With artificial intelligence and robotics capable of calculating and producing products and doing what people have done for centuries, the future of jobs for human beings will be creative, critical and social. So why are classes designed to teach students to act like machines? Regurgitating facts and sitting quietly in rows doesn’t stimulate innovation. As the director at Merit Academy, I have been approached by several Chinese schools (public and private) to help them improve their rote curriculum.  Their students are bright, eager to please, and hardworking but they can’t compete in our entrepreneurial and technological world because they aren’t taught to analyze and think critically.

The average Chinese class size is 50, but many classes have as many as 80 students. In order to manage a class size that large, teaching has to be a one-way lecture and learning has to be done with worksheets and multiple choice answers. Students don’t learn how to write research papers or literary analyses.  Imagine editing 80 essays for one class? It’s simply impossible for a teacher to manage.

I take pride in watching Merit students thrive.  With one-on-one classes where teachers engage in conversations with students, and students are encouraged to think outside the box and explore concepts and ideas in depth, it is really the ideal environment for developing our future leaders.  I’ve met with the teachers and love to hear their plans for each student they teach. The students ranked their teachers with the highest ratings possible. My favorite role is as their college advisor who guides the students as they launch their projects. Each student finds their passion and sets out to change the world.  Imagine if all schools – Chinese included — encouraged this type of leadership? We could solve many of the problems we face today. I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world to have this opportunity. 

Remember Dolly – the first cloned mammal that was created in Scotland in 1996? That created an uproar worldwide about cloning any living thing.  Today, expert panels have been trying to set guidelines to ensure that scientists don’t start creating superhumans using Crispr, a gene-editing device.  I wrote about Crispr and how difficult it will be to keep unethical people from misusing this genome-editing technique that is available in university and science labs around the globe.

Biohackers claim that people should have access to technology that can cure diseases, which most people probably agree with.  But, how do we stop this same technology from increasing people’s IQs or changing their physical attributes? Gene-editing technology is available online and many entrepreneurs are claiming that it is a human right.  Their argument: genetic choice is a human right.

There is no simple solution to this ethics debate but there is a need for universal policies to be set to prevent misuse of this technology, and it needs to be done now.  Chinese scientists now lead the way with gene-editing technology and claim that they have already modified human genes in their labs. It’s time to settle this debate and set some guidelines to protect mankind.

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Did you know that 70-85% of teens DON’T GET the recommended 8 ½ hours sleep per night? And 30% of adults don’t get their 7 hours of sleep per night. According to Dr. Matthew Walker, professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at UC Berkeley, he used to suggest that sleep was the 3^rd pillar of good health, along with diet and exercise, but now he says that SLEEP IS THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE THING YOU CAN DO TO RESET YOUR BRAIN AND BODY FOR HEALTH.”

Poor sleep is now linked to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. It can also increase the risk of dementia and depression or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety. Poor sleep is linked to overall risk of premature death, just as smoking, bad nutrition, and lethargy. In a recent study on mice, sleep deprivation caused death faster than starvation can. Yikes!

Sleep’s primary evolutionary function is to clean out the brain, quite literally, of accumulating debris, according to Dr. Maiken Nedergaard. “It’s like a dishwasher that keeps flushing through to wash the dirt away.” Our bodies need to get rid of these toxins that can damage healthy cells.

We all know that chronic inflammation is a leading driver in some cancers, mental decline, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and pain.  But did you know that one of the causes of inflammation is sleep deprivation?

So the take-away message here is GET YOUR SLEEP EVERY NIGHT!  That means that kids need 8.5 hours and adults need 7. Left to their devices, kids will stay up til midnight and get just 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Do the math and set your bedtime.  Be the adult in your family and force your teens and children to get enough sleep every night.  They’ll be healthier and happier for it!

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My husband and I have many “discussions” about the dates that are printed on our packaged food.  He claimed that the printed dates were simply dates by which the stores need to sell the food, which means that we could still eat the food days later.  But I, on the other hand, tossed out the food on the dates listed because I didn’t want to get sick eating spoiled food.  Apparently we weren’t the only ones confused by these dates. 

The entire grocery industry also had difficulty with the wording used on the food they sold.  Today, manufacturers use wording like “Expires on” to “Use by” to “Better if used by,” which can mean anything from the food will be spoiled to the peak flavor will be best if consumed by this date. There hasn’t been any regulations in place so it has been up to the grocery stores to interpret these dates.  Only 20 states mandate that grocery stores pull food after expiration dates – hmm – so 30 states don’t pull food off the shelves?

The Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association just announced that they’ve standardized product date labels. That’s the good news; the bad news is that they aren’t going to do this until 2018.  Until then, I plan to do the sniff test.  If it smells good, I’ll eat it.  If it smells rotten or looks off, I’ll toss it.

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Did you know that Marie Antoinette didn’t actually say, “Let them eat cake!”? Yup!  Fake news has been around for centuries and as you can see, it this particular statement has been repeated so often that it has ended up in our history lectures still today.  But today fake news is so prevalent that most students (in all grade levels) don’t have the critical thinking skills to decipher what’s real and what’s fake.  So here are ways that teachers – and you – can help students wade through all the propaganda thrown at them.

According to teacher Scott Bedley (who was interviewed by NPR’s Sophia Alvarez Boyd), you can play Simon Says to encourage students to make their own educated decisions about what’s true and what’s false in the news.  Students should consider the following before answering:

1. How reliable is the source? (Was it written by a major magazine or legitimate expert?)
2. What does your gut say? (Does it sound possible?)
3. Does it make sense?
4. Can you find 3 other sources to verify this same finding?
5. Have experts in the field commented about it?
6. Does it have a copyright?

Bringing awareness about how easy it is to create fake news on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media is the first step in preparing students for wading through the junk they read on the internet. Then making sure that students don’t perpetuate or inadvertently spread these lies by sharing news that they don’t carefully vet is the next step. These are things that we all need to do to maintain truth in social networking and information sharing.  Instant access to information can be a blessing and a curse.

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Whether you’re an American traveling abroad or a foreigner visiting the United States, you need to protect your digital privacy.  US Customs can legally search your devices and demand access to your computer and phones with little formal cause or oversight – basically breaking the 4^th Amendment of our Constitution. Yup!  But there are steps you can take to make it more difficult for them to invade your privacy.  Here are 4 tips to protect you and your personal information:

#1: Lock Down Devices
Encrypt your hard drive using BitLocker or Filevault.  Turn off your devices before entering customs because you’ll have full protection with these tools when your computer is fully powered down.

#2:  Withhold your Passwords
Legally, American citizens can’t be deported for refusing to give up passwords but custom officials can detain you and they can seize your devices for months. But, they’ll have to allow you to return to the US and you will be able to go home – but your devices may be held up in a forensic facility if they really want to get into them.

#3: Phone Home
Call a friend or family member (or your lawyer) before you enter and after you get through customs to ensure that someone can represent you should you be detained.  Without your phone or devices, you may not have the ability to get legal help while in their custody.

#4: Make a Travel Kit
If you’re concerned that you may be a target of suspicion at the border, leave your computer and devices that contain all of your sensitive and private information at home.  Travel with a laptop and devices that have been wiped clean and have only the information you need for your travels. 

These tips may seem extreme, and they probably are for most of us, but if you have a Muslim name or you’re traveling to and from Muslim countries, these tips may protect you from personal invasion. To learn more about how to further protect yourself, read Wired’s article “Guide to Getting Past Customs With Your Digital Privacy Intact.”  

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With all the rain, power outages and road closures, I was fascinated to learn that we could accidentally get electrocuted by downed power lines – even if we don’t touch them! 

Who knew the ground carries electricity? When a power line hits your car (or your house), learn how to get to safety and save your life!

Watch this short video (to the end) to learn how to exit your car to get out of the danger zone.  The bunny hop can save your life!

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Multitasking is not a thing.  You can only do one thing at a time well so you might as well plan out all of the necessary steps to get everything done.  Right?  You can also take this a step further to ensure that you have enough time each week to handle big projects that seem to get put on the back burner.  Here’s how.

Focus: Block off 3-4 hours FOCUSING on just one project once or twice per week.   With this uninterrupted time, you’ll be able to think and delve deep into a project.  We all have those projects where you need to research an idea to make a proposal or develop a presentation for a conference.  You know what I’m talking about – the projects where you feel you need to hang a sign on your door that reads “Do NOT Disturb” or “Out of the office; Back at noon.” By blocking off time to focus on one thing, you can take the time to do that one big thing that keeps getting pushed back each week because your other responsibilities – the squeaky wheel gets the oil! – gobble up your time.

Push: By setting aside focus time, the other 34-36 hours can be productively spent PUSHING individual tasks and putting out fires. You can make preemptive phone calls, collect data, handle emails, and oh yeah, manage the onslaught of interruptions by employees, coworkers, supervisors, and clients. There’s no way around answering questions, making calls, returning emails and general business tasks so handle them around your focus time.

The best way to make sure that you, and your coworkers, respect your focus time is to block off a permanent time each week in your planner for the whole year.  Enter your plans for each focus time to ensure that you’re meeting your deadlines and then stick to them.  Use a sign or send an email that staves off interruptions so you really can complete your project during the allotted time.

You’ll find that you’ll be more productive, meet your deadlines, and most importantly, be happier when you block off time to handle the various types of projects you need to complete. For me, I either get to the office before the staff arrives, or I stay later after everyone is gone, to ensure that I have my focus blocks of time.  I always feel productive when I’m done and I enjoy my daily pushing of tasks much more when I don’t have heavy projects weighing in on me. 

Casual relationships and friendly conversations are part of the American culture.  We’re generally politically correct (PC) and find it easier and more comfortable to hang out with people who share our political, philosophical, and even cultural values.  We can joke without accidentally stepping on other people’s toes, and to be frank, it’s just less hassle to associate with like-minded people.  But, we welcome meeting new people and even gravitate with curiosity to check out international people, be it students on campus or acquaintances at parties.  So why do 40% of these international people feel isolated and lonely here in America colleges?

We’re lazy.  It takes a tremendous effort to communicate with people who don’t speak English fluently.  We need to listen carefully to decode their thick accents and to garner whatever we can from their words to comprehend what they are trying to say.  This takes a lot of work.  To do this for a few minutes as you exchange niceties, is fine.  But to have a conversation with any depth, about say politics, philosophy, or even describing a new concept requires too much effort for most people.  International students have trouble understanding jokes because they don’t have the history or contextual background or vocabulary.  When American students want to hang out with friends, they usually don’t invite their international acquaintances simply because it’s exhausting.

Take me for example.  I’m 100% Japanese American (3rd generation) but I don’t speak Japanese.  Yet, every time my friends have Japanese friends visiting America, they expect me to jump on board and be the “hostess with the mostest.”  So while I’m cooking and cleaning to prepare for a dinner party, I am also supposed to engage with guests where small talk takes intense listening skills and triple the time that I may not have because I’m juggling 5 other things. Hmm. No.  

I also found this true with my deaf friends.  I grew up and went to school with several deaf students and we share a wonderful bond because of our high school memories.  It’s been several decades since we were in high school and we get together every once in a while. After our visits, I’m grateful for the time together but I’m exhausted by the brain power it takes to communicate with them – especially since I’m rusty at reading lips and interpreting their speech. It makes me feel terribly guilty writing this because I pride myself on my color- and disability-blind philosophy.

As I watch American teens squirm every time I suggest that they invited an international high school student to join them while they shop, go to the beach, or just hang out, I realize this phenomenon is happening at the high school level too.  At first, I pressured American high school students to entertain these international teens, but then after much resistance, I stopped doing it.  I was doing what my friends were doing to me. Not fair.

Foreign students on high school and college campuses are feeling isolated, no matter how large their class sizes are or how integrated their demographics.  Sadly, I don’t see American students making social changes that will incorporate these students to bridge the gap.  I believe that the international students will need to be brave and join clubs and groups to become part of the American culture.  After all, they’re here to learn and the best way to understand our culture is to jump right in.  I think then the international students will immerse themselves in conversations and become fluent much quicker – bridging the gap and making American friends.  

Ever notice the perfectly stacked apples and other fruit in the produce section of the grocery store has perfect fruit?  You’ll never find a misshapened apple or any miscolored veggies in the store.  Some stores even spray wax on apples, peppers, and other fruit to make them shiny. Until I planted a fruit orchard 7 years ago, I assumed that fruit generally grew in these perfect shapes.  I remember when I grew my first “weird” carrot in my garden that looked like twins because it had 2 carrots that grew out of one top.  I thought that to be an anomaly – something I should photograph and send off to friends for some oohs and awes.

After the advent of the assembly line when industries became streamlined, we became removed from basic things like growing our own food. We came to expect to buy perfect strawberries and unblemished tomatoes.  With 2 working parents in the home, nobody had time to start gardens when you could pick up veggies at the corner store.  Then marketing made perfect fruit and veggies expected by consumers.  

Growing up in a city and living on the beach in Malibu where we had 2’ by 4’ of dirt next to our carport – seriously – we obviously didn’t have a veggie garden.  My mother planted tomatoes in big pots on her deck but that was it. In college, I remember how I didn’t know how strawberries grew: did they grow on bushes, vines, or trees? I know that’s embarrassing to admit now, and that’s why when I had children, we picked strawberries at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville every year until they went off to college.  I was determined that they would know where their produce came from.

While this may sound like an extreme case of ignorance, the concept of expecting perfect fruit is not. Europe has started a movement to stop food waste by getting farmers to sell “ugly” food at a discount rather than to landfill them. After all, most produce that we eat is chopped and mixed with other ingredients so their colors or shapes really don’t have anything to do with the quality of the food. Getting food manufacturing companies and grocery stores to purchase this ugly produce will offer savings to consumers and more profits for manufacturers.

America is beginning to recognize this potential market for huge profits while preventing food waste.  I’ll be blogging about other ways to prevent food waste in future blogs.