Entrepreneurial Culture in the Schmatta Trade

Some of the upscale thrift stores along Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles organize their used clothing by decade. Browsing through the racks, one sees that the items from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s are vibrant, daring, and in surprisingly good condition. They were obviously very well made. One also notes that nearly 100% of these shirts, dresses, skirts, jackets and pants were made in the USA.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Entrepreneurialism | Leadership | Family

7 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 6:14 PM

When Addition Becomes Subtraction

Public education supporter Jamie Vollmer notes that during their first 260 years, public schools played a very narrow role: "they were created to teach basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and to cultivate values that serve a democratic society (some history and civics implied)."

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Categories: Education | Leadership | Family

20 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 7:30 AM

Guest Post: Recess First

by Laurel Anderson, Youth & Schools Manager, The Orfalea Foundations

Schools set a good example for students when they apply new knowledge in practical ways. We have learned, for example, that rescheduling recess just before lunch improves the eating habits and classroom behavior of children, providing a better environment for learning, and builds better habits for healthy kids.

Several Santa Barbara schools have acted on this information, including Washington Elementary, Franklin Elementary, Cesar Chavez Charter School, Adams Elementary, the Santa Barbara Community Academy, and early adopter McKinley Elementary, which started with this new schedule at the end of last year.

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Categories: Education | Nutrition | Family

7 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 8:57 PM

Ethical Quandaries Build Ethical People

We take it for granted that schoolroom assignments, quizzes and tests improve a child's education by forcing him or her to practice skills. Why, then, do we go out of our way to prevent children from experiencing the sort of daily conflicts and challenges that test and improve their judgment and ethical development?

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Categories: Education | Ethics | Family

9 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 8:24 PM

The Nuclear Family Option

During the twentieth century, society focused ever more attention on the nuclear family - one group of parents and children. Here and abroad, government pensions had the unintended consequence of separating extended families and reducing our individual sense of responsibility for our elders. Ironically, our attempts to make older citizens more independent have made many of them completely dependent on the government.

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Categories: Education | Economics | Family

2 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 1:13 PM