Skiing Weekend, Envisioning the Future of Education

Whew! I'm sure glad and relieved that the
city has this menace under control at this
time of the year along the ski trails.

It has been a delightful weekend so far with the perfect conditions for cross-country skiing. I went out Friday for about 40 minutes; I stretched out yesterday's excursion for about an hour. I would have liked to have gone longer, but my new boots have been neither broken in, nor have they been morphed to my unique feet/orthotics yet (or vice versa), so I didn't want to push myself into a new foot/leg/joint injury, especially knowing that my back hasn't healed 100% yet. Thus, I had to use a bit of discipline and restraint: like any new form of motion and exercise, it's something I believe that one has to phase in slowly, like for marathon training. Going overboard with it too soon, consequently becoming too sore and injured afterward, causes one to only end up being initiated into hating the activity*. I went again today, earlier this morning, before the weather became too warm, softening the snow too much for my liking. I went at a faster pace, but limited my time to 35 minutes. I then went to the gym to use the treadmill for a while (icky-poo) to re-adjust my leg and back muscles, and then did some core exercises. Since I started Nordic skiing this winter, I've only fallen twice. Currently, my fall count versus distance is averaging one fall per 7.5 km of skiing. Honestly, not too bad considering the long lapse I've had. Of course, I'll endeavor to improve that ratio. However, if I were on downhill skis, that figure would jump toward something like one fall per 7.5 meters.

During this weekend my mind has not only been tuned into noticing weird signs for the season, like the picture I took of the one above, but I've also been thinking a lot about signs of changes happening now and how they are going to shape and influence things coming around the corner in the near future, especially in regards to what course the future of education is going to take. Life long learn has now become the rule, not an exception. If I can't make a move to any other field without some sort of certification, it's important to figure how and where one has to devote one's time and energy. Everyone bitches and complains about the ever-rising price of fuel, but the rising cost of tuition in the past few years in comparison makes the jump of fuel prices look like chicken feed. The other concern is the validity of a degree or certificate with the risk of ever rising rate of obsolescence in education programs, and the fact that there are so many holes being poked into the system by evolving social media, used to either outpace someone else legitimately or otherwise. It all makes for more fierce and competitive students, many more who are willing to lower themselves to resort to cheating. I suppose what really spurred those thoughts was a documentary on CBC Newsworld that I saw last Thursday on Doc Zone called Faking the Grade**, about the ridiculous epidemic of high-tech academic cheating that's going on, in colleges and universities, how pervasive the problem is, the wild repercussions it's having, and the most likely demographic group that is most likely to do it.

*- As with my first (and last) experience with downhill skiing. Please. . . Don't ask! . . . I'm still trying to forget it.
**- Sorry, for some reason the direct link to the actual documentary footage failed, perhaps it will be available in the future. Perhaps CBC hired a tech-head who cheated through the Web Page Development exam.