He finally got sick of it. He talked to his family and friends about how he wanted to get out of the hotel industry and start a livery company. They told him he was crazy, since he spent his whole life getting out of Kenya and building this career in hotel management. They told him that he should stay in hotels and drive on the side if he wanted to. He called his dad, who is a doctor and has little respect for non-academic fields, and his father insisted that he not become a “taxi driver.” After he got off the phone with his dad, Eric called his company and quit his job.

He’s been driving a black car for two years. He is self-employed. He only works when he wants to. The only minimum is that he has to take 2 rides per week to keep his Uber account active. Last week, he just didn’t feel like working so he just took three days off. He’s making more money than he did in the hotel industry, and his schedule is now completely up to him. He’s hoping to buy some cars and hire some drivers someday. He said he’s the happiest he’s ever been, and it’s the best decision he’s ever made.

1. I was born around 10:00 PM on September 24, 1986, and so my parents had to decide whether I should start school younger than normal (at age four), or older than normal (just before I would turn six). They chose younger, and, as a result, I have always been one of the youngest members of the class, making me sometimes, especially at younger ages, developmentally younger than my classmates. My father lived in Guyana, South America, what is usually considered a third world country, until he moved to the United States at the age of eighteen (only until he met my mother did he become literate, and eventually become an avid reader and casual poet). At the age of ten, my parents were divorced, and there was a brief period of joint-custody between my parents; then, my father became more distant for about a year and a half, during which we hardly saw him. Now he has reestablished contact, and he and I now enjoy the other’s company.
2. Throughout my educational career, I have switched schools twice: first moving out of the public school system in the middle of third grade in favor of the alternative school Cobblestone School, which I attended through sixth grade. Upon switching to Allendale Columbia, I began to grow. Although I had a rough start, by the beginning of eighth grade I had established the routines and habits necessary to prosper in an environment such as this one. At Allendale Columbia I believe I have “come into my own,” as they say. I have made good friends, and, to the best of my knowledge, no enemies. While I have enjoyed the instruction of most of the teachers that I have had, there are some that stand out as having had a more profound effect on me as a person, not just a student. In Latin class, Dr. Jones not only instructed Latin brilliantly, but he also let large parts of his personality into the class, and being one of the smartest, friendliest, most cynical people I know, his mentorship made the school day more stimulating than ever before. His leadership in Latin II & III and World History I both stopped and forced a change of direction of my departure from the humanities toward math and science. Due to that, I became more of a well-rounded student, no longer putting forth minimum effort in the subjects of English and history. With all teachers, I appreciated those who really made me think as a person and as a student. The teachers who stood out in this regard were Mr. Perez, Mr. Fujita, Dr. Jones, Dr. Mandeville, and Mr. Cruz, all of whom taught as if they respected and trusted each student and paid enough attention so that they could sense when someone was progressing with too much difficulty or too much ease.
3. My academic record at Allendale Columbia does in fact demonstrate my performance as a student. I would not commit to the statement that throughout my time in the Upper School I have put forth the effort to match my ability.
4. At Allendale Columbia, I have grown in many ways. Both inside and out, I have changed a lot. Physically, I have become taller and more conscious of my eating and exercise habits. I have become more open with people, trusting more people and increased my circle of close friends. I have become more adult; my level of independence has vastly increased. I have learned the value of a buck, through the few jobs I have done. I have also become more conscious of how much what I do affects others around me and more conscious of how many people do not know that. I have become much more organized; as a freshmen, teachers could expect to have their books returned in the worst condition imaginable, now they can count on my to take more care of things. I have grown to realize that people can come to depend on me, and how it is healthy to put some distance between them and myself.
5. Outside of school, I am very different in many ways, and very similar in others. While I do not normally accomplish much tangible at home, I do do things. I live on my computer, doing many things. At home I do a little programming, some gaming, and a lot of web browsing. I have learned how easily information is available on the Internet, as well as at libraries and other sources. I spend a lot of time with my mother, doing errands and the like, which is a general waste of time, but a fun one. I could say that I truly have to favorite kinds of food: breads and Indian (in which, the main utensil is traditionally (and coincidentally?) bread). The Indian food can probably be explained, due to the large amount of curry and other strong spices to which my tongue was conditioned at a young age by the cooking of my father. The bread on the other hand is difficult…I like pitas, bagels, white bread, whole bread, ethnic breads, matzo, crackers, biscuits, and on…for no explicable reason.
6. In my young life, there were no pivotal experience, per se, but more of a lifestyle, which has taught me my values and morals. Growing up in a relatively liberal setting, I seem to have come out that way. Growing up watching Star Trek, Mr. Rogers, and Sesame Street, ideas of tolerance and freedom have been engrained in my values. I believe in choice for all people to be whatever or whomever they wish. I think that although the world has its problems, and some people may be misguided, everything will not turn out that bad; I think the most people are good and humane.
7. I do not have many long-term goals. As most people probably do, I hope to live comfortably, get married, and procreate. I also hope to always stay on top of things, and not become too senile too soon. I would prefer to not become bitter with the world. However, my highest priority is that I never stop learning; I hope to always expand the limits of my knowledge. I have not any specific goals for what I want to do or become. As far a aspirations go, I would like to leave possibilities open as far as possible; I would like to choose a major which does not limit my choice of careers too vastly.
8. During the previous year, I participated in a physical education independent study with a few of my friends. Two of the few had very large personality differences, which very often led them to become angry at each other. Since I considered both parties to be my good friends, I preferred not to take a side, even though one of them tended to be correct. I resisted being placed in the middle, by pulling myself out of the middle into a position, in which I could act as a mediator instead of an ally or enemy. On many occasions, does my ability to stay calm and not take sides come into use. As a result, people who both do and do not know me well often think of me as “pleasant” or “harmless.”
9. I hope to expand my knowledge and efficiency in Computer Science, Classics, and Physics. One of my more major ideas of study is something in the categories Fuel Cells or Automobile Propulsion, a field that has the potential to change the world for the better, be extremely interesting, and be quite lucrative.
10. The classes, in which I thrive the most, Latin, Math, and Physics, are the subjects with the smallest classes. However, I did not choose classes that were small, my classes gradually became smaller as other students were weeded out, so it is difficult to tell if I thrive in those classes because they are small or because they are the subjects in which I thrive. However, I do find discussion-based classes more stimulating. I do not require highly structured classes, and I tend to find assignments with broader requirements more interesting, but, as demonstrated in U.S History, I can perform adequately in classes with very specific assignments and expectations. Since I am prone to procrastination, it takes more effort to do classes of an independent nature (however, in the past year or so, I have become a much better independent learner with the computer science independent study).
11. In college I hope to find people who are similar to me in many ways, but also different enough so that there will be enough variety lest I get weary of them. I hope for people whose political and social viewpoints are similar to my own or not spoken of much, since I hate arguing with people about such issues, and I find it worse when people rant about their viewpoints.
12. In college I hope to become a more complete person, truly separate from my parents in most regards, aside from the attachment of upbringing. I want to become a more independent person overall. All these, in addition to the best education possible, I hope will contribute to the formation of an operational, capable adult.
13. I do not have a very good sense what category each school should be place, so I have decided not to categorize them, but merely list them. It should be noted that visited schools were visited without appointment or tour, but merely an extensive walkaround to get a feel for area, population size and distribution, and facilities.

• Amherst
• Columbia
• Tufts – Visited
• RIT – Visited
• U of R – Visited
• Cornell – I have been in the area and the town.

I think Tufts worked out and 11 & 12 certainly worked out.

Freakonomics cited an article today posing the question “Why didn’t a woman write Freakonomics?” Or for that matter, why are women so underrepresented in current serious non-fiction books? Another blogger citing this blog asked why there are hardly any big-name female artists.

Over at the Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer published an article today discussing differences between men and women, particularly with regards to rationality of thought and political decisions. He cites one study that compares the differences in investment strategy between single women, married men, and single women, and rates their rationality in that order. The study concluded:

What they found, in a nutshell, is that men not only trade more often than women but do so from a false faith in their own financial judgment. 

It showed (perhaps rather dubiously), that people tended to invest more rationally if there’s more female presence in their life (a single man being the least rational, and an actual woman being the most rational).

In a conversation about differences in decision making between men and women, she told me that she believes that men are more emotional and women are more “linear-logical.” After some thought, I decided that I could buy into these classifications, but perhaps with some clarification. I believe that men tend to be more instinct oriented–or inclined to make gut decisions, where as women take a more rational route. I am not saying is that men are more emotionally intuitive or empathetic.

One place where I find this particular distinction evident is in playing games with women. Playing poker with men tends to get pretty heated. The great skill of a male poker player is to never go on tilt and to remain rational. Poker is, in the long run, a numbers game, and one’s gut response is of negligible consideration. When I’ve played with women, they go directly to an analytical approach, and instead of running into the game, usually sit back and get a real feel for it. They build a somewhat mathematical model and shun knee-jerk reactions.

Another phenomenon that I’ve become increasingly aware of is men’s love of arguing. Men love to fight–whether about philosophy, politics, sports, or tactics and strategy (I use these terms loosely, as in strategy for fixing the economy or strategy for writing a computer program). Men have long-lasting friendships where there are chronic arguments. These arguments, however, are usually predicated on two different intuitive views of a situation–men will fight about things forever, but in most cases about issues in which they have overblown confidence in their judgment.

I think this same intuitive decision making to which men are predisposed enables them to succeed strongly in academia. One must have a great deal of confidence in his position to write a book or in his perspective to create an art exhibit. This confidence can’t result from a rational analysis–it must come from the gut, and must be disproportionally large compared to his actual acumen.