4 ms·

I think you are missing some nuances of what it means to be a Slacker. It's not just about work or non-work. It's also about a kind of passive, almost anti-so

by RobGR 18y ago

I think you are missing some nuances of what it means to be a Slacker. It's not just about work or non-work. It's also about a kind of passive, almost anti-social way of assigning a low value to things that most of society considers important. I get the point about slackers bringing the internet. The internet may have been invented for "workaholic scientists" to scam more grant money out of DARPA, but it is what it is today due to the persistent, unstoppable, abuse of employer's computers and resources for non-work related activity. It takes a slacker to show up to work early on Monday morning to use the faster internet connection to browse ebay. If so much internet usage wasn't on employer's computers, there would less incentive to use javascript and AJAX, because it would be easier to get people to just install desktop applications.

jff 18y ago
The Internet != the WWW
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
chris11 18y ago
Even if you define a slacker as someone with counter-cultural values, most of her examples were very poorly chosen. Teach for America is a horrible example. The organization is good, and I'm not questioning the dedication of the teachers for giving up two years of their life for TFA. But the volunteers are not giving up a chance at a lucrative career in the private sector. In fact, TFA may be viewed as a strong positive to many companies. Top business, medical, and law schools will give volunteers two year deferrals. HBS has TFA as 2+2 partner(2+2 is a program where Harvard will give admitted college seniors 2 years experience, then a MBA in 2 years. Stanford will give out two-year deferrals for law,medical, and business schools. Caltech will give out deferrals for some programs. UCBerkeley will give out deferrals for engineering. Also, many school have scholarships set up for alumni. Those schools are basically endorsing TFA One of Wendy Kopp's goals is to move TFA alumni into leadership positions. Amgen and bulge bracket investment banks are working with TFA to recruit students. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs have both found themselves competing with TFA for college graduates, so they decided they needed to partner with TFA. Google treats TFA like a core recruiting school, whatever that means. So while volunteers are making big sacrifices to work for TFA, it might help them get other benefits like a high paying job, or entrance into a great grad school. List of partnerships. Schools:http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/grad_school_partnerships.htm http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/grad_school_partnershi... Employers: http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/employer_partnerships.htm http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/employer_partnerships....

by RobGR 18y ago

jff 18y ago

The Internet != the WWW

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

chris11 18y ago

Even if you define a slacker as someone with counter-cultural values, most of her examples were very poorly chosen. Teach for America is a horrible example. The organization is good, and I'm not questioning the dedication of the teachers for giving up two years of their life for TFA. But the volunteers are not giving up a chance at a lucrative career in the private sector. In fact, TFA may be viewed as a strong positive to many companies. Top business, medical, and law schools will give volunteers two year deferrals. HBS has TFA as 2+2 partner(2+2 is a program where Harvard will give admitted college seniors 2 years experience, then a MBA in 2 years. Stanford will give out two-year deferrals for law,medical, and business schools. Caltech will give out deferrals for some programs. UCBerkeley will give out deferrals for engineering. Also, many school have scholarships set up for alumni. Those schools are basically endorsing TFA One of Wendy Kopp's goals is to move TFA alumni into leadership positions. Amgen and bulge bracket investment banks are working with TFA to recruit students. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs have both found themselves competing with TFA for college graduates, so they decided they needed to partner with TFA. Google treats TFA like a core recruiting school, whatever that means. So while volunteers are making big sacrifices to work for TFA, it might help them get other benefits like a high paying job, or entrance into a great grad school. List of partnerships. Schools:http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/grad_school_partnerships.htm http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/grad_school_partnershi... Employers: http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/employer_partnerships.htm http://www.teachforamerica.org/alumni/employer_partnerships....