It's All in the Presentation …
by Peter McKay
Like other children across the country, my kids are being taught practical skills in school. They still learn reading, writing and arithmetic, but these days, they're also learning a lot of things that are supposed to come in handy once they enter the business world.
A lot of these newfound skills are just setting them up for disappointment once they get real jobs. In school, they give speeches on every topic you can think of, something that very, very few adults get to do, unless they ...
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5 Comments | Post Comment
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Posted by: once
Comment: #1
Mon Jun 8, 2009 2:45 PM
Kudos to your daughter for having intuitively grasped the sole effective use of PowerPoint-type presentations: to persuade people to do what you want. They are much better at obfuscating details and presenting sales slogans than they are at informing people about complex subjects.
I hope that you will be sufficiently immune to these cheap sales tactics so that you'll at least hold out for her future offers, such as "I have already saved up enough cash to buy the phone and pay for the first year's operation, and as you can see from my spreadsheet, I can reasonably expect to earn enough income to continue paying for it indefinitely."
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Posted by: once
Comment: #2
Mon Jun 8, 2009 2:47 PM
I wonder: is "Michelle A", who wrote such a flattering and cell-phone-supportive message, actually your daughter?
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Posted by: Michele A
Comment: #3
Tue Jun 2, 2009 4:23 PM
Your daughter sounds like a very responsible girl. If you start her out with a pre-paid phone, she can learn that if she runs out of minutes she will have to wait until her allowance to refill her card, and she will learn responsibility of control. If she uses her minutes early, then she has to wait until she has money to buy more. I really like your humor. You take every day things that we all can relate to and turn them into something funny. I always look forward to reading your humor. Keep up the great work. As long as there are people in this world, there is humor to write about.
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Posted by: Amber C
Comment: #4
Tue Jun 2, 2009 5:02 AM
I think a rebuttal would be most appropriate in this situation. I didn't get a cell phone until I was almost 26. Now-a-days I think a cell phone when children learn to drive is appropriate so they can call in case of an emergency. You could always give your girls a PowerPoint Presentation of your own with annoying bulleted lists, graphics, and sounds. Our Reasons 13 Year Olds Should NOT Have A Cell Phone: there's the cost of adding them to the plan, then the fact that if they go over on minutes- it is very expensive, the fact that not all 13 year olds have one nor do they actually need one, also there's the fact that during school hours they are not allowed to have cell phones at school so it's pointless since after school they are home or at a friend's house where there is a land line for their use. Typically if they are off somewhere they cannot drive to their destination but an adult, who probably has a cell phone, will be driving them. Your son probably has one because he drives a car and it is a safety procaution. All of the late 20-somethings and older can tell your girls that we all did just fine in middle and high schools without a cell phone and they will too.
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Posted by: Matt
Comment: #5
Wed Jun 3, 2009 4:51 AM
I really don't see the point in having a cell phone until a person has a car or moves out on there own. I'm 21, didn't get my own until I was 18. Got a car when I was 16, and borrowed my parents cell phone when I left the house. I could see the point of getting them a pre-paid phone for emergencies, or when they're at the mall, Wal-Mart other places like that. The first person to give their kid a cell-phone for everyday use should be shot. Maybe I went too far, but you get the picture.
Thanks for the great articles. I'm not sure how I could get through college without them.
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