The first personal computer (PC) that I used was an Apple II, circa 1977.  I read about it in an article in Fortune magazine and visited my local ComputerLand store to purchase it.  Early adopters of Apple machines had to be comfortable plugging in circuit boards and controllers and handling floppy drives, monitors and other miscellaneous components of the early personal computers.  I talked my boss at Pricewaterhouse into buying an Apple III (a more powerful machine) for our office in 1979 and we found that we had to classify it as a word processor (remember those?) instead of a computer since individual offices were not allowed to purchase computers.  In 1981, IBM released its personal computer which operated under the Microsoft DOS operating system and the era of personal computing exploded.

Because the companies I worked for standardized on the MS-DOS/Windows platforms initiated by IBM, I didn’t go back to Apple for years.  Around 1997, my wife and I purchased the first iMac for home use.  Alas, the product didn’t meet our needs for power surfing on the internet, so we gifted it to a local school and purchased another Windows compatible machine for home use.

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Universal education in the United States is no longer a novel idea; in fact, K-12 education has become something most Americans take for granted.  Even with issues of access and affordability in the world of American higher education, the possibility of obtaining a college degree is not out of the question for most Americans.  For many in the world, however, education is far from a “given;” millions of children in developing nations never see the inside of an elementary school classroom and the concept of achieving any level of postsecondary education seems as likely as sprouting wings and flying to the moon. 

One UNESCO report estimates that “only about 3 percent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa and 7 percent in Asia attend some form of postsecondary education.”  Compare these statistics to postsecondary education statistics in industrialized nations (approximately 58 percent of the population in industrialized nations pursue some form of postsecondary education)  and for the United States alone (60 percent) and it becomes clear that a large sector of the world’s population is not able to access the valuable skills gained through higher education.  In the United States, we have had 150-200+ years to develop our three tiered system embracing community colleges, four year colleges, and research universities.  The fixed costs of opening physical campuses, particularly in areas of large geographic expanse, often exceed the limited budgets of developing countries.  Even China’s successful and rapidly expanding economy cannot keep up with the infrastructure involved in building college campuses.

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A Peace Corps volunteers works in South America. (Photo from www.peacecorps.gov)

In October 1960, Senator John Kennedy spoke to graduates of the University of Michigan and encouraged them to “live and work in developing countries around the world, thus dedicating themselves to the cause of peace and development.”  On September 22, 1961, the culmination of the efforts Kennedy discussed at the University of Michigan the previous year were realized when Congress authorized the passage of the Peace Corps Act officially establishing the Peace Corps. 

Since the official establishment of the Peace Corps, nearly 200,000 Americans have donated their time and efforts in 139 countries toward achieving the goals set forth by Senator Kennedy in 1960.  In its earliest years, the Peace Corps focused on fundamental and vital necessities, including access to clean drinking water and literacy, which would help promote development in “interested countries.”  Today’s Peace Corps performs many of the same functions its first volunteers experienced, but as the world and its problems have evolved, so too has the Peace Corps.

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In 1907, the U.S. Army Signal Corps was created to assume responsibility over all matters pertaining to military aviation, and in its earliest days was a fledgling force of only eight aviation balloons, a dozen officers, and only slightly more enlisted men.  From that small yet effective force came the modern United States Air Force, established as a separate branch of the military services on September 18, 1947.

In the decade before its separation from the United States Army, the U.S. Army Air Corps as it was known proved its strength during the protracted battles of World War II.  By September 1939, the German army and air force had managed to defeat and occupy Poland, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France.  It was in the wake of such worldwide conflict that the Air Force began to develop into one of the world’s most effective military forces.  Equipment and funding poured into the U.S. Army Air Corps as President Franklin Roosevelt began to realize that in order to defeat the determined Germans, the United States would need a superior military aviation force. 

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Gas prices have fallen about ten percent since the Fourth of July holiday, but they’re still much higher than a year ago.  Over the summer, many employers and colleges implemented four day work week schedules in order to relieve the cost of commuting.  Some community colleges have reported distance learning enrollment increases of nearly fifty percent from a year ago.

Reducing gasoline consumption is one way to lower costs and perhaps, by reducing demand, reduce the cost of fuel.  Perhaps, it’s best to also take a look at what’s occurring around the world to see what the longer term trends may be.  In May, the New York Times reported that the average price for gas in France and Spain was $8.20 per gallon, leading to protests in major cities in both countries.  The fuel prices in most European countries are driven by government taxes comprising as much as half of the cost per gallon.  In turn, the higher gas prices forced consumers to cut their gasoline consumption years ago.  Drivers own fuel-efficient vehicles such as Smart Cars and Minis and most cities have highly efficient and developed public transportation systems.  Additionally, large cities such as Copenhagen and Barcelona have developed bike paths as part of the commuting alternatives.

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Now that the Presidential conventions of both major parties have concluded, there are two months before Election Day.  We’ll have speeches throughout the country, media coverage, and public polls up to the final exit polls during Election Day.  For voters whose minds are made up, the coverage is probably overwhelming.  For undecided voters, the coverage is helpful until the point where they have determined for whom they’re voting.

Stepping back from the candidates and their platforms, the bigger issue is voting.  In the 2004 Presidential election, 125,736,000 people voted.  That represented 58.3 percent of the voting age population.  The turnout varies among demographic categories.  Age matters.  The lowest turnout was the 18-24 age bracket at 41.9 percent.  From 45 and up, the lowest turnout was 66.6 percent with the 65-74 age bracket hitting a 70.8 percent turnout.  Women voters are more likely to vote than male and white and black voters exceed 60 percent turnout with Hispanic and Asian voters less than 50 percent turnout.

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