Professor's Pearls

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • PROF's BLOG
  • COLLEGE 101
  • PROF'S PEARLS
  • CHARITY
  • CONTACT
  • TEACHER RESOURCES
PEARL1: YOU WILL FIND YOUR WAY
PEARL 2: HAVE FUN, BUT NOT TOO MUCH FUN
PEARL 3: WHEN YOU MAKE THE WRONG DECISION


PEARL 4: TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO TRAVEL
PEARL 5: KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR WORLD
PEARL 6: REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE

  Pearl 5: Know What’s Going on in Your World

                
“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away."
                                                                        - Marcus Aurelius                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Original text: Current events, my friends.  It is more important than ever to know what is going on in and around you world. Major world events as well as local happenings can have a huge impact on your life.  If not only for personal benefit and enrichment, you’ll always have something to talk about at get together’s! 

Commentary: Ignorance may be bliss. But, only in rare situations when said ignorance works in your favor and is otherwise excusable. Ignorance of timely events, issues and happenings is an egregious social and professional blunder.  Seriously people...there is nothing worse than having no clue what people are talking about in just about any situation. The ability to participate in and "hold your own" in a conversation says a lot about you in a most positive manner.

Socially speaking, keeping up with current events and issues can prove to be highly beneficial when initiating and maintaining relationships. Conversations require content. World, national & local happenings make for excellent content! A general knowledge of pop culture is also recommended.  

Professionally speaking, perception is everything and then some. You want co-workers, customers and/or colleagues to perceive you as a generally informed individual. Basic knowledge of world, national and local events is important. However, keeping current with issues, trends and news within your professional field is of utmost importance.  

A common perceptual tendency known as the "halo effect" can be your best friend or your ultimate foe based on the perceptions of others.  If others perceive you as knowledgeable, they are likely to assume that you possess additional positive qualities that are related.  If the opposite is true and others perceive you as ignorant and uninformed, the associated assumptions will be less than complimentary whether they are true or not.

So, how does one increase their knowledge of current issues and events?  There are many ways to do this and you can pick and choose what works best for you.  My student and friend, Brooke Chaplin once described the local news as "depressing."  I certainly can't argue with her on that one (and I can argue just about anything).  So, if watching a full broadcast of the local or national news sounds less than uplifting, there are countless other avenues that can clue you in.  

The internet is a great place to start.  Headlines are literally everywhere.  Even the Yahoo homepage includes current headlines.  One News Now offers a daily "news briefing" that comes directly to your e-mail box. No heavy reading required. I'm also a big fan of CNN's Breaking News Alerts.  All you do is sign up and the breaking news headlines will come to you as they happen.  These alerts are short and to the point.  

If you want to be informed via television (or streaming video) without enduring a traditional news cast, you have a multitude of options:
  • Watch weekly episodes of Saturday Night Live.  I'm serious...SNL parodies current pop,  social and news events. You might need to do some fact checking afterwards just to be sure you have an accurate understanding of the issues.  But, the laughs will be well worth it.  
  • Rock Center with Brian Williams airs on Monday evenings at 9pm central on NBC.  I love this unique news format because it's much more informal.  Additionally, it focuses on the human interest element of the news which is usually far more interesting.  
  • I also like AC 360 with Anderson Cooper (did you know that Gloria Vanderbilt is his mom?!?).  My favorite Anderson Cooper segment is the "RidicuList."
  • I recommend the Today Show on NBC for morning headlines as well and human interest topics.
  • If you like the talk show format, The View tackles "hot topics" and other timely controversies that can keep you in the loop.  Be for warned that the discussions are highly opinionated. Try to separate the news from the bias.  
  • The Colbert Report is another hilarious way to catch the news.  This is also in parody format, so fact checking is a good thing.
  • Don't forget about pod casts and RSS feeds from your favorite information disseminating websites.  I have Reuters RSS news feed posted to the top right corner of this page.  It updates to real-time automatically.
© 2019 Paige C. Davis