My focus today is on the dismal state of higher education in America today… but I’m starting on a positive note with my idea for a new system based on free-market competition and the demands of the upcoming age of AI.

Investing in a New Education System for Colleges and Universities

The week before we went down to Nicaragua last month, I attended an advisory board meeting for the English Department of a local university in Florida. Among the topics discussed was the school’s system of teacher evaluations. (Once a year, teachers are rated by their students, their colleagues, and their departments.)

I asked about the carrots and the sticks. The benefits for the teachers were as expected: the satisfaction of being highly rated and the potential for greater raises in their salaries. The sticks were presumably the opposite. But the emotional sanctions were blunted by the fact that the ratings were not published. And when I asked about the maximum differential in dollar terms between receiving the best rating and the worst, I was shocked to discover it was only 2%.

“2%?” I repeated. “2%!”

I’ve always been interested in methods to improve employee performance. Over the years, I’ve read more books, essays, and opinion pieces than I can count. Whatever ideas I gleaned from them were processed through many earnest efforts at testing them. The conclusion that I finally came to was that there are only three truly effective ways to improve the overall performance of professional workers.

1. Every year, fire 10% to 15% of the worst-performing employees. (This was one of Jack Welch’s rules when he was running GE.)

2. Give large incentives (financial and otherwise) to the best-performing 10% to 15% of employees.

3. Push the most productive employees to be even more productive.

A college or university has two products to sell: its public reputation and the value of its courses. And the rating system the English Department is using now for its teachers (with a maximum financial benefit of 2%) will not improve either one.

The school can improve enrollment in certain classes by designing them to be more appealing to students. But many college teachers and administrators object to doing that because they believe – correctly, in my opinion – that the value of individual courses can’t be merely on their popularity. In terms of a general education (as well as a career orientation), some courses are definitely more valuable than others.

On my plane ride from Miami to Managua, I conjured up a new education system tailormade for the age of AI and all the life challenges that young people will be facing.

Here are some my ideas so far…

Education will be partitioned into three categories: specific knowledge; general knowledge and theory; and, for some subjects, performance.

Specific knowledge (the acquisition of facts and figures) will be taught entirely through AI systems to students on an individual basis. Specific knowledge grading will be done with proctored tests.

General knowledge and theory will be taught in lecture form by scholars incentivized by their enrollment numbers. General knowledge grading will be done with three oral examinations administered by practitioners trained to assess each student’s grasp of general knowledge and ability to convey it.

In addition to the lecturers and testers and graders, there will be a cadre of “student coaches” whose job will be to pay attention to any problems individual students may be having.

The big salaries, along with the big bonuses, will go to the lecturers, who will be paid a percentage of the “gate” they bring in. Seven-figure compensation for popular lecturers will be the norm.

To insert some top-down judgement into the curriculum, course credits will be decided by the faculty, with more points allotted to courses that are considered essential or important to a future career.

And finally, there will be no degrees. Just a hierarchy of certificates of accomplishment for each field of study.

It’s still a little foggy in my mind, but every day that fog seems to be lifting a bit. The way I’m feeling right now, I’m confident that the system I’m proposing here – or something very much like it – will be standard operating procedure for colleges and universities in America.

Hint: It was sold Nov. 21 by Sotheby’s for $54.7 million – the highest ever paid at auction for the work of a female artist, surpassing the previous record ($44.4 million) set by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/ White Flower No. 1.

Answer: El Sueño (La Cama) – Spanish for The Dream (The Bed) – a 1940 self-portrait by the Mexican surrealist Frida Kahlo.

Who says classical musicians can’t make modern music fun? 

Watch this.

Impressive: Tenor Steps Up to the Piano in Italian Restaurant 
I’m convinced that these videos are planned, not accidental. But they work. First, because it’s fun to watch the response of the crowd. Second, because sometimes, like in this clip, the performance is truly impressive.

Equally Impressive: When All You Have on the Table is “Gots” 
This one takes me back to my teens when I spent half of my weekends at the Rockville Center Cue Club, playing pool and sometimes in awe of the old guys who knew how to shoot. The shot in this clip is amazing for the “leave.” Do you know what I mean?

Oops! 

“In the Nov. 18 issue, you mentioned the government’s $37 trillion budget deficit. It is actually debt – and while you were in Japan, the number jumped to $38 trillion. The budget deficit in fiscal year 2025 will probably come in at $2 trillion.” – BS

My Response: Thank you! I want to think AI made the error, but I looked at my original draft and it was me. That’s embarrassing!

No, they are not actually dancing to Steely Dan’s music. But Pete Roberts, who compiled these classic movie clips, makes it look that way.

Today, I wrap up this incredibly successful – from both a business and a personal perspective – trip to Japan. In addition to sharing some of the highlights of the past few days with you, I get back to issues concerning the US economy with excerpts from a very interesting interview with Doug Casey.

This Is What Happens When Japanese Culture Takes On American Baseball 

AV, a friend and colleague of mine at Rancho Santana and a self-proclaimed “super fan” of Japanese superstar pitcher Shohei Ohtani, sent me the following article:

Shohei Ohtani: If He Had Been Born in the United States, They Would Have Ruined His Future” 

In a town of 120,000 people, surrounded by rice fields and steel factories, a boy named Shohei Ohtani threw baseballs with his father after work, while everyone else watched cartoons. What began as a pastime in Iwate Prefecture became a prophecy: an athlete destined not just to dominate the game, but to reinvent it. What looked like a kid with a glove ended up being a storm that shook the foundations of modern baseball.

From a young age, Ohtani was a genetic and emotional anomaly. His father, Toru, a former amateur baseball player, and his mother, Kayoko, a former national badminton athlete, instilled in him an obsession with excellence. In high school, he was already throwing at 100 mph, but he didn’t brag: He measured, recorded, analyzed. In Japan, he learned that perfection is not pursued for applause, but for respect. There, young Shohei forged his mind of steel.

And here’s the crucial point: If Ohtani had been born in the United States, he would never have become Ohtani.

The American development system would have turned him into a product, not a person. Scouts would have classified him as a pitcher or slugger and forced him to choose. In the United States, baseball is run like a factory: talent packaged, tasks assigned, dreams trimmed.

In contrast, Japan gave him freedom, not labels. It allowed him to explore, fail, learn, and become the impossible player that every other system would have killed before he was born.

When he arrived in the Major Leagues with the Los Angeles Angels, the world discovered the myth was real. In Anaheim, he won his first MVP awards, challenged metrics and reporters, and forced statisticians to invent new categories to describe him. He threw 100 miles per hour and the next day hit two home runs.

It was as if Babe Ruth had been reincarnated with a Japanese chip. And when it seemed he couldn’t grow any more, he arrived at the Dodgers… and turned his talent into a global enterprise. His $700 million contract, with deferred payments and a commercial machinery connecting Asia and America, was not just a sports move: It was a business merger between human talent and financial engineering. In a year, Ohtani generated more money than he cost. In a single uniform, the Dodgers found their gold mine and baseball found its new economic model. But the human body is not a stock.

Surgeries, demands, and media pressure are ticking time bombs. And the real risk lies in deification: When an entire sport depends on one man, the myth can become a prison. If Ohtani gets injured, all of baseball trembles. It’s the paradox of genius: What elevates the game also makes it fragile.

Even so, no one in history has had such a colossal projection. If he maintains his health and pace, Shohei Ohtani could monopolize the MVP for the next decade. No one else has the talent, duality, or cultural impact to compete with him. If he succeeds, he will shatter all existing records for the award and redefine what it means to be “the best player in the world.”

Ohtani didn’t just change baseball: He rewrote it in two languages. And if time proves him right, we won’t be seeing the new Babe Ruth… but the first Ohtani. Because while others aspire to glory, he is managing it for the long term.

A Bit of Geisha History Curated by Nigel (My Very Bright AI English Butler) 

Origins and Evolution
* Male entertainers called taikomochi or hōkan emerged in Japan around the 13th century as attendants to feudal lords. They performed as jesters, musicians, and storytellers.

* In the 1750s, females began to appear with the men as dancers and musicians.

* By the 1800s, women had largely taken over the profession, which led to gradual changes and adaptations that became the modern geisha tradition.

Training and Profession
* Geisha are much more than pretty waitresses in face paint and kimonos. They are rigorously trained tea ceremony performers, traditional dancers and musicians, and highly skilled conversationalists.

* Their role is not merely to entertain guests with traditional music and dance, but to provide an experience of intelligent and irresistible pampering that one can get nowhere else in the world.

* The training to become a geisha usually begins at a young age, lasts for years, and is taught by accomplished, older geisha in the confines of an okiya (geisha house).

Decline and Modern Status
* The number of working geisha reached a high of around 80,000 in the 1920s.

* After Japan’s loss in World War II, the entire industry of culture and entertainment diminished considerably in Japan, and that included the number of geisha establishments and professional geisha. Today, fewer than 2,000 geisha remain, concentrated in cities like Tokyo and Kyoto.

* Kyoto remains the best-known center for geisha culture, with specific districts like Gion and Pontocho having some of the best schools and houses. But Tokyo has several that are as good as Kyoto’s best.