GALLUP NEWS SERVICE: September 04, 2007
More Than Half of K-12 Parents Relieved Summer Vacation Is Over.

Relieved because their kids are bored, should be learning …

PRINCETON, NJ — School-aged children across the country are already mournful about the end of summer, as they head back to the hallways for a new school year. But how do their parents feel about their kids going back to school — are they in a celebratory mood (as some television commercials suggest) or are they sad to see the vacation end?

A recent Gallup Panel survey, conducted Aug. 23-26, asked a nationally representative sample of parents with children in kindergarten through 12th grade for their feelings on the end of summer vacation. A slight majority of parents, 53%, say they are “relieved that summer vacation is over,” while 42% say they “wish summer vacation would last longer.” More on this …

ANDREW DENTON introduces Baroness Susan Greenfield on Enough Rope:

   Woody Allen once described the brain as his second-favourite organ. I get the feeling that for my next guest nothing even comes close. A world leader in the field of neuroscience, she’s devoted her life to studying the 1.5kg of tissue that makes each one of us who we are. She’s a scientist, a TV star, a best-selling author and a life peer to boot.

Please welcome the expert’s expert on the inner workings of the brain, Professor Susan Greenfield.

Are you a slow thinker or a speed thinker?

Some people are slow thinkers, not because their brain (hardware) is slow but because they are using very outdated and slow thinking methods (software). What about you?

First, answer these five questions with either a YES or a NO:

• In any situation can you instantly know how you feel about it?
        YES                     NO
• When criticised can you quickly defend your opinions?
        YES                     NO
• Is it easy for you to see the mistakes in the thinking of others?
        YES                     NO
• Are you good at convincing others when you are right?
        YES                     NO
• In deciding, can you see the obvious alternatives and choose the best one?
        YES                     NO

If you answered YES to any of these questions then chances are your thinking is much slower than it need be and you can easily double your speed of thought.

Why is this so?  Click here to read more of this article …

Professor George Gallup of Princeton:
“Change cannot be bought about easily by leaders, except in those situations in which the changes advocated do not disturb present relationships. In fact, it is the leaders who typically become the most bitter and the most effective foes of change.

The public–aka the customer-base—must take the initiative and assume responsibility for progress in the affairs of man. The public must force change upon its leaders who command more respect today than perhaps they deserve…The leader is expert in his small world as it presently exists, not expert in the world as it might be.

Although the leader plays an important part in modern society, it is not realistic to expect him to advocate change. This is the surest way for him to lose his status…The hope of the future rests with the citizen—the customer.

To be effective, the citizen/customer must be well informed, and he must discover better ways of making better use of his own great capacities and those of this fellow man. He cannot expect his leaders to give him much help in his upward march.”

Professor George Gallup was the inventor of ‘market research’ and founder of The Gallup Poll at Princeton. He wrote this in The Miracle Ahead published by Harper & Row. New York 1964.