similar flexibility. Such models would need to be constructed with input from a number of different constituent groups: students, business leaders, government officials and college administrators.

Collectively, these groups must create new models that address some very valid Pitman points, particularly the need for new methods of measuring the attainment of knowledge and skills. Most importantly, those measures must lay to rest the basic premise that a four-year bachelor’s degree is somehow the primary yardstick.

Meanwhile, future high school students will likely face some difficult decisions as new forms emerge that seek to compete with the current models. According to Pitman (and others), the current situation is nothing but a monopoly, an overpriced one at that.

Unfortunately, current structures are likely to remain resistant to change unless students begin voting with their feet. If students were to begin to heavily opt for schools that are more in line with the 21st century, perhaps the impetus would be in place for traditional college programs to evolve accordingly.

But if students continue to buy into the current format (such as they currently do) then we can expect very little in the way of changes from higher education.

Now that I am blogging regularly I have become a news junkie. I am always on the prowl for interesting ideas to write about, so the computer and the Internet are now my life.

I bop from Google Top Stories to the BBC to the Boston Globe, links from each taking me on sometime endless journeys. It is a process that has me much more aware of the big issues facing our country as well as some sense of what is happening around the world.

Like this BBC news flash: Paula Abdul Quits American Idol.

Confused World

Yes, it is a strange, no make it confused world we live in. One where there seems to be no definition as to the term real news.

It was a couple of weeks back, I guess, when I was surfing, this time reviewing Google Trends for story ideas. I was surprised to see a name again and again, one I was unfamiliar with.

Erin Andrews.

The name came up about a dozen times. First Erin Andrews. Then Erin Andrews, ESPN. Then Aaron Andrews (yea, the trends include those people who can’t spell and I guess there are a lot of them).

Then Erin Andrews Peephole Video. Ouch.

Suddenly I knew what was happening. I just had no idea who Erin Andrews was.

But of course that is the beauty of the Internet. Very soon I did know who she was and why she was all over the Google Trends page.

And before I was done, the newshound had spent 30 plus minutes on a worthless tid bit that somehow passed for news in certain sectors.

BBC Latest Headlines, Not Google Trends

Which brings me back to Paula Abdul Quits American Idol: number nine today on the BBC latest headlines.

It was a list that started strong:

Defiant Iran President Takes Oath

Freed American Reporters Return Home to US

But soon turned to:

Zambia Reporter in ‘Porn’ Trial

Ancient Spiders Yield 3D Secrets

And the real biggie:

Paula Abdul Quits American Idol

They of course represent three separate categories: some real news followed by a story or two with the proverbial hook to try to draw a reader (porn trial, spiders) to yes, the ones featured on Google Trends (Ms. Abdul). Got to have the stories that match the hot search terms or you won’t get Google hits.

You have to try and grab those readers that did not know there is an ongoing crisis going on in Iran or that we had some captive reporters that had finally been reunited with their loved ones.

For some, today was a big day.

Yes indeed, a very big day.

It seems that Paula Abdul Quit American Idol.

We see where a New York woman has taken the extraordinary step of suing the college where she earned her bachelor’s degree. Trina Thompson, 27, recently filed a lawsuit against Monroe College seeking to recover the $70,000 she spent on tuition.

Thompson was awarded a degree last April in information technology. She is suing the school based on her failure to attain employment in her field of study, insisting that the college’s Office of Career Advancement did not provide her with the leads and career advice the school had promised.

According to her mother, Thompson is “very angry at her current situation.” Indeed, being without work and with student loans now coming due, Thompson finds herself in a real predicament.

Expected Response

Not too surprisingly, Monroe College took strong exception to being sued on such grounds. College spokesman Gary Axelbank used very strong language in responding to the claim, stating that suit was “completely without merit” and did not deserve further consideration.

We suspect that the response of many other school spokespeople would be similar if their school were to be served with such a legal claim. We also have to say that Axelbank is essentially right on legal grounds.

Certainly a college cannot be held liable simply because one of its graduates cannot find employment. Even if the student successfully completed her academic program and was awarded a diploma, a degree is not a job guarantee, certainly not in this job market.

But while Monroe’s response might be expected, it is interesting to note that there are colleges who take this matter to heart. In fact, one small college in Maine, Thomas College, has what it calls its “Thomas Promise.”

Yes, this school stands behind the education it provides and insists that it will help graduates find a job in their profession. And the school backs it up with real dollars.

The Promise

Thomas College is in Waterville, Maine, sharing the town with one of the nation’s top small liberal arts schools, Colby College. For ten years now Thomas has made a special promise to its graduates: a guaranteed job after graduation.

And we are not talking about summer fill in, part-time work. We mean a real job in the student’s chosen field of study.

If a student is unable to find a job by graduation, he or she continues to meet with a college career advisor to find a permanent job. If the student does not find such a job within six months of graduation, then Thomas College will pay the first year of the student’s subsidized federal loans or until they find employment, whichever comes first.

Perhaps even more amazingly, if a graduate finds employment but does not like their chosen profession, he or she may return to Thomas to study tuition-free. The offer includes the costs of up to two additional undergraduate years to take more courses or half of the graduate courses required to complete a Master’s degree program.

The school does set forth two criteria that students must meet to be eligible. You do have to earn at least a 2.75 grade point average and you must, during your undergraduate years at school, do an internship.

Both requirements make sense. You cannot simply skate by, you need to show decent academic progress. And doing an internship just might be one of the most valuable aspects of any college program as it gives students first hand experience working in their chosen field.

Colleges Should Deliver the Goods

The promise represents an amazing commitment but clearly the school works hard on behalf of graduates. Thomas has a placement rate of better than 90% for the ten years of the program. In 2008, in a normal job market year, the school’s placement rate was 96 percent.

Of course, Maine is a bit unusual as only one in three Mainers has a college degree. So, graduates certainly have enormous advantages when it comes to applying for work.

Though the school is the only one we know of making such promise, the steps taken by Thomas are definitely more in line with what one would expect if colleges were to operate within the business sector. Standing behind a product is something we have come to expect especially if that product represents a significant purchase dollar-wise.

Monroe might be okay with its response in a legal sense. And it may be a bit unfair to pass any judgment on the suit; certainly it must be a collaborative effort between the student and the school when it comes to the job search process and we cannot fairly comment on the efforts made by the plaintiff.

But given the cost of a college education, the overall matter deserves serious thought. In fact, we think that it is time that every school stands behind the product it delivers.

The latest Internet spin-off site, The Awl, has noted that 2009 is well on its way to being a record year for a few mythical figures: the Rain Gods and the Grim Reaper.

Here in the northeast we cannot quibble. It has been a phenomenal year for the Rain Gods.

And nationally the death toll seems to be matching serve. Without a doubt, after the recent passings of Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite and Frank McCourt, it would seem that 2009 is shaping up to be an phenomenal year for the Grim Reaper as well.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Author and Teacher

While the deaths of Jackson and Cronkite have dominated the news cycles, the passing of McCourt surely ranks as another noteworthy loss. The author of Angela’s Ashes earned literary stardom late in life, receiving the Pulitzer Prize for his heartfelt memoir of his Irish-Catholic upbringing.

The author was also a teacher who plied his trade in New York. McCourt later revealed some great tales regarding that time in his life in yet another strong work, Teacher Man.

One of the most referred to stories in the book features the true brilliance that embodies McCourt and the best of the teaching profession: the ability to make a relevant lesson plan. In this instance, McCourt returns to his students some of the excuse notices that he has received, the very notes they forged in an effort to pull the wool over the old man’s eyes.

Understanding that following up on such notes would require near 24-hour-a-day vigilance, he instead collects the notes before one day he has an epiphany. Though forged, the notes represented a piece of creative writing from his charges, a treasure trove of fiction and fantasy that could serve as a catalyst to some great writing.

Teacher Extraordinaire

One day, McCourt typed out roughly a dozen of the notes he had received and distributed them to his senior classes. After the students read them silently, McCourt informed them they were about to become the first class to “study the art of the excuse note.”

He tells them one day they may well need to construct excuse notes for their own children. McCourt instructs them:

“Imagine you have a 15-year-old who needs an excuse for falling behind in English. Let it rip.”

The results were so astonishing, a “rhapsody of excuses” so brilliant, so creative, and so exciting that even the students liked what they were doing. They wanted more. McCourt was able to deliver once again.

He asked them to write excuse notes of mythical proportions: ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God.’ Not only did students come to class the next day with their homework done, they had taken the lead, one bringing in Lucifer and another young lady who simply claimed she was tired of God sticking his nose into other people’s business.

Those notes promptly created heated discussions of guilt and sinfulness and that perhaps God could “have been more understanding of the plight of the first man and woman.” So enthralled were the students that McCourt kept going, throwing other names up on the blackboard, and asking the students to write a good excuse note for some historical figures: Eva Braun, Judas, Attila the Hun, Lee Harvey Oswald and Al Capone.

Not too surprisingly, at that point one student wanted to know if McCourt could put the names of certain teachers on the board.

If You Are Thinking of Teaching

The story reveals a special trait that great teachers embody: a full understanding that to get students interested, one first has to first reach them where they are at.

If he could, he had the chance to do great things, to then take them someplace they would never have gone on their own. Ultimately, McCourt doesn’t just get these kids to review the notes they forged (oh my, what lessons were never discussed), he takes them on the creative journey of a lifetime.

For those considering teaching as a profession, Teacher Man is a must read. The author certainly was someone to emulate.

And with McCourt’s passing, one can’t help but wonder how his charges might handle this news, what they might pen for a note these days. No doubt, many would seek to chastise the Grim Reaper for taking their ‘teacher man’ so soon.

There is a story that by the age of sixteen, George Washington had copied out, by hand (nope, no cut and paste options in those days), the 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. Foundations magazine offers the assumption that the teenager copied the lengthy set of rules as a penmanship exercise.

While the language may be a bit challenging, it is interesting to see a very different focus and approach towards others. Composed by the French Jesuits in 1595 the rules speak to the need for a focus on others above oneself and of giving to others so as to create a more common good.

It was an approach best described by “small sacrifices that we should all be willing to make for the good of all and the sake of living together.”

As for why these rules demand a review, we turn back to Foundations magazine, and to the mention of a rather unknown name to most Americans, Parson Weems. While the name might not be on every one’s tongue, Weems is the man who gave us perhaps the most famous George Washington story, the one involving a felled cherry tree and an honest young man with a hatchet.

While the veracity of that story is now questioned, it is another quote that Weems offers that is one to note. It is a thought that we wish every politician today would begin to consider more carefully:

“No wonder every body honoured him who honoured every body.’”

The civility list is lengthy but here are ten we wish our current elected officials had been asked to copy in longhand when they were teenagers – if they had, perhaps we would find ourselves being led by a government that works.

The Rules:

1. Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present (Rule 1 Translation: Be respectful of others, please, especially in public).

2. Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Public Spectacle (Rule 24 Translation: These decisions are not about you, it is about the people you represent).

3. Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive (Rule 35 Translation: Cut to the chase!).

4. In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the Physician if you be not Knowing therein (Rule 38 Translation: Defer to knowledgeable experts on major issues and drop the personal or party ideology).

5. Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in Private; presently, or at Some other time in what terms to do it & in reproving Show no Sign of Cholar but do it with all Sweetness and Mildness (Rule 45 Translation: Whenever giving advice or criticism, carefully consider where to deliver those words, in public or behind closed doors – when delivering, do so delicately).

6. Mock not nor Jest at any thing of Importance break [n]o Jest that are Sharp Biting and if you Deliver any thing witty and Pleasant abstain from Laughing thereat yourself (Rule 47 Translation: Cut the sarcastic comments about the other party).

7. Wherein you reprove Another be unblameable yourself; for example is more prevalent than Precepts. (Rule 48 Translation: Let he is without sin cast the first stone).

8. Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for ‘is a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion admit Reason to Govern (Rule 58 Translation: It is about what is best for the country, not what is best for your party or positioning oneself for the next election).

9. Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth thereof. In Discoursing of things you Have heard Name not your Author always A Secret Discover not (Rule 70 Translation: Do not suggest the Cambridge police acted stupidly until you first have all the facts).

And perhaps the one above all others.

10. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience (Rule 110 Translation: There is a bigger picture, a higher calling and a reason why one is serving in their current capacity).

There is an important phrase every student should come to know and understand well before heading off to the world of work:

Conflict of Interest

According to Wikipedia, the term has the following meaning or connotation:

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization (such as a policeman, lawyer, insurance adjuster, politician, engineer, executive, director of a corporation, medical research scientist, physician, writer, editor, or any other entrusted individual or organization) has an interest that might compromise their actions. The presence of a conflict of interest is independent from the execution of impropriety.

For students considering working in the public sector, a thorough understanding of the term ‘conflict of interest’ is essential. And a great example was on display in recent days involving Emerson College in downtown Boston.

The Basic Issue

The school recently agreed to pay a settlement totaling $780,000 to both current and former students for steering those individuals towards a specific preferred lender. Though the maximum sum per student is limited to $833, about four thousand students will receive some money because of actions taken by the school.

At issue was the school’s practice of listing preferred lenders for students. In essence the school steered students towards a group of lenders, insinuating that the companies listed were providing students the best loan options.

The three entities were Education Finance Partners Inc., Citizens Bank and JP Morgan Chase & Co. During the period of time the school steered students towards these companies, they were not the least expensive lenders.

Employee Transgressions

So, one might ask, why did Emerson steer students to these companies. The answer may well have been the fact that each firm provided gifts to the people who worked in the Emerson financial aid office.

It seems that both Citizens Bank and Chase handed out free vacations, meals, and event tickets to folks who worked in the aid office. In addition, there apparently was a $4,500 kickback from Education Finance Partners Inc.

In what has to be a real sore spot for those thinking that colleges would conduct themselves with higher ethical standards, when students filled out the online Stafford Loan application they were given but two choices, Chase or Citizen’s. If students submitted paper applications that sought a loan from a non-preferred lender, the school reportedly “sent back letters discouraging them from using those lenders.”

In fact, the $780K figure was an agreed upon settlement to eliminate possible exposure to legal charges.

Lessons Learned

The school itself has not admitted to any wrongdoing (check that Wikipedia definition) though Daniel Pinch, the former director of Emerson’s financial aid office, was fired in 2007 for accepting gifts.

Sadly, Emerson is the 28th US school to offer a settlement to students. Unfortunately, employees at far too many schools apparently do not understand the meaning of the term, conflict of interest. Otherwise the practice would not have been so widespread.

But in an effort to further clear up potential such issues in the future, Emerson will no longer designate any institution as a preferred lender.

Ultimately, in prior articles, we have talked about the importance of being able to learn from the mistakes of others so as not to make them ourselves. Emerson’s situation is specifically one that offers a great lesson for everyone.

In recent years Republicans have been taking a beating at election time. Both the House and Senate now feature enormous disparities with Democrats ruling both Washington chambers.

For Republicans, a return path to prominence is generally equated to a return to the principles of one of America’s most popular presidents, Ronald Reagan. It is equally a path away from the recent Bush years where budget deficits began to grow significantly.

But those who espouse a return to conservative principles that were the hallmark of the Reagan era have to be extremely troubled by a new paper from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

The findings: trickle-down economics simply does not work as theorized.

The Premise

The theory of monetary policy that became known as trickle down economics focused on tax cuts for the upper-income classes. Conceptually, reducing taxes for the wealthy meant more funds for that segment of society.

The wealthy would theoretically spend their additional income. That spending would increase general economic activity, that activity would generate jobs and those jobs would result in better paychecks for the less wealthy.

The process was dubbed trickle down economics because the theory involved wealth flowing from the wealthy on down to those without the same means. Instead, the new paper indicates that in both financial categories, in total wealth and net income, the wealthiest gained at the expense of the less fortunate.

Tax Rate Changes

In reporting the findings, the Wall Street Journal noted the incredible change in the top marginal tax rate since Reagan took office in 1980. At that time, the top tax rate stood at 70%.

By 1989, the rate had been reduced to 28%. Today, the top marginal rate sits at 35%.

Those numbers not only pale in comparison to that at the time Reagan took over, it must be noted that the top marginal rate stood at 94% in 1945.

Concept without Merit?

It must be noted that the paper did not argue that trickle-down economics was without merit. But the Journal quoted one of the paper’s authors, Christopher Jencks, as follows:

“It certainly didn’t deliver as much as many said” Jencks states. And as for any positive effects, Jencks offered, “the effects are really small.”

In today’s economic climate, one that sees enormous state and federal budget deficits, tax rates have to be part of the conversation. In fact, given the negligible positive impact of trickle down economics, it is easy to see why some are calling on increased taxes for upper income wage earners as part of the method for funding national healthcare.

At long last the folks at LiveScience have confirmed what many of us have known for a long time. Swearing, if not good for the soul, at least makes our pain and suffering more tolerable.

But unlike what I was taught, that instead of keeping those colorful no-nos locked up and in its place you should utter some other more appropriate phrase, something like, OH FUDGE or CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, well that was just plain wrong. It seems that it takes the real thing, one of those down and dirty expletives that your mother best never hear to make the pain and suffering truly more tolerable.

Universal Human Linguistic Trait

Yes, it seems that when one stubs their toe, it matters not if we are American, British or some other nationality. It is essentially a reflexive matter – the pain causes us to promptly mutter a curse word that instinctively makes it easier to withstand the pain we have been so blessed to receive.

In connecting the uttering of a cuss word to the actual physical experience of pain, the researchers noted that the reactive phrase emerges from our emotional brain center. Whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain, a truly blistering expletive comes forth from the right side of the brain.

The researchers began with a supposition that did prove false. The initial idea was that swearing was more of an exaggerating effect that sought to overstate the severity of the pain striking the recipient. Because of that assumption, the researchers thought that swearing would lessen a person’s tolerance.

Not so.

The Experiment

According to LiveScience, the results were based on the following experiment:

The researchers enlisted 64 undergraduate volunteers and had them submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. The experiment was then repeated with the volunteer repeating a more common word that they would use to describe a table.

The surprising result?

Contrary to what the researcher expected, the volunteers kept their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word.

Accordingly, the researchers surmise that swearing triggers the body’s natural “fight-or-flight” response and therefore allows for an increase in pain tolerance. Ultimately, the belief is that swearing may increase aggression (seen in accelerated heart rates) and downplays weakness to appear stronger or more macho.

Just Let It Fly

So if you stub that toe or more to the point, if you have to stick your hands in ice cold water for a really long time, don’t utter some ordinary word like fudge or table. Not if you want to reduce your pain and suffering.

Instead, just let those cuss words roll off, hard and fast and as nasty you can fire them. It seems, it is in fact, good therapy.

Just as long as your mother doesn’t hear you.

I still remember the first time I heard the news that a glass or two (yes, a definite two glass limit) of red wine daily might just be as helpful for greater longevity as that dose of daily vitamins. Those results actually led some of my dearest older relatives, prone to consumption of harder liquors in a younger day, to make red wine their drink of choice from that point forward.

Today, we just became aware that the consumption of one or two alcoholic beverages (not limited to just red wine) a day may reduce an elderly person’s risk of developing dementia by 37 percent!

But before you begin thinking its time to up your consumption habits, that new study, presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Vienna, also clearly indicates moderation is the critical adjective to apply.

Study Results

On the positive side, the results revealed that the elderly, defined by those who were aged 75 years and older, were able to reap similar benefits from alcohol as those much younger. As has been noted in other studies, alcohol has a demonstrated range of benefits including boosting good cholesterol, preventing blood platelets from clotting and prompting the production of chemicals that help memory.

The study verifies that moderate consumers of alcohol may receive some benefit and therefore do not need to concern themselves with cutting back as they reach the latter part of the golden years. Simply stated, having a drink or two a day is essentially OK.

But before you encourage Gramps to pour himself a stiff cocktail it is important to recognize two other key findings of the study. First, those already showing signs of memory loss, defined as having mild cognitive impairments, were found to accelerate that memory loss if they consumed alcohol regularly. And not too surprisingly, the more they consumed, the worse the memory symptoms were.

Second, once a person slides beyond moderation, the results really change. Those deemed heavy drinkers (consumers of more than 14 drinks per week) were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia, researchers said.

Ultimately, the positive designation of one or two drinks per day actually translates to one being the limit for women and two the upper threshold for males.

Simple Message

The message appears simple regarding alcohol. Rather than alcohol being one of our worst drugs as some would insist, used in moderation it might just be beneficial to people, helping us live longer, healthier lives.

But the key, my friends, is moderation.

As a classic sucker for acoustical, unplugged, and unaltered tunes, I offer this entry from the recent Google Hot Video list. Two voices (Andrew Garcia and Cathy Nguyen), one guitar, and some pretty premo work all in all (provided you are not too tired yet of Michael Jackson tributes).

Spending a Friday night in the college lounge listening to these two would be a rather decent evening, don’t you think?