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In the land of the free, the early election crap has reason for such an early start this year. Obama and Huckabee take the Iowa caucuses! If you put me to vote, Huckabee would probably be the last one I’d vote for out of all of them. As for Obama, he knows his politics, but does he know the White House? I’m actually a Clinton fan. Richardson second for me and then a tie for third with Obama and Edwards. To give the the Republicans out there a shout out, I’m actually feelin’ Rudy.

To get some great commentary on the Iowa action check these out:

Iowa Changes Everything

“After last night’s Iowa Caucus results, some are saying the GOP is now in total disarray, and others are expressing shock that the once seemingly unstoppable Clinton train has gone off the rails, with the New York Times calling her performance a ’startling setback.’”

Obama Takes Iowa in a Big Turnout as Clinton Falters; Huckabee Victor

“Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a first-term Democratic senator trying to become the nation’s first African-American president, rolled to victory in the Iowa caucuses on Thursday night, lifted by a record turnout of voters who embraced his promise of change.”

The Daily Dish - This whole blog is doing a bunch of great personal commentary

A reader here wrote, “And the people won. I never thought I’d be so happy to see two people I completely disagree with win. This election transcends policy positions. It’s about who we are as a county. Can we be conned? Bought? Blinded by prejudice, fear or “inevitability”? The answer tonight was a resounding NO.”

Obama’s victory in Iowa sheds light on today’s workplace

“Millennials are fundamentally conservative…Baby boomers are being forced out, in a non-disruptive way…The gender divide is an antiquated view of the world…”

See you in New Hampshire and Super Tuesday

I nearly killed myself in college to get straight A’s. Well, almost straight A’s. I graduated with 37 A’s and 3 B’s for a GPA of 3.921. At the time, I thought I was hot stuff. Now I wonder if it wasn’t a waste of time. Let me explain:

1. No one has ever asked about my GPA.
2. I didn’t sleep.
3. I’ve forgotten 95% of it.
4. I didn’t have time for people.
5. Work experience is more valuable.

-This post content is from Jon Morrow as posted on Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist. His blog is On Moneymaking. Read it’s full content here.

Me: (I didn’t get straight As, but my only C was from study abroad. I too didn’t sleep much, but usually thanks to procrastination, or what I called “learning outside of the classroom”)

What are grades? The subjective and objective opinions of professors usually concerning your work for and within the classroom. Sometimes you get lucky (or not) and the professor considers yourself outside of the classroom in determining a grade. We know why we need them, or at least we think we do. Few other alternatives have been accepted, so why care?

From the day that grades were introduced to me (4th grade), partially the explanation of the “fourth grad slump” I learned about yesterday, I saw them as a personal indicator. Before that, looking back at my younger report cards, I remember thinking the higher the number the better (we used a number system before 4th grade). Those 2s, 3s, and 4s out of 5 always looked good to my younger self, the bigger the better. I still remember being placed on a more advanced track, thus the teacher recognized my ability despite my “poor” performance. It wasn’t until Junior year of high school that I detached grades, for the most part, from a system that was grading me as a person. This was good, but not good for my grades. There was a rebound and grades took on a mixed meaning in college as I learned of learning outside of the classroom as well.

So what is it? Doesn’t everyone learn differently? Many of the students that I am involved with right now spend their life in DSA (Division of Student Affairs), many times at the cost of their school work. Yet, they learn and exhibit extreme skill. There has been a trend in college these days to reincorporate “out of the classroom” experiences into the curriculum. Anything from service-learning, externships, to actual work experience counting as class credit. This was the topic covered while attending a conference in Seattle.

I love this trend.

So I say learn on! Yet as a graduate looking at graduate school, thinking of my career, working full-time, and trying to pursue my own interests while trying to make a difference, I still wonder if those grades represent my ability of thinking to learn or learning to think?