GADGETS – CHILDREN

The quotations that inspire should be termed as positive only. So, these are
few popular quotes on technology that are worth mentioning here:

1. " Any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic. " – Sir Arthur C.
Clarke
2. " Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller,
you’re part of the road. " – Stewart Brand
3. " It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our
humanity. " - Albert Einstein
4. " Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master." – Christian Lous
Lange
5. " Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people,
that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do
wonderful things with them. " – Steve Jobs

Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the
teacher is the most important.

Bill Gates

Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate.

Alvin Toffler

Technology gives us power, but it does not and cannot tell us how to use that power. Thanks to
technology, we can instantly communicate across the world, but it still doesn't help us know what to
say.

Jonathan Sacks

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

Aldous Huxley

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Arthur C. Clarke
“

Technology... is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with
the other.

Carrie Snow

Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother
of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.

Freeman Dyson

Technology is always a two-edged sword. It will bring in many benefits, but also many disasters.

Alan Moore

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be
fooled.

Richard P. Feynman

Technology is making gestures precise and brutal, and with them men.

Theodor Adorno

Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the opportunities for pleasure, but it has great
difficulty in generating joy.

Pope Paul VI

Technology...the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it.

Max Frisch

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out
knowledge.

Daniel J. Boorstin

“
The Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for
life.

Andrew Brown

You affect the world by what you browse.

Tim Berners-Lee

Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet.

Douglas Adams

Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology
indispensable.

Joseph Wood Krutch

So much technology, so little talent.

Vernor Vinge

The ultimate promise of technology is to make us master of a world that we command by the push of
a button.

Volker Grassmuck

Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories.

Laurie Anderson

Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.

Stewart Brand

Technology presumes there's just one right way to do things and there never is.

Robert M. Pirsig

“
If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be
our executioner.

Omar N. Bradley

Technology has to be invented or adopted.

Jared Diamond

All of our technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.

Tom Hodgkinson

Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.

Christian Lous Lange

Technology is anything that wasn't around when you were born.

Alan Kay

Technology will definitely solve all our problems, but in the process it will create brand new ones. But
that's O.K. because the most you can expect from life is to get to solve better and better problems.

Scott Adams

Technology is teaching us to be human again.

Simon Mainwaring
 STUDENTS-REPORT CARDS

Don’t measure success by just good

grades
 EDUCATION
 Sunday, 29 Oct 2017
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B3

Despite dropping out of college, the late Steve Jobs was a successful
entrepreneur and billionaire.

MOST educators and parents focus on making sure their children obtain good scores in
school tests or major exams.
Attaining high grades, is seen as the “passport” to high-paying jobs and future success.
This is a statement of fact for there is no one who would want to hire someone without
knowledge, skills and competence in the work place.
However, let me point out that there are more successful people and self-made
millionaires who did not earn good grades or grade point average (GPAs) in their
studies.
More successful people have not always been A students. Who or where you are from
in terms of one’s background or status, does not determine who you will be.
To achieve something successful, you need to work for it. It is loaded with
entanglements, impediments, disappointments, and oversights.
Achievements require consistency, and mental and emotional toughness, in defeating
these entanglements.
Successful individuals are good at postponing satisfaction.
They are capable of holding temptation and overcoming fear in order to do what they
need to do. They are bold and brave.
Such qualities require mental strength and toughness, so it’s no coincidence these are
some of the traits of successful people.
Successful people go for lifelong learning, they never try to stop learning and getting all
the knowledge needed.
Just because you were once a ‘C’ or ‘D’ student does not necessarily mean you will be
that way forever.
Your IQ can change, but you are the one who needs to change that.
Successful people will definitely not sit idle, they think out of the box and come out with
unique concepts and innovations.
The late Steve Jobs dropped out of college yet he became a successful entrepreneur
and was co-founder of Apple Incorporated.
Among those who dropped out of school but pursued their passion to have highly
successful lives are singer Elton John and Bill Gates.There are many different types of
intelligences and exam scores and grades only measure a select few.
A GPA does not measure a person’s ability to think outside of the box and solve
problems. It does not measure a person’s emotional intelligence nor does it look at a
person’s leadership ability.
These qualities are just as important to an individual’s success in life and almost none
of them are measured by grades.
Grades, GPAs and standardised test scores largely measure one’s ability to answer
questions and regurgitate information and not much else. This is why our world isn’t run
by valedictorians and straight A students. For every CEO of a major company that
graduated with a 4.0 GPA, there are scores more who did not.
What matters in business, and in life, is pursuing goals with a sense of purpose. There
are many who are not as ambitious when it comes to academic goals.
If students are not ambitious about test scores and their performance in schools, it
doesn’t mean they lack other skills or are unambitious.
It is just that we all choose to apply ourselves differently.
AZIZI AHMAD
Kuala Lumpur
OPPO
1.WHY U SHOULD NOT DEPEND ON REPORTD CARDS ONLY.

Recently I've been doing a lot of mentoring in schools, and this new generation is
utterly obsessed with grades. I have an embarrassing secret: I was an awful student in
high school. I was routinely kicked out of class for insubordination, I never studied,
and my academic performance scandalized my family.

I know many colleagues and friends won't believe this or will think I'm exaggerating,
but my actual high school report cards — with many C's, D's and (gasp) even a few
F's — show this is no hyperbole. If you squint on the A's, you'll make out the words
"physical education" and "photography."

Let's pause while my mom recovers from her flashback.

Although I shaped up in college, for years everyone thought I had no future because
of my grades. In retrospect, I was doing very entrepreneurial things that would help
me build and sell companies; they just weren't reflected on my report card.

Here's a list of success traits for students who feel like they aren't making the grade —
you may indeed have what it takes to become an entrepreneur.

1. I monetized my hobbies.
I rarely did homework, but I always had something capitalistic going on related
directly to my adolescent interests. I maintained profitable businesses selling
fireworks, chinese stars, military gear, baseball cards, and pirated video games (hey, it
was the 80's). I learned about sales, gross and net margins, working capital, inventory
management, and bad debt collection — all skills that would later prove important as
I started real companies as an adult.

2. Uncertainty didn't bother me.

As a deadbeat student, I was clueless about exam dates, so I was always surprised on
the day of a big test. I'd take a deep breath, strain my brain and wing it. Though my
grades don't indicate it, I learned something very important: How to solve problems
using inference, with incomplete knowledge. This skill helps tremendously as an
entrepreneur, because you never have all the information you need, and everything is
a calculated risk.

3. I was stubborn.
In high school, I had a large problem with authority — parents or teachers threatening
me with consequences didn't motivate me, it only guaranteed my nonperformance.
But being stubborn has upsides as an entrepreneur because I am not afraid to think
independently and ignore the consensus. When I started my business in 2007, many
"experts" told me it was a foolish idea for dozens of reasons, all of which turned out to
be nonsense.

4. I was addicted to risk-taking.

Like many misguided teens, I occasionally vandalized neighborhood houses with
toilet paper, eggs, and shaving cream. How come? Because many times we'd get
chased, and getting away successfully was the real thrill. Though I'm not proud of
these choices, I still get a similar high these days, taking big risks in opening new
markets. When my company closes new multimillion-dollar deals, I still feel that huge
rush and it's still awesome.

5. I was always a storyteller.

My teachers were rightly disgusted by my appalling lack of effort, and would make
me serve detentions and have painful dialogues about my poor choices. I learned to
listen well, and to create extemporaneous stories (ahem, excuses) that would usually
engender a passing grade or sympathy with a deadline extension. Years later, I found
that articulate storytelling (and being able to read a room quickly and adapt) are two
of the most important parts of being a great salesperson/CEO.
6. Feedback wasn't where I found motivation.
High-performing students sometimes get addicted to good grades and positive
feedback, impeding real-world success. Given my woeful track record, I became
comfortable ignoring neutral and negative feedback, which is a huge advantage as an
entrepreneur because starting a company is miserably hard. As the owner, you don't
have a boss to say you're doing a good job —it's you who has to be a fountainhead of
positivity and empathy to (in my case) hundreds of employees, which I love to do as a
leader.

7. Feeling small created huge drive.

I was 16 when I graduated high school (I skipped a grade after my parents
received this letter), so my peers were bigger, stronger, and faster than me for many
years. While this was difficult at times, it paid dividends in my will to succeed
because I got used to having to work harder to keep up. I became a ringleader and was
always persuading others to join my plans. Today, I am very (my wife would say
irrationally) confident that if I want something, I will do whatever it takes to achieve
it.

8. I always read obsessively.

Though I never opened schoolbooks, I was a voracious reader from a very early age
(comic books, detective stories, biographies, novels, you name it). For this reason, I
did well on standardized tests, where questions were not designed to see if you read a
specific assignment. Good SAT and AP scores allowed me to barely slide into
University of Illinois, where I (thankfully) vowed to be a good student. I still read
dozens of books each year; it's my greatest source of self-learning as a CEO.

9. Memorizing information isn't knowledge.

I vividly remember the first exam I properly studied for during my freshman year in
college. I was stunned because the questions were on the assigned material from the
textbook (duh)! I had come to see tests as macabre rituals designed to trick me. I
found fast academic success regurgitating memorized information, but far more
importantly I learned how to learn — to search for the essence of any problem. Today,
some of my highest paid employees have weak academic credentials, but amazing
practical knowledge and deep wisdom.

10. I was never satisfied.

Once I started succeeding in college, I discovered how competitive I was. If I got an
A, but a friend had a higher A, it would bother me, and next time I'd study harder. I
had many semesters of straight A's, passed the CPA, landed a great job, and
subsequently graduated with honors from one of the best graduate business schools in
the nation. When I achieved something, I instantly moved onto a bigger goal. This
"constant dissatisfaction" sounds negative, but it's actually very positive as you grow a
company year after year, and prevents resting on laurels and getting lazy.

11. "Brilliant underachievers" aren't brilliant at all.

Today, when I hear of someone who is "really bright, but doesn't work hard," I know
that person isn't as bright as people think. Sure, I had potential in high school, but had
I not paired it with super hard work in college and beyond, I would have failed in life.
I believe true intelligence has an execution component, because all that matters is
results. I'll hire a person who works their tail off every time over dilettantes who rely
on IQ or a fancy resume.

12. Here's the catch: Eventually, grades really do

matter.
I give my saintly mom credit for not taking a baseball bat to my head in high school,
especially since my older sister was a star student who studied tirelessly. Good grades
are extraordinarily important because they signal intelligence, discipline, focus and
work ethic — all crucial character traits. And someday when my boys Grant and
Pierce, or my niece Jaden or nephew Max, finds this article, I hope they learn from
my mistakes and realize that track records matter and that there is only one recipe for
success in life: hard work.

— By Ravin Gandhi, founder and CEO of GMM Nonstick Coatings, one of the world's
largest suppliers of nonstick coatings to the $9 billion housewares industry. Gandhi is
also a member of the CNBC-YPO Chief Executive Network. As a VC investor, Gandhi
has stakes in KeyMe, Ampsy, Tred, Lettrs, Amber Agricultureand Hester Biosciences.

About YPO

CNBC and YPO have formed an exclusive editorial partnership consisting of regional
"Chief Executive Networks" in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. These Chief
Executive Networks are made up of a sample of YPO's global network of 24,000 top
executives from 120 countries who are on the front lines of the economy and run
companies that collectively generate $6 trillion in annual revenue.
How do Report Cards help?

Whilst we might be clear on the overall mission for Making the Forest Sector Transparent, how can we
be sure if and when we have achieved what we set out to do? What does making the forest sector more
"transparent" actually mean in practice?

As outlined in the section on Transparency and the right to information, the concept of transparency is
often very difficult to define and to accurately measure and just as there is no commonly agreed
definition of "transparency", there is no consensus on how it should be measured.

But since transparency is seen as a mechanism for promoting accountability, then one key way of
measuring transparency is to measure the amount (and scope, accessibility, quality, reliability, accuracy
and timeliness) of information disclosed and/or made publicly available.
Global Witness, one of the five partner NGOs working on Making the Forest Sector Transparent, has, for
example, previously used quantity, quality and credibility of information as a measurement of
transparency in its Independent Forest Monitoring

How report cards can help

To take this measurement process one step further, the partners of this project, through a participatory
process, have developed a transparency report card as an assessment tool.

A report card is basically an assessment tool. Whilst report cards are popular in other sectors, the use of
a transparency report card for the forest sector is innovative.

Broadly speaking, there are two main models: (i) Scoring and Ranking or (ii) Descriptive.

Scoring and ranking report cards are quantitative in nature. Scores are awarded according to a
standardised scale (anything from simple binary scoring -- 1 or 0, for example -- to different categories
from which to choose, such as green yellow or red.) The scores obtained are usually aggregated into a
single index. Since any scoring implies some sort of weighting, rankings can be established and broad
comparisons can be made between units of analysis.(Image shows an example of ranking from Open
Budget Initiative).

Descriptive report cards are more qualitative in nature. They rely on the compilation and analysis of a
series of different criteria and indicators. Descriptive report cards allow for a greater level of analysis on
a case-by-case basis.

The advantage of report cards

Some of the key advantages of report cards as assessment tools include:

 They typically contain "yes/no" questions, helping to increase objectivity;

 Data can be gathered and compiled quickly;

 Use of a standardised format and sets of assessment indicators which are easily replicated
makes report cards powerful tools for making comparisons over time and/or across units of
analysis;

 The combination of objective "yes/no" data and more discursive analysis helps to identify
priorities for follow-up work.

Report cards as a tool for monitoring forest sector transparency

By way of example, the report card developed for Making the Forest Sector Transparent gathers data by
asking 70 questions split across 15 agreed-upon "themes" -- each of which is a measure of
accountability. Data is collected in each country on a yearly basis.

Under each of these general themes, there is a sub-set of related questions: for example, an overall
question might be "Is the permit allocation process transparent?" and respondents can answer "yes" or
"no" to this question. But the answers to a series of more probing sub-questions helps us to understand
how they have arrived at this yes or no answer and help guide any advocacy work. For example,
respondent are then asked to clarify "Do permits exist for all users/services?" and "Is it clear who
decides if/when to allocate permits?" and so on.
Key considerations when developing a report card

Report cards are only useful as an assessment tool if you very clear about what it is you want to assess
and if the information you collect is relevant and reliable. It is therefore crucial that, during the design
stage, you:

 Know enough about the purpose for which you want to use it and you need to define what you
are going to assess;

 Assess how many questions to include, taking into account: the desired coverage; the desired
level of specificity; issues of feasibility and availability of information; and the intended
audience. A good mantra is "don't ask a question if you are not going to make use of the
answer";

 Avoid obtaining subjective or non-comparable answers, either by (i) setting very specific
"yes/no" questions or (ii) establishing clear assessment criteria (for example, providing further,
more specific options for each "yes/no" answer in the form of a,b,c,d or e..);

 Be able to clearly describe and explain the rationale behind the criteria and indicators used; this
will help to give credence to the research as well as help explain the findings.
GOVERNMENT