Monster Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Monster - Assignment Example Battleground mentality monster explains that leaders engage in battleground images during business operations; for instance, aggressive marketing campaigns to completely eliminate competitors. Functional atheism illustrates that leaders assume that they possess ultimate or final responsibility in all decisions or operations of the organization. The fear monster of the leaders emphasizes bureaucracy instead of innovation and creativity. Organization stakeholders operate strictly within established procedures and rules. Denying death monster allows the leaders to ignore negative organization issues like the collapse of a project. The evil monster illustrates the inner darkness of the leader; for instance, the fear of delegating responsibilities to junior staffs. This is because the junior staffs may outperform the leader (Craig, 2015). The monster that produces most harm in the organization is the functional atheism. The leader believes that he/she is responsible for all significant decisions. This limits the ability of employees to participate in the organizational decision making process. At the workplace, this monster is recognized through the inability of the leader to delegate responsibility tasks and authority to the immediate subordinates. The effect of this monster can be minimized through encouraging employees and managers to work in the same team or task forces. Teamwork encourages sharing of ideas and hence improves overall organizational

Introduction to Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction to Networking - Essay Example This layer is used for direct control of data with the hardware in place. Data transmitted in this layer is in form of bits. Data exchanged at this level is in form of the frames and it prepares the data to be further processed to the network layer. The physical addresses are assigned at this level, further tasks performed by data link layer include encryption and error correction. By this stage, the data is transmitted into packets and it ensures smooth packet transmission between the two ends. Unlike data link layer, logical addresses are assigned at this layer. It also sets rules for the routing path as to which one should be chosen and followed for the transmission of traffic. Transport Layer: This layer plays the role of intermediate layer between the upper layers and the lower layers. It is largely concerned with the delivery of data sent to the other end. Transport layer are further segregated into connection oriented and connectionless. Other features of this layer include segmentation, window size control and flow control in form of congestion prevention. Session Layer: The session layer is responsible for number of operations, which include the connection establishment, its termination, and its maintenance and recovery. The type of transmission performed under this layer includes full duplex transmission, half duplex transmission and simplex transmission. Presentation Layer: this layer is responsible for encryption of data, its translation along with the syntax and format of data sent from the sending node. IT further performs the task of data compression in case of IPSec. Application layer: This layer serves as an interface of communication between the users and the devices along with the management. Examples of this layer include web browser, telnet, email client and a file sharing protocol F.T.P (Forouzan, 2005). Layered network approach is adopted across the world by all major network service providers, there are

Responsiveness Vs Efficiency in Supply Chain Management

Responsiveness Vs Efficiency in Supply Chain Management A firms ability to satisfy customer requirements in a timely manner is referred to as Responsiveness, while efficiency is a firms ability to deliver goods in accordance with the customers expectations with least wastage in terms of raw materials, labour and cost. While choosing what supply chain process is to be used, the choice one has to make is between responsiveness and efficiency.It is Extremely vital to identify the correct framework to device the most effective supply chain.Different frameworks has been suggested for arriving at a proper supply chain process.But the choices has been widely varied.The first person to arrive at a standardized solution was Fisher, who suggested the proper supply chain framework can only be decided by analyzing the nature of the demand for the product. For functional products (stable, predictable demand, long life cycle, and slow clockspeed) Fisher argues that the supply chain should be designed for cost efficiency; for innovative products (volatile demand, short life cycle, fast clockspeed) he maintained that the supply chain should be designed to be fast and responsive.Fishers model was modified by Lee in 2002 who suggested that the choice between responsiveness and efficiency can only be made by conside ring the tendency with which the value of the product changes between production and delivery to the customer.He deduced that for products whose value remains constant throughout the entire supply chain, any of the two parameters can be selected.But for perishable products whose value changes very rapidly throughout the supply chain and hence in the cost of time delays, both the parameters i.e responsiveness and efficiency can be used collaboratively to retain the value of the product. As we see for products like melons, sweet corn, flowers or sea food the declining value varies with time. In the initial stage the declining value is sufficiently high while in the later parts the value stabilizes to a large extent. In such a scenario we will not be able to use a single supply chain methodology throughout the entire process. If the entire process is responsive, then the later part of the supply chain will not be cost efficient whereas if the entire process is cost efficient the products may not reach the customers timely and due to very high declining rate at the initial stage of the supply chain, the products may get degraded. In such a scenario we use a combination of responsive and efficient supply chain. The supply chain process for melons has been illustrated below. In the critical time period between picking and cooling (t0 to t1), product loses value at a rapid, exponential rate and the supply chain must be responsive. In the interval post-cooling (t1 to t2), the products value declines at a much slower rate and the supply chain can designed for cost efficiency. Then again for products whose loss in value cannot be stabilized and continue to lose value at an exponential rate, like sweets the supply chain has to be responsive to attain optimization. There are other perishables like milk whose declining value at initial stage is low but degrades at a rapid pace at the lower stages, a reverse combination i.e. initially a cost efficient then a responsive supply chain may be deviced.Thus we can effectively conclude that the supply chain process can be determined only after analyzing the value system of the particular perishable and it changes from item to item. ROAD AHEAD The major players in the $125-billion logistics and supply chain space are Railways, roads, ports, airlines and warehouses. The unorganized sector accounts for most of the business, comprising truck owners, warehouse operators and freight forwarders. Road transport is dominated by fleets consisting of less than 5 trucks that accounts for over two thirds of the trucks operating in India, according to a Delloite report.Increasing understanding and collaboration between these small operators can bring down costs as well delivery time significantly. The government of India has taken up the initiative of constructing 2500 Kms of road by 2010-11.As well they have taken up the effort to improve other road transport means by a huge extent. The planned list of such targets has been tabulated below. With such plans in place it is expected that the road network to be much more extensive and transport to be much more robust. Indian Railways is the dominant player in the rail segment spanning 63,332 route km. Though the existing railway network is constrained by capacity limitations, there sector is being liberalized gradually with licenses being awarded to private players for container transportation. Indias port infrastructure consists of 12 major ports and around 180 non-major ports. Several of them have drawn foreign and private equity investments. These include Gujarat Pipavav, Mundra Port and Gangavaram Port. As for air transport, again, with a vibrant and robust private sector participation has led to infrastructure improvement. The civil aviation ministry has set a target of getting around 500 airports operational all over the country. This will include renovation of old airports as well as developing Greenfield airports.Industry experts hold the opinion that the warehousing segment will have potential once Goods and Services tax(GST) regime replaces the differential state tax structure. Now, comp anies set up small warehouses in different states to adhere to various tax codes. But with goods and services Tax companies are expected to set up large IT-enabled centralized warehouses that would provide a huge impetus to the logistics and supply chain operations.Enabling one stop logistics shopping is another major drive. Some others also are attempting to achieve the same goal, but by bringing in different operators together and keeping their own assets and resources low. For perishable items the development of Cold Chain storage is extremely vital. The Government of India (GOI) has accorded high priority to the establishment of cold chains and encourages major initiatives in this sector. Foreign equity participation of 51% is permitted for cold chain projects. There is no restriction on import of cold storage equipment or establishing cold storages in India. National Horticulture Board (NHB) operates a capital investment subsidy scheme (CISS) which provides 25% (maximum Rs.50 lakhs) subsidies to the promoter. Furthermore, to handle the expected higher agricultural production during the Tenth Plan Period, the Inter Ministerial Task force on Agricultural Marketing Reforms constituted by Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has recommended the creation of additional cold chain facilities at an investment cost of Rs. 2500 crore of which Rs. 625 crore are to be provided as subsidy and the rest has to come as private investment. They have also suggested modernization of existing facilities with an investment cost of Rs. 2100 crore of which Rs. 525 crore are to be subsidy and the balance to come as private investment. The state governments also have initiatives in the food processing and cold chain sectors. With all these development the effectiveness and efficiency of the logistics and supply chain of perishable items is expected to grow by a huge extent in India and the waste is supposed to get reduced substantially.

Koreans: When And Why Did They Come? :: essays research papers

Koreans: When and Why Did They Come?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the end of the 19th century the USA received it's first refugees from Korea, three pro-Japanese activists seeking exile after an unsuccessful attempt to over throw the government. (Moynihan 45) They were followed by 64 students between 1890 and 1905 to purse further education in the USA. Between 1902 and 1905, 7,000 Korean immigrants arrived in Hawaii. (Thernstrom) From 1903 to 1905, 65 ships carrying 7,226 Koreans, set sail from Inchon for Honolulu. (Bandon 18) When each group arrived they settled on a sugar plantation. (Bandon 18) In 1907 the US government refused to recognize the Korean passport. From that point on, any Korean entering the US had to have a Japanese passport. (Bandon 18) These developments effectively ended almost all Korean immigration to Hawaii and the US for forty years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many of the Koreans came because of the sugar industry in Hawaii. It was booming and plantations needed more workers than the native population could supply. (Moynihan 45) At this time, rumors spread among the plantation owners that Koreans were more industrious then either the Chinese or the Japanese. After consulting with the US ambassador to Korea, recruiters became journeying to the peninsulas. (Moynihan 45)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hawaii Sugar Planters Association struck a deal with David Declare, who was paid five dollars for every laborer he lured to the Hawaiian Islands. (Moynihan 45) Deshler even offered unsuspecting Koreans loans of $100 so they could travel to Hawaii and get settled. (Moynihan 45)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Despite their distrust of Western ways and people, Koreans of early 1900's found terms of migration attractive: a monthly wage of $15, free housing, health care, English lessons, and the predominately warm Hawaiian climate. (Moynihan 45) Recruiters in Korea used the upbeat slogan â€Å"The country is open- go forward,† which portrayed that Hawaii is a land of opportunity. (Moynihan 46) Like the Chinese and Japanese who were before the Koreans, found plantation life hard an unrewarding. (Moynihan 47) The immigrants were drained by 10-hour work days and 6-day work weeks. (Moynihan 48) Their exhaustion was not related by conditions on the plantation, which in variably included squalid housing, isolation and poor food. (Moynihan 48) One person described his experience as

Diversion Program Essay

No particular scheme can pay for the assortment of diversion programs required to successfully interject in the imprisonment and detention of individuals with recurring conditions. Most specifically, when an assortment of methods is overstretched in its efforts to identify a favorable diversion resource, every proposed process typically declares funding deficiency to its fellow method, thus initiating the bureaucratic back and forth in constructing the crucial choice of services for the diversion planning. Ultimately, every projected diversion program must convey the resources that will be accessible for mutual endeavors. Additionally, resources should not be limited to quantifiable dollars, but contain workforce time, space and the agreement in changing policies and procedures that preclude amalgamation and efficient diversion programs. Uncompromising and rigid state and federal funding issues offer many hurdles to the vital assimilation of amenities offered towards individuals with substance use conditions and mental health disorders who are implicated in the criminal justice system. For decades, jail diversion programs have been looked upon as a humanitarian resolution for individuals with mental disorders, in diverting individuals from prison to community-based mental health treatment thus benefiting the public, criminal justice system, and the individual. In general, money from categorical funding has been focused towards suppliers, particularized populations, and facilities with no known cohesive approach in providing and funding services needed for individuals with re-occurring disorders who could be diverted from incarceration. Specific traits of civic service organizations signify that an incremental budgeting process suits comfortably to the overall public funding structure of diversion programs. States, cities and towns, are frequently multifaceted, large and satisfy an assortment of tasks in diverse policies within its regions. Resolutions can, nevertheless, occasionally be decided instantly; allowing acceptance in the dissemination of most expenditures thus concentrating on abnormalities from the present arrangement. At time, the existing social service background is scarcely beneficial to funding costly systems amalgamation plans and prison diversion programs. Customarily taxpayers’ feelings have endorsed an increased disbursement of limited public capitals to supply and construct  additional prisons more willingly than providing community-based treatment facilities or diversion programs that could aid individuals within the public sector. Community-Based Organizations (Non-Profit) Diversion Programs have been an integrate part of Community-Based Organizations, as it benefits juveniles in obtaining physical, communal, emotional, and academic success while developing their behavior and lifestyle. In recent years, the disturbing growth of juvenile apprehension has produced a concern, as this increase has caused individuals to consider programs that may deter youths from being part of the juvenile court system. Today, efforts have been made to invest in diversion program by the notion that these programs may have the ability to reduce recidivism, control overpopulation in prison and provide youth with alternative methods of rehabilitation. Most recently, the State of Ohio has implemented many intervention and diversion programs to intervene and divert youth. The â€Å"Youth Men and Women for Change (YMWFC)† and the â€Å"Peace in the Hood Program† are two prominent programs within communities of Ohio. In 2006, The YMWFC program was created by Mr. Sha wn Mahone Sr. with the purpose of providing youth with organized and educational training to transform their lives. Upon reviewing juvenile delinquency statistics, Mr. Mahone began to realize many juveniles were not reaching their full potential due to lack of direction, support, and discipline (YMWFC, 2006). The program is based on the belief that youth can transform their lives in becoming a useful participant of the general public with the proper tools, resources and understanding. Another program that has been instrumental within the community operated out of Cleveland, Ohio developed by Brother Samad and Omar Ali-Bey in the 1990’s (The Peace in the Hood, n.d.). The project he program was inspired as another way of addressing the serious problems that face the youth in our communities. Peace in the Hood continues its involvement in Ohio and the nation as a founding member of the International Council for Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment (Peace in the Hood, n.d.). Bond Issuance and Grants Towards the conclusion of the year, budget numbers are linked with concrete outcomes and a pretentious genuine-budget variance contrast is designed. Variance outcomes are typically used for revising monetary amounts for the next planning and budgeting cycle, and also for very simple departmental performance tracking. This innovative methodology to budget analysis and utilization are several paces forward of the modern methods. For instance, a legislative project to advance the communal well-being of women in an isolated region can aid in clarifying the performance-oriented methodology. Diversion Programs can typically be organized by long-term strategies, based on the government’s decision on objectives, activities and the requirement to accomplish its goal. Let’s say, a practical way of enhancing social welfare of women in a rural area could involve rising the levels of literacy of women within the area. Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness studies could be included in the budget planning to assist in comparing the efficiency of exploring what programs could be utilized to raise the levels of literacy that will allow policymakers to achieve the largest possible result for a given level of funding. Unfortunately, the problem in recognizing effective programs is a lack of regularity in exactly how forecasters review the research, as it difficult to equate programs. Dissimilar reviewers frequently come to diverse assumptions about â€Å"what does and does not work.† Quite often they may create a diverse list of â€Å"recognized† and â€Å"auspicious† diversion programs for the reason that they focused in on unalike consequences or since they applied uncommon principles in assessing the programs. Certain reviews may purely recap the material enclosed in certain research, thus grouping each evaluation collectively in arriving to a conclusion about certain approaches or strategies that they may have defined. Such assessments are exceedingly biased, with no typical rule for selecting the evaluation or how the results should be interpreted. The bottom line is cutting diversion funding is an unreliable tactic to budget difficulties that exacerbate society’s problems, which will include long-term public safety consequences and the potential for taxpayers to shoulder the additional burden of costly prison and jail construction. Multi-Level Government Financing The U.S. Code Section 290bb–38 authorizes one-hundred twenty-five million dollars towards Indian tribes, states, and political subdivisions of states, tribal organizations functioning openly or via contracts with non-profit bodies or other public, to acquire and employ programs to divert individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system to community-based services. The regulation goal is to ensure the collaboration of the various agencies and organizations working towards ensuring all U.S. citizens enjoy healthy and fruitful lives. Through these combined efforts, prearranged, obtainable resources can be taken full advantage thus providing the greatest assistance for every community. In the United States, they have what they called the â€Å"Second Chance Act† program which is aimed towards the reduction of recidivism among inmates. This program was proposed by a bilateral party with the House of Representatives which offered regional and state government the assets in developing transient services to inmates who will be released back into society. â€Å"The FY-14 Budget submitted by the President including a one-hundred fifteen million sustained support for the Second Chance Act program. This signifies a significant federal venture in evidence-centered strategy to enhance community protection and lessen recidivism by approving capital in the management and expansion of reentry amenities, such as mentoring, substance abuse treatment, and employment training. So far, approximately six-hundred grants have been given across the District of Columbia and forty-nine states (President’s Budget Proposes Continued Funding for Second Chance Act and Justice Reinvestment Initiative. (n.d.).† The Second Chance Act is a good first step that will provide a directional approach to a better understanding what works to increase public safety, reduce crime, and lower the recidivism rate. No matter what, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and jobs are the cures to incarceration. It is vital for adolescence to obtain help via some diversion method than authoritarian reprimand so they can acquire proper manners thus becoming a useful participant of society. Not all of the programs will be effective for all children, as such it is imperative to pair the adolescence to the applicable program. As shown, the state of Ohio compromises of  several programs that operates in a different way thus providing a dissimilar atmosphere. If youths continue to be in trouble and come across police force, the courts will regulate which program will help the youth. Studies show that Diversionary Programs is much less costly than sending a case through court. In addition, diversion gives the defendant an opportunity to compensate victims, by means of restitution orders and community service (Diversion Programs: Avoid Conviction & Trial, 2014). Activity-based budgeting is a tactic established from activity-based assessment managed in the private sector. Rather than assuming that overheads are correlated to the measurements of service or production, the procedure attempts to recognize what impels costs by connecting overheads to activities. Must every program be assessed on an equivalent foundation? â€Å"Various studies take into account merely savings within the criminal justice system, while others deem this matter more extensive; as costs should be encompassed and savings are just savings no matter where in government they arise (M. R. Gold, 1996).† This broader approach requires collecting data reflecting the effect of an intervention on all government spending. For example, the â€Å"David Olds’ Nurse Home Visiting Program,† is not solely a cost-effective as a delinquency-prevention program, however, when crime-reduction benefits both the child and mother are collective with condensed school expenses and welfare aid exceed costs by several orders of magnitude (Karoly, L. A. (1998).† Consequently, the criminal justice system has trailed fields such as medicine, engineering, environmental protection, public health, and in efforts to monetize benefits. Victim analyses offer objectively estimate of direct out-of-pocket expenditures which includes; the cost of misplaced or broken property, lost wages and medical expenses. These direct costs, nevertheless, are only a minor portion of the complete expenditures to victims levied by criminalities against individuals. The question is how to measure the indirect costs of security expenditures, controlled lifestyle, pain and suffering which can be somewhat large for some more severe criminalities. References Diversion Programs: Avoid Conviction & Trial | Nolo.com. (n.d.). Nolo.com. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/diversion-programs.html Farrington, D. P., & Welsh, B. (2007). Saving children from a life of crime: early risk factors and effective interventions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gold, M. R. (1996). Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine. New York: Oxford University Press Peace In The Hood. (n.d.). Peace In The Hood. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.peaceinthehood.com/default.asp Karoly, L. A. (1998). Investing in our children what we know and don’t know about the costs and benefits of early childhood interventions. Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand President’s Budget Proposes Continued Funding for Second Chance Act and Justice Reinvestment Initiative. (n.d.). CSG Justice Center. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://csgjusticecenter.org/jc/presidents-budget-proposes-continued-funding-for-second-chance-act-and-justice-reinvestment-initiative/ Cook, Philip J., and Jens Ludwig. Gun Violence: The Real Costs. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000. Print. Young Men and Women for Change. (n.d.). Young Men and Women for Change. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://youngmenandwomenforchange.com/history.html

How can be a university education be free? Essay

A free college education for all? That’s been the dream of many an idealist. President Obama certainly shares this goal— a year ago he said â€Å"The single most important thing we can do is to make sure we’ve got a world-class education system for everybody. That is a prerequisite for prosperity.† State university systems, particularly in New York and California, are tasked to provide all students— even those of limited means—access to higher education. Many, especially on the political Left, view public support of education as a cornerstone of a free and prosperous society. Thus the current economic hard times have produced great distress. Both SUNY in New York and the three California state systems, along with many others, have been forced to dramatically raise tuition. Many states have cut back on support—the sad and familiar joke being that public institutions have gone from being state supported to merely state located. Federal funds are also threatened: graduate students will no longer receive interest deferments, earmarks (a traditional source of money for higher education) are no longer available, and government grant money is increasingly harder to come by. More financial woe looks likely in the near future. On top of this many questions are raised about the value of higher education. Is college teaching what students really need to know? Will it really be able to guarantee graduates a place in the middle class as it has done in the past? Do the benefits of college justify the increasingly burdensome student loan debt that our nation’s youth is now saddled with? Higher education, already unaffordable, may no longer be worth the cost. It all looks pretty grim. And yet I believe we are on the cusp of a new world in higher education – a world that can provide a free (or nearly free) college education for all. The recession has brought higher education’s woes into sharp relief, but it has not caused them. Colleges, designed for the world in the 1960s and 1970s, have not changed with the times. Colleges are still run as top-down bureaucracies rather than bottom-up communities. Outside of government, few other organizations operate this way. Anybody can publish and sell a book at Amazon.com. Google and Apple let their customers determine most of their content. Walmart empowers even its most junior employees to order products and set prices. Wikipedia allows any reader to write or update an article. Higher ed’s institutional structures aren’t like that at all, featuring top-down, inefficient, bureaucratic command management. Maintaining this old-fashioned system is ever more expensive and increasingly impossible. So here are some suggestions for how higher ed can imitate successful organizations, improve quality, and reduce costs even to zero. Let volunteers teach classes: This isn’t simply about saving labor costs (though it is that, too); it is primarily about crowd-sourcing. Just as Amazon, Google, and Wikipedia are able to tap into the expertise of millions, colleges can do the same by blurring the distinction between faculty, student, town, and gown. In an on-line environment there is no limit on the number of classes that can be taught, and no reason to restrict class offerings to only those taught by paid employees. Founded in 2009, University of the People will exclusively use volunteer faculty. Indeed, the distinction between faculty and student is hopelessly blurred in their model. As a result they aspire to be a tuition-free university open to any high school grad anywhere in the world. Initially they are offering programs in business administration and computer science, and are seeking regional accreditation. While there is no tuition, there are some fees, but the total cost for a bachelor’s degree will likely be a few hundred dollars, depending on where you live. By comparison, Texas’ initiative to offer bachelor’s degrees for $10,000 looks like a very modest goal. While UoPeople exists solely on-line, residential colleges can and should take advantage of volunteers. Indeed, classes intended primarily for personal enrichment (as opposed to career preparation) are possibly better taught by volunteers than paid faculty. Who better to teach Shakespeare than somebody whose primary motivation is a love of Shakespeare? Why not empower the waitress down the street (the one with a PhD in English) to teach a class on Hamlet? Just as with Amazon and Wikipedia, crowd-sourcing results in the best coming forward and leading the way. The university will need to establish rules that enable the winnowing and selection process— just as Amazon does very successfully with the customer reviews and the best-seller rankings—without in any way depriving others of opportunity. Of course volunteers may not be grading papers. Some of that can be avoided by asking peers, with instructor oversight, to grade papers (as UoPeople will certainly be doing), but that brings us to the second requirement of a (nearly) free education. Automate almost everything: In particular, automate grading. There are today few reasons for any human being to be grading math or science homework—at least through the sophomore level. Indeed, faculty graders can be unfair and unreliable— I speak from experience. Computer grading can be more reliable and certainly much cheaper. Even for the â€Å"softer† subjects computers can be an asset. On-line campuses at minimum run English papers through Turnitin and a grammar- and spell-checker before a grader even sees the paper, eliminating the most tedious labor. But where computerization isn’t possible, grading can be out-sourced. Western Governors University hires graders for whom both the student and the faculty member remain anonymous, and who are required to calibrate their work against other graders to ensure consistency. This is not free, but it is cheaper than faculty graders and almost certainly better. For some classes it may even be possible to outsource grading to India or the Philippines to further reduce costs. With volunteer faculty and computerized/outsourced grading, the cost of many classes can approach zero. But there are still some classes that need to be professionally taught and for which grading is not a primary expense. I’m thinking of the core introductions to the disciplines, such as Intro to Psychology, Calculus, or General Chemistry, etc. How can these be taught more cheaply? Let the winner take all: If my grandchildren ever decide to take calculus, I want them to have an excellent instructor. Indeed, I’d like them to have the best instructor in the country. In times past that would require attending an elite liberal arts college. But today (or more likely, tomorrow) there are more and better choices. These already exist for languages. A quirky company called Rosetta Stone has largely put college foreign language instruction out of business. For approximately $200/semester one can learn almost any language one wants—not quite free, but much cheaper and (apparently) more effective than the college classroom. Rosetta Stone is a good example of winner-take-all; it has cornered the market not because of some government license, nor because only their employees know languages, but because they are better and cheaper. Why not do this with calculus, chemistry, psychology and all the rest? This will eventually happen. In each of those disciplines a product (or, hopefully, two or three competing products) will emerge that is manifestly better than anything any individual college can produce in-house. Why has it not already happened? With foreign languages one can either speak the language or not—a short conversation will test. Whether or not one gets credit for the class is completely irrelevant. The Carnegie Units awarded by academic language departments therefore have no value and are unsellable. With general chemistry, on the other hand, it is much harder to know whether or not the student has actually learned anything—a short conversation won’t do. Therefore the Carnegie Units are still valued, and a general chemistry class that doesn’t come with credit will find few takers. What is needed is a recognized way to establish competence independent of Carnegie Units. Once that happens the winner-take-all world quickly follows. A current project at Stanford University offers a path forward. Stanford is teaching a free, on-line class in artificial intelligence. As of August 15th news reports indicated that 58,000 people had registered. I have a friend who is signed up, and he reports that now enrollment is over 100,000. Stanford is not awarding credit for this class—no Carnegie Units involved. Instead they are doing something much cleverer and much more subversive. Stanford will rank the students in order of how well they do in the class and send them a certificate accordingly. Coming in first in a class of 100,000 will be quite an achievement—worth far more than any Carnegie Units. That person (or more likely, thousand people) will have a credential they can take to the bank. More generally, the organizations that offer world class instruction in the disciplines can keep their own records of how well students do. This will serve as a transcript, rendering the college transcript and the associated Carnegie Units irrelevant and unmarketable. Carnegie Units are a problem, and that brings us to the final suggestion. Break the cartel: What might be called the â€Å"Carnegie Cartel† survives because it serves the best interest of existing institutions. Like all good cartels, it reduces competition by raising the cost of entry and by fixing prices. It is enforced by accrediting agencies, appropriately run as voluntary associations of existing institutions, dedicated to keeping newcomers out. Acquiring and retaining accreditation is expensive: including faculty and staff time along with the opportunity cost, a seven-figure price tag for an accreditation visit is not an unreasonable estimate. This does not include considerable efforts spent on on-going assessment, processes for continuous improvement, and collecting all the other ever more arcane documentation demanded by accreditors. A cartel maintains a grip on the market because it controls an essential resource that everybody needs. For the Carnegie Cartel this resource is access to state and federal financial aid—money not available to unaccredited organizations and individuals. But this resource is now threatened by several developments. First, the recession has simply reduced the funds available. Second, many shady for-profit colleges have successfully gamed the system and are now reaping a disproportionate share of funds, corrupting the entire enterprise. Third, the cartel’s currency—Carnegie Units—are no longer a very good proxy for educational achievement. The system is flummoxed by on-line or blended learning, not to mention on-line short courses taught by volunteers. Accrediting agencies have never heard of crowd-sourcing. Finally, and most important, the advent of free or nearly free education eliminates the value of the cartel’s franchise. Federal funds are not necessary. No cartel serves the interest of its customers, and the Carnegie Cartel is no exception. It has frozen an over-priced, outmoded and dysfunctional educational system in place. It needs to be broken up. I believe that is gradually happening now. Breaking the cartel will sharply reduce the cost of higher education across the board. A free college education for all? The UoPeople experiment is testing the free education model today. If it is successful, it will spread more or less rapidly, and even if that particular effort fails it will only be a few years before somebody tries again. So I am not presenting a radical vision for the distant future, but rather describing something that is happening now or very soon. A (nearly) free college education for everybody is not only possible, but likely. But it will be a bare-bones education, and many students will want to pay for something more. What might they pay for? The residential college experience is valuable even if the general chemistry class is out-sourced. The college can provide accompanying laboratory experiences and/or recitation sections. Students need a peer group. Classmates form the beginning of a professional network that will last a lifetime. Attending classes and studying together is valuable, even if the classes themselves are free. Peer group facilitators will be in demand. Some classes— analytical chemistry comes to mind—require expensive equipment along with a technically trained instructor. This will never be free. College faculty won’t get paid much for teaching, but they can still earn a living as tutors, research mentors, coaches, team-leaders, advisers, counselors. These skills cannot be computerized and students will pay for them. I am in favor of a free college education for all, despite the inevitable dislocation in the higher education community. I hope these changes happen sooner rather than later. But I am not starting a political movement. Activism is not necessary—the die is cast and much of what I predict is already taking place. Not that I’m against political activism—if you want to do that be my guest. But could I ask you to please wait for a few years until after I retire?