Bill Maris quote

Bill Maris and Kevin Rose were on Charlie Rose. It was a great interview. I heard Bill Maris describe the mindset of many of the entrepreneurs he comes across as a venture capitalist.


" They have a healthy disregard for the impossible "


The masses cannot conceive or entertain this type of thinking. The masses are born in a box. Raised in a box and live their obedient lives in a box filled with FEAR.  It's blasphemy for them to suggest or even entertain a life outside the box for they are slaves meant for bondage on the path of fear.

There but for the grace of god go I....

Career Education Corporation Part 6: Laptops were stolen

 

Teaching with laptops did not work out as expected. The battery life was supposed to be twelve hours. They didn't last eight.

Weeks if not months after I taught the class with laptops the IT director along with the school's top administrator, I think it was the acting president, stopped by my class. They had an odd look of concern and urgency about them. (I was in the middle of a lecture) The IT director approached as I stood there in the front of my class. He got close, looked me in the eyes and with great discretion asked:

"Do you still know the combination to the cabinet with the laptops”. It was a combination lock utilizing letters in the place of numbers allowing words for combination.
 

I nodded my head (affirming) and said in a whisper "DELL". They were Dell laptops. The combination was simple to remember. 

After I gave the IT director the combination he told me the laptop had been stolen. Someone cut off the lock.

I'd like to think the school, Harrington College i.e. Career Education Corporation, would not consider me a suspect (because I'm not a thief). I was rebuilding my life. I was climbing the ladder of success one rung at a time. No shortcuts. I was in the process of getting an education along with experience and references. I understood the value of networking in the business world. I need a glowing reference from Harrington College when I leave. I need a glowing reference from every company I work for. At times I found myself a slave to my resume. In one small way I thought,:

If I serve my career my career will serve me

I literally am beyond reproach (in my own mind). This is the way I think, this the way I act. This is what I fee l about myself, especially as the words relate to Harrington College. I did an great job teaching while at Harrington. I brought tremendous energy and enthusiasm to my classrooms.

If I do a great job and and represent the school well I have nothing to worry about. Nothing. No Thing.

That was not some of my better thinking.

As it turns out I was NOT above reproach. As it turned out there was an investigation. As it turns out I was a suspect. They found out about my past. The criminal stuff. It may have been reasonable to them that an ex-con would be the most logical suspect, me and the African American network technician. I imagine he was a suspect because he disappeared shortly after the laptops were stolen.

At one point I heard my co-workers discussing my criminal past. This was after the laptops were stolen. The word was out and I was on my way out. I was not long for their world. Not only was I on my way out, I was humiliated in the process.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Lots of hard work went into getting that job. Hard work went into keeping that job. All that work and effort flushed down the fucking toilet. It felt that way for a couple of minutes. I felt frustration. There was no getting around it, this part of dealing with a felony conviction.

“This is all my fault. I have no one to blame but myself"

Be that as it may, after I head my co-workers discussing my criminal past I realized I needed to walk out. I felt humiliated. It was one of those OMG moments. I sat down, typed out a letter of resignation stating why I was quitting and printed three or four copies, maybe it was five or six. I put them in envelopes and asked my bosses secretary to deliver them and I left. I gave the security official downstairs my faculty ID card. I think that was December 2006.

There was no getting around it. I was the one that chose trafficking marijuana for a living back in 1984. In one form or another I will continue to deal with my past no matter how much time passes. Sobeit. There are worse things to be dealing with.

The simple fact of the matter is this, I found this job. I’ll find another.

After teaching for Harrington College for a couple of years then being hired by them to build a database and giving me access to sensitive information concerning each faculty member, then being approved for tuition reimbursement for grad school, Harrington College wrote me off the schedule. They found an easy way to dispose of me. No more classes for you...  

I spoke with some lawyers but did not think suing former employers was part of rebuilding my life but it seems obvious, they entered into an agreement with me concerning grad school then went back on their word. That is actionable in court. Leaking out personal information about me to my co-workers is against the law as well.

Had those laptops never been stolen I might still be teaching at Harrington College. They had their hooks in me. The tuition reimbursement agreement I had with Harrington College i.e. Career Education Corporation, was to be paid out over time in future semesters after I completed grad school.

I’d been out of prison about six years or so and made significant progress in rebuilding my life. I’d gone as straight as a person can while seeking acceptance into corporate America as a form of legitimacy as a professional.

Though it was not my goal I felt certain I would be offered a full time faculty position even though I was only teaching one class and I would teach that same class four or five times each semester. Grad school taught me to get involved at work if you are interested in moving up the ladder. ---- I took their advice and it worked like a charm.

What I feel is indisputable about my time at Harrington College is this. I did an excellent job for them. They read the evaluations my students filled out. The president of the school even made a comment about the evaluations posted on-line at rate my professor.com. They had their eyes on me and I enjoyed it because I was doing such a good job for them. I'm a star, you better pay attention to me.

I was able to educate, motivate and inspire the students in my classes at Harrington College. Not many other teachers are as skilled as I am in this regard. That was my ace in the hole.  

 

 

Career Education Corporation Part 5: Teaching with laptops

My boss summoned me to his office. I could feel an opportunity preparing to present itself.

The school bought laptops for one classroom instead of desktops. This was as an experiment. The laptops would make the classroom mobile if they could endure two classes back to back without being plugged in. Eight hours of continues use. An external battery was attached.

The request was made for me to give these laptops a try. In the following semester I would teach two classes back to back with the laptops. I gladly took on the assignment.

Part of my thinking at this time was to become indespinsable to the school.  This indespinsablity was tied to job security. 

Career Education Corporation Part 4 - Tuition Assistance

They sent a memo informing us of the new tution assistance program. I applied and had my application approved. This was before they asked me to build a database to be utilized for scheduleing.

I had no intention of staying at the college any longer than necessary. The job was a means to an end. It looked good on the resume. It was a decent gig while in grad school and they were going to pay tuition assistance on my masters degree. The school offered a great deal and in return I did a great job for them.

Each and every semesters at Harrington College the school had the students evaluate me, and every other teacher to my knowledge. I have copy of those evaluations.

I never got my tution assistance.

I did not think sueing CEC (a former employer) was a good career move so I didn't.

Career Education Corporation Part 3 - Building a database

 

Aside from my teaching responsibilities at Harrington College they hired me to build a database for them. The database would be used by administrators for scheduling faculty members to classes. The database would contain all the classes having been taught by each instructor along with the classes they are capable of teaching. A table was needed for degrees held by each instructor and where they obtained their degrees. Room was needed for the professional certifications held by each instructor. Professional references could also be stored there. There would be a table consisting of each faculty members professional resumes in a pdf format along with contact information and mailing address.

The only reason I would even take on such an assignment would be to ingratiate myself to management. It was an awesome sign on their part when management offered me the job. I inferred they liked me, they trusted me and they could see me in the corporate picture in the foreseeable future.

I got paid for my efforts in creating the database then turned the database in for a class project in graduate school.  It's what I like to call a win win situation.

 

 

Career Education Corporation Part 2: Selling useless degrees

I thought I was teaching for a noble institution and felt honored to be there. Then I watched an episode of 60 Minutes where they did an expose on CEC, Career Education Corporation (my employer). It was not good.

CEC owned some seventy two colleges and universities across the globe. This was back in 2006.  I don't know what the numbers are today.

60 Minutes exposed some of the colleges owned by CEC as completely dishonest and fraudulent. Some of the colleges owned by Career Education Corporation were selling useless degrees to unsuspecting students. The colleges were putting the students tens of thousands of dollars in debt then giving them a useless degree for which they would go out into the world and forage for jobs offering minimum wage with no hope of a better life.

Harrington College of Design was not implicated in any of the wrong doing alleged by 60 Minutes.

Truth?

 

 

"They must find it difficult....

Those who have taken authority

as the truth,;

rather than truth as the authority"

G. Massey

Hired by Harrington College

It was a big day.

I started off the day by taking my last final exam for my Bachelors degree (BS in CIS). I left the campus relieved. Though I would not get my grade for the exam for a few days I knew I passed the test and the class. That particular chapter of my life was over. Three and a half years of night school found its conclusion with my having graduated.

I left the campus and headed to the train station. I had an interview downtown for an adjunct faculty position at Harrington College of Design.

The interview could not have gone better. I felt certain I would be hearing from them and I did. With the summer semester starting in just a few weeks I was called and offered a couple of classes. 

Do you believe in miracles?

I gladly accepted. It’s an understatement to say I was shocked by the job offer. I was astonished. Blown away. It was completely inconceivable on every level and in every way. Five years after being released from prison and I’d become a college graduate and adjunct faculty member at a college. A real college not some fly by night vocational school. I was a college professor. Unfucking believable.

A few days later I was called by the school and asked if I could teach four classes. Of course I can.

My goal after leaving prison was never to become a college graduate or a college professor.  I had a very general and vague goal and that was to create a life worth living. I did believe it was possible to rebuild my life after prison. I had no idea what it would look like. I believed if I worked hard and kept a good attitude I would be able to see progress within a year or so. As much as it pains me to admit it I did have a fall back plan. If I realized no traction in creating a new life after prison after one year of being home I would revisit my thoughts about going back into the marijuana business.

I did see traction in rebuilding my life and it only took a couple of months. The month after my release I found out about a government program offering tuition assistance for job training then I found a school offering classes in computer training. I enrolled and was in class five days a week eight hours a day. Then I found a bartending job working on Saturday and Sunday nights. Now here I was five years later and hired to teach at a college.

It was great to have the job but I did not want this to be a one semester gig and then have that come to an end. I needed this to last. I got through the first semester with flying colors and then made it through a second semester. With things working out with this job I decided to enroll in grad school and pursue a Master’s Degree. I stayed at Harrington until December 2006.