Understandably, with four (4!) connections in his LinkedIn Profile, Mr. Gates isn’t really keeping track of his connections via LinkedIn, though I’m excited that he’s only three degrees away from me… However, three days ago he asked a question in LinkedIn that got up to now roughly 2,850 responses:
How can we do more to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology?
Of course I wanted to give my 2cents here, I surely don’t want to miss my shot here ;) So here’s my answer as it appears on page 95 (!):
I find the question too broad: does the “and” between science and technology mean in both the fields, or “and” as in “at the intersection of”? A broad and short answer to your broad question:
■Define career, science, and technology in a way for young people that shows a perspective and perception that matches their experienced reality of the world: I don’t know per se of many “careers” in science, just of many struggles; and technology is so much more than computing.■Enthusiastic mentors always captivated me at school and university. More so when they lived and showed me the values based on the three simple moral principles rationality, independence, integrity: honesty, justice, productiveness, pride, reason, purpose, self-esteem. “A is A”.
