Yes, I’m taking the LSAT. Just like I took the GRE last month, and I’ll probably take the GMAT a couple months from now. I’m doing it for pretty much the same reason I do most things like this: why not?

I have no idea what my future holds. Obviously, things are good right now, but grad school is—at some point—certainly on the horizon. With a degree in marketing, a degree in communications, and a minor in statistics, I’m lucky to be in a position where I have a great degree of flexibility over which graduate program I might pursue.

Given my passion for politics, government, and all the ins and outs of how our country works, law school does, perhaps someday, make sense for me. Obviously the LSAT is the first step. Wish me luck!

I had the honor of witnessing 14 other individuals give some truly remarkable presentations, and I had the incredible honor of speaking myself. I spoke on social learning, and the disconnect we—more often than not—see between the way students are learning and the way modern teachers are teaching. For now, I’ll leave it at that, but my PowerPoint presentation is embedded below. As soon as I have the video, I’ll post that as well.

Thanks so much to everyone who made the event so great, and a huge thanks to all those behind Ignite DC who chose me to be one of the speakers for this event. I’m thrilled to have played a part, and I can’t wait for Ignite DC 7!

For more information on the RSA, check out their website. They’re also on Twitter @theRSAorg.

So how does Miranda explain this apathy among us college students? Brilliantly:

I call it an inflexible system. Education has a fresh cornucopia of potential tools that have not been utilized to potential. That is a shame, and a failure on the part of the system to adapt.

As a student of marketing and public relations, one of the first things any budding professional is taught is to identify your audience. Identify your audience. Professors now have a very different audience today than professors even 10 years ago. My generation was raised with toys. With gadgets. My generation has a high processing speed and a low tolerance for filler. My generation learns in bullet points and status updates of 140 characters or less. Most importantly, my generation is endlessly engaged with a wide online community. This is the audience.

And moreover, this should be any professor’s dream. You have a venue for innovation!

She’s right. And it’s not just social media. As many of you know, I’ve made social media in education a big priority in my college life with the AU Social Media Club, but this isn’t just social media we’re talking about. It’s a simple failure to acknowledge passion and creativity, and a massive failure to help student unlock those passions in innovative ways.

Let me put this in some context. I’ll be blunt—I’m not a fan of my international business course. It’s not because I don’t like business; In fact, I love business. One of my degrees is a B.S. in Business Administration and the Kogod School of Business has been an outstanding place for me to unlock my business potential. But this one class is a failure, largely because our professor is deaf and blind to the needs, wants, and passions of our generation.

So far, the course has consisted of long—as in two and a half hour long—lectures, very little homework, two exams, and a significant group “business plan” project in which we develop our own international business. Sounds cool? Sort of. The problem is that it’s boring and honestly, couldn’t unleash the passion of even the most hardened and fascinated international business major. Our professor tries to be “hip” by encouraging us to text him (+ points), but then fails to grasp even the most basic functions of BlackBoard (- points). He tries to discuss current events (+ points), but then fails to mention anything about the state of the media (- points), how we’re receiving this news (- points), or what this news means in the context of our real lives (- points).

But I don’t mean to single out this one class. There are numerous classes—at every university, I’m sure—that can benefit from a more modern approach. An approach that utilizes modern technology, encourages discussion and debate, asks students where and how they get their information and why they get it where they do. An approach that allows students to express their knowledge in whatever way they know how—whether that’s building a website, tweeting a thousand times a month, starting a group on Facebook, or putting together a good old-fashioned scrapbook.

Miranda nailed it right on the head—our education needs flexibility. It needs to adapt not just to modern students, but to each and every one of us.

This might sound like we’re asking a lot, but really, we’re not. We’re asking that our professors use the time and the resources at their disposal to unlock our passion in new and innovative ways. We’re asking that they step outside of their comfort zone as we step outside of ours. We’re asking that as we work our asses off for that perfect grade, they do the same to not only help us reach that grade, but reach it in a way that gets us excited about the next course in that subject area.

I want to walk out of every class—regardless of the topic—feeling like I should major in it. I want to be that passionate about my classes. I want to care. I really, really, do.

So see? It’s not that we don’t want to care. I think I speak for most of us when I say: yes, we want to care, we want to be passionate. But unfortunately our education isn’t always stepping up to the plate.

Want to know more about the AU Social Media Club? E-mail us at smcedu@american.edu. Are you a student at AU and want to get involved? Sign up for our mailing list here.

Congratulations, Democrats. You’ve got a lot to be proud of. Significant health care reform has finally become a reality for the United States after a year of contentious debate. But moreover, the political tides have clearly shifted in your favor.

While we have won this battle, we have not won the war, that war being the rest of President Obama’s ambitious agenda.

Many may be tempted to say, let’s take it easy. We can back off major legislation, and press on in 2011 with the 112th United States Congress.

For God’s sake don’t do that.

This year presents enormous opportunity for passing more than just health care reform, all the while improving our chances of winning in November. You just have to play the cards right, and at the right time.

Dear President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid:

As the key figures setting the legislative agenda, the cards are in your collective hands. Combatting the 24/7, conflict-addicted, Tea Party-obsessed news cycle will not be easy, but by timing your messages right, I’m pretty confident you can get not just one more reform done this year, but three.

First, tackle education reform. Everyone knows education is a politically safe topic. Few are opposed to it, and most on both sides of the aisle recognize the abysmal failure that was No Child Left Behind. In addition, few politicians are willing to raise the same kind of ruckus for education as they did for health care. It’s for the kids, after all.

If you pass a bill by the middle of May, you can even tie your message to the end of the school year. Imagine the headlines: “American students celebrate summer; America celebrates a new era of high-quality education.”

Secondly, duke it out for the climate bill. One version has already passed the House, and there is bipartisan support in the Senate. It will still be a tough fight, but the climate — the weather, not the political climate — will work in your favor.

Remember the ignorant skepticism of global warming because of the unusual snowfall in Washington this past winter? That same mentality applies in reverse, too. As the temperatures increase so will belief in global warming.

As more Americans travel and the economy improves, gas prices will rise, sparking more demand for energy reform and investments to reduce our dependence on oil. Nobody likes paying $4 a gallon for gas.

On top of that, hurricane season kicks off on June 1, and with it, the approaching five-year anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Scientific evidence shows a correlation between global warming and hurricane activity, and fear of another Katrina will be just one more factor adding to popular support of a bill to combat climate change.

Finally, wrap up the year with immigration reform. Activists are already demanding it — although their rally on March 21 was largely drowned out by the health care debate.

As holidays approach, Americans will be more sympathetic to immigrant families being torn apart due to unfair immigration policy. In addition, the myriad of holidays celebrated serves to underscore the diversity in America, providing an excellent backdrop for the immigration debate.

The media won’t mind either. Passing a bill by Christmas would mean more heartwarming tales of immigrant families together for the holidays. Let them have that story.

- The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, “replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin.”

- The Board refused to require that “students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others.”

I honestly don’t know what to say about this debate except that it’s absolutely ludicrous and it’s making the United States look foolish. By literally rewriting history to fit some radical conservative ideals, the state of Texas is making the U.S. look as if, instead of governed by a Democratic supermajority, governed by a strange group of radical right-wing nutcases.

Removing Thomas Jefferson from history books? HOW CAN YOU DO THAT?

To talk about college this way may sound élitist. It may even sound philistine, since the purpose of a liberal-arts education is to produce well-rounded citizens rather than productive workers. But perhaps it is more foolishly élitist to think that going to school until age 22 is necessary to being well-rounded, or to tell millions of kids that their future depends on performing a task that only a minority of them can actually accomplish.

Well, he’s right on that first point. It does sound élitist. It does sound philistine. But the sheer gumption of saying it’s élitist to encourage kids to get a college education? That’s absolute insanity.

The author seems to subscribe to the viewpoint that people are born with certain abilities. That some people are just destined for greatness, while others will be trapped in the lower-class culture of our society. He’s simply wrong.

I grew up in rural Kentucky. I come from an upper-middle class, pretty average family. I’ve been blessed–and a fair bit lucky–but one of the primary reasons I have been as successful as I’ve been is thanks to my education and my college experience so far, at American University.

And it’s not just me. I’ve seen friends from lower-class, lower-middle class, and even upper-class go from unsavory circumstances to college, and they’re achieving greatness as we speak. Will they be CEOs, Senators, Presidents or entrepreneurs? Not necessarily. But their advanced education is giving them the knowledge they need to keep pushing our country forward.

Let’s look at it from a macro-level. Look at the United States in comparison to Asian countries’ performance in math, statistics, engineering, and the sciences. We lag behind–sometimes by a significant margin. Sure we’ve got the economic advantage, the legacy of being the world’s largest superpower, and a fair bit of innovation under our belts, but who says that will last forever? And at the rate countries like China and India are growing, progressing, and, in many ways, catching up to us, shows that more advanced education is the only argument we should be making.

The bipartisanship on the need for education is one of the few bright spots of cooperation you can find in our government right now. Who in their right mind could argue against that?

Ponnuru is missing the point. Sure, there are some people in college right now who might not be able to handle it. But is the answer to just give up, an stop sending them to college altogether? Is the answer just to let them stop learning, to go work on the farm, to grab a job collecting garbage or clerking grocery stores? No, no, no, no and NO.

The solution to this problem is obvious. Ponnuru even says it flat out in his article: “We could probably increase the number of high school seniors who are ready to go to college — and likely to make it to graduation — if we made the K-12 system more academically rigorous.” But then he goes on to refute his own point, dismissively saying “college isn’t for everyone.”

College isn’t for everyone now because our high schools aren’t doing their job. College isn’t for everyone because our education system is up to par for the greatness of America. College isn’t for everyone because idiots like this are writing articles arguing against it, with absolutely zero rational, empirical, or substantiated points to base their argument on.

These people are the cause behind DC’s cause movement. There is no question in my mind that these people are some of the most important people in the District of Columbia.

These people see more pain than anyone else in DC.
These people endure more frustration than the most frustrated politicians on Capitol Hill.
These people work harder than the hardest office workers the United States has ever produced.

These people put in hours upon hours upon hours of back-breaking, mind-numbing, heart-wrenching work, all for a cause. They want to make D.C.–and the United States–a better place to live. They want to make it a better place to work, a better place to eat, and even a better place to get sick. It’s amazing.

I heard comments describing our group last weekend as “a bomb waiting to explode”, a group with “collective momentum” to change the world. One attendee, Greg Bloom, said “Web sites don’t make change, and neither do rallies”. And he’s right. These people working on these causes, right here in D.C., they’re the ones that make change. And I can see it coming. It’s beautiful.

Now after leaving the conference, I began to feel a little overwhelmed. I was thinking back to the people I heard speak, flipping through my notes, shuffling through the business cards I picked up, and I realized that there’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of causes out there. There’s a lot that needs fixin’. And for me, I didn’t even know where to start.

Should I volunteer for DC Food for All and help make D.C. sustainable and feed those in need? Or should I volunteer with Miriam’s Kitchen to feed the homeless? Or maybe I should go out and volunteer with the MLK Library’s Adult Literacy Resource Center and help teach people to read. Or I could even work with the Open Forum Foundation in their push for more open government.

See what I mean? But now I’ve realized that, really, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere. You’ve got to get out here and do something. You’ve got to pick something you’re passionate about and go for it, help out, put some weekend hours into it. It’s worth it, because this is our city. This is everyone‘s country. And we can help make it better.

Personally, I’m hoping to get involved some this semester, if I don’t collapse under the load of schoolwork. Even if not this semester, though, I’m already formulating a plan for the summer to volunteer with ten different causes on ten different weekends, ten weeks in a row. Rest assured, you’ll hear more about that as it comes close.

In the meantime, I’ve assembled a list of organizations and people I heard about and/or met last weekend. The links for organizations will take you to their Web site, where you can find out how to get involved. The links for people will take you to their Twitter profile, where you can contact them directly. And finally, if you have any questions or want to know more about my experience, you can comment and/or e-mail me at alex.priest[at]mac.com. Click the read more for the full list. Thanks for reading, looking forward to seeing you volunteering one day soon.

I’ve done my best to categorize them–some fit into multiple categories, some don’t quite fit anywhere (Hub DC, for example) but ah well. Here they all are, regardless. Please let me know if you have any causes to add to my list, I’d love to turn this into a good, updated resource for friends/family, etc. Also, if you want to be on this list or want to fill in a missing last name, let me know! Just e-mail me (or comment) with your name, Twitter and/or e-mail, Web site, whatever.

Food DC Food for All (on Twitter) Miriam’s Kitchen DC Central Kitchen Food Not Bombs Rooting DC DC Food Finder Bread for the City (on Twitter) Health Regina Holliday’s Medical Advocacy Blog Education DC Urban Debate League Baha’i DC MLK Library Adult Literacy Resource Center Facilitating Leadership in Youth (F.L.Y.) General Social Welfare Save Our Safety Net The Hub DC (on Twitter) ProgressDC New Organizing Institute (on Twitter) Crisis Camp Government & Politics Open Forum Foundation GovLuv You2Gov Politics Under 30 Sunlight Foundation OpenMeetings.org

People Aaron Ginoza – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Jennifer Bonsall – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Kelli Shewmaker – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Greg Bloom – DC Food For All, Bread for the City, ProgressDC Wayne Burke – Open Forum Foundation George Chriss – OpenMeetings.org Noel Dickover – CrisisCamp, CongressCamp, Gov2.0 Jeri Ekdahl – politics, open government, women’s issues Gabriela – Sunlight Foundation Erica Grigg – environmental David Hale – National Institutes of Health Regina Holliday – health care Ben Merrion – MLK Library, adult literacy Joni Podschun – DC Food for All Alan Silberberg – You2Gov Charise Van Liew – Facilitating Leadership in Youth DC Liz Whitehurst – various causes

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