Earlier this month Forbes magazine published a piece about a controversial question that has garnered increasingly more mainstream attention: "Should nearly everyone go to college?" I've mentioned this quandary in other pieces [link to bio pg on huffpo with links to all posts] but haven't addressed the issue head-on until now. Here's a snippet from…See More

Despite the media's obsession with perpetuating divisive partisan politics, we actually have more common ground with our fellow citizens from all along the political spectrum that we sometimes think. Whether or not you've chalked up the Shirley Sherrod controversy as just another distraction tactic, I hope you'll concede that the full version of the white farmer story she told during her NAACP speech contained a valuable lesson.I highlight that take-home message in…See More

So I finally managed to get the video of my recent NY1 interview where I talk with Sam Roberts of The New York Times about my path to becoming a marine engineer aboard fireboat John J. Harvey, the importance of hands-on work in this country, and my book,…See More

People from all sides of the debate (including me) have been arguing over the impact of offshore manufacturing since Andy Grove…See More

You may have read the Andy Grove Bloomberg piece that everyone and their…See More

I just loved this poignant comment that Barbara Ray made on my recent post about the U.S.'s loss of value in hands-on work:Right now, high school vocational classes are tagged as "loser" classes, and are shriveling on the vine as everyone seems to be taking AP classes in preparation for college. But as you note, kids have high aspirations, but as the college dropout…See More

I promised to write a longer piece on this—and why not go big? My first Huffington Post piece is live! I talk about what was missing from Friday's New York Times front-page story on the skills gap in manufacturing. Here's a snippet:Now, the recession is serving up a serious wake-up call. Tumultuous times…See More

A recent poll reveals that a large majority of Americans think the U.S. should strengthen domestic manufacturing and develop a national manufacturing policy. Conducted in April by The Mellman Group for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, the poll surveyed likely voters in the 2010 general…See More