Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

I do not claim to be a legal expert, but I have and do supervise people and have had to learn what this means over the years. A conversation that comes up in the university setting time and again is that of the “exempt” employee and what it means. “In California, wages, meal periods, and overtime pay are determined by both state and federal law. Employers are generally required to follow certain rules in how they treat and compensate their employees. These rules, however, do not apply to several important groups of people—called “exempt” employees ”. “Exempt employees   are generally paid a salary intended to compensate fully for all hours worked each week, are not compensated based on the number of hours worked, and do not receive overtime pay”. “Non-exempt employees   are typically paid by the hour for each hour they work in a pay period and receive overtime pay in accordance with applicable overtime rules”. So and exempt employee is essentially paid ...

See you in 2016

Disclaimer: this is not justification for, excusing, or condoning crime in anyway. I am just pointing out that perhaps our focus is on the wrong things. Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Memphis, Tucson, Baltimore, Fresno, El Paso, Indianapolis, Boston, San Bernardino. What do these cities have in common? They struggle with extreme poverty. There is also extreme wealth in these cities, but the gap between the two is huge! “Poverty and crime have a very "intimate" relationship that has been described by experts from all fields, from sociologists to economists. The UN and the World Bank both rank crime high on the list of obstacles to a country’s development. This means that governments trying to deal with poverty often also have to face the issue of crime as they try to develop their country's economy and society”. “Crime prevents businesses from thriving by generating instability and uncertainty (at micro and macroeconomic levels). This is true in markets of ...

Here is a little history lesson for those who have forgotten, this lesson is also for those “want to be” politicians who have apparently lost their minds: “When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, Americans were struggling to survive the greatest economic depression the country had ever seen. Many Americans feared that needy immigrants would take precious jobs or place an added strain on an already burdened economy”. “America's immigration laws placed quotas on the number of people allowed to enter the United States from other countries. In 1939, the quota allowed for 27,370 German citizens to immigrate to the United States. In 1938, more than 300,000 Germans-mostly Jewish refugees-had applied for U.S. visas (entry permits). A little over 20,000 applications were approved. Beyond the strict national quotas, the United States openly denied visas to any immigrant "likely to become a public charge." This ruling proved to be a serious problem for many J...

Just before, during, and after world war two, the Jewish people were having a hard time everywhere. Europe did not protect them, United States did not want them, and both Germany and Russia (yes Russia our allies at the time) were actively jailing them, confiscating property, and killing them. We all know the numbers, or you can look it up yourself, but the death toll was genocide. Let me also add that Romani, also known as Gypsies were almost wiped out because they were confused with Jews and because Europe did not like them for the perceived way they lived. Fast Forward 60 years later, it seems like religious intolerance is making a comeback when we have elected officials, some of them vying for the highest office in the nation, advocating discrimination, deportation, and registration of Muslims. Sound familiar? Islam is a religion not a people fools! Religion does not kill, people kill. The world swore “never again”, but how quickly we forget. Innocents are dying in w...

I find myself talking about “back in my day” sometimes; this is scary because I am only middle aged, but things seem to have changed in education so quickly. The tools students have at their disposal can do so much, but they also seem to take away a lot as well. Social media has also allowed students to  publicly  vent about a perceived injustices, and what is worse (in my opinion) is that they can do anonymously. I am not a fan of anonymous feedback, especially in the professional world. Rate my professor , I am sure started off as a good idea because after all, it helps to know what you are getting in to; or so we thought… End of course evaluations are never the best way to evaluate professors because not only are they usually highly subjective, but you usually only here from the angry students, and their feedback is rarely constructive in nature. Rate my professor, is 100 times worse. I was recently told a story by a colleague about how he was appr...

I am going to pick on Chris Christie today, and for the simple reason that I needed some fodder and he gave it to me on a platter.  I will also say I have no party affiliations, I am simply interested in logical and sane politics, and this is in very short supply in this very early political campaign. Here is some basic information and terms of presentations: ·          Ethos: An appeal based on character and credibility ·          Logos: An appeal based on logic and reasoning ·          Pathos: An appeal based on emotion Emotional fallacies unfairly appeal to the audience’s emotions. Ethical fallacies unreasonably advance the writer’s own authority or character. Logical fallacies depend upon faulty logic Ad Hominem arguments attack a person’s character rather than that person’s reasoning These are typical campaign parlor tricks, ...