OK, so I was reading the L.A. Times this morning and there is a flap about how students have to pass a state exam to get their degree. The Times reported that 100,000 students would not pass the test, so what happens if they complete their coursework and don’t pass the test? Do they get to go to graduation ceremonies? Some school boards were saying that the rite of graduation is expected along with celebration of ending high school, and they couldn’t take that away from the kids. I mean, let the party begin. (You don’t think partying had anything to do with them not passing the test?)

The Times says this is twenty percent of the senior population- doing some quick math in my head, this means 500,000 people are trying to graduate. And it would appear 400,000 will.

I went to the website and got some of the student’s practice questions. I think I could pass, and that is an achievement because as you get older you get stupider- just ask any high school senior.

Twenty percent of high school seniors cannot pass this exam, but that is not what I would be worried about. What are they going to do after they get out of school?

Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams, a guest on our radio show, stated with some confidence that the average person leaving high school will never read another book. Maybe you don’t have to have a high school degree if you are never going to read a book again in your whole life. But what kind of life are you going to have? What kind of life can you expect? And just why is this the state’s problem anyway? Isn’t this a problem of individual responsibility to do something with your life, and part of that might be to get as much education as possible.

This couldn’t possibly have something to do with parenting also. If my son doesn’t pass his high school test, there is going to be some heat. Not to worry- it won’t be me, it will be my wife that lowers the boom. At five-years-old, he is already expected to finish college with at least a BA, maybe more. Oh, my aching wallet.

And this is with an educational budget in California of fifty three billion dollars. Yep, that is 53 billion dollars. Think you got your money’s worth?

Maybe we should just close the whole educational thing down. That way no one gets hurt in life, everybody graduates and has a party. The US of A: the land of no fault, no hurt, no worries. Pass the bong.

You may not be a football fan, but this is going to be good. There is a receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles named Terrell Owens. He signed a contract last year with the Eagles for seven years and $49 million. If you divide it, that it is seven million a year. Terrell wants more. Of course he got the boot from the San Francisco 49ers for not playing nice, and why did Philadelphia think they were going to get TO to play nice?

In all fairness it has been reported that TO had a hard upbringing, but he did get to go college, and make seven million dollars a year. Not that he already hadn’t made millions with the 49ers. He claimed he needed more money for the family. Well after Uncle Sam gets done, what can you do? Buy a starter mansion in Beverly Hills? (The government needs the money for education).

He was mad that people didn’t make a bigger deal out of his 100th career touchdown pass, so he got into a fight with teammate Hugh Douglas. Neither of them has to worry about going in the ring to make a living. No one was hurt, or even allegedly punched.

After fighting with Hugh, he rushed around the locker room screaming, “You want some”, and of course that famous line he picked out of literature, “You’re either with me or against me,” as the locker room looked on in disbelief. Can you believe this guy read Revelations?

Here was TO (Jesus) looking on at Peter (Quarterback Donovan McNabb) and the rest of the merry crew, not knowing what is going on. Have they not given all they could and resurrected his career once already? I mean come on, how many times do you get to come back from the dead. In TO’s case it looks like more than one. In case you don’t know, football is a team sport and needs to have a lot of guys play well in order to win. TO cannot win football games by himself, although you might think he could according to him. Now he is out of contract with the Eagles, bye-bye to the big dough, and the next chapter evolves. Who is going to be desperate enough to pay him next time? Stay tuned; this is going to be good.

Got one of these in your company?

On the radio show this past week we had a guest who said the primary reason people aren’t having a good life in America is because of debt. People are worried about how they are going to pay their bills. So they think about it at work, and at home it ruins lives because people can’t budget their time and money. There are many ways of doing this budgeting, but it does take some self-control. More next week, but in the meantime budget something.

PS: Check out the recent Weekly Challenges as an introduction or to find a new success technique.

“Those that let the small things bind them leave the great things undone behind them.”

Ever hear of “liners” and “closers”? They are still used today in many different kinds of sales. Liners take the customers and find something they would like to buy, and then the closer comes in and makes the deal. Timeshares, car dealerships, and many other businesses use this system of selling. It was originally invented at a furniture store in the south. The problem with liners and closers today is that you may put the person that wants to buy something on the wrong thing- for example, something that is too much money for the customer to afford. So the customer won’t close, because he can’t afford what is being offered, or he does close and then has buyer’s remorse because he can’t afford what was being sold. The liner and closer system works in some ways, and people are still using the system, but having someone take the customer from beginning to end is a more effective way in today market where competition is stiff. If you have a salesperson that can go from beginning to end, the salesperson can develop the kind of judgment and integrity that is needed to close more deals in today’s society. The closer coming out from an office to say, “here I am to close the deal” scares people away. I am not saying it doesn’t work, just that a well-trained sales force can sell more and make more with just one person handling the transaction.

PS: See the recent Sales Tips of the Week from Step Jones

Who said, “You’re either with me, or against me?”

1. George W. Bush
2. Jesus of Nazareth
3. Terrell Owens
4. Hillary Clinton
5. Osama Bin Laden
6. Darth Vader
7. All of the Above

Answer the question correctly and get a free MP3 download of Step Jones’s CD Help Yourself Be Better  from his upcoming new audio product Jump Start

The answer to last week’s trivia question is #4, Angelo Dundee, legendary boxing coach.