Hasta La Creative!

(TrendHunter.com) Models Louis Mayhew, Miguel Vazquez and Kern Charles are captured in a vibrant new image series by photographer Toni Smailagic. Smailagic captures the youthful trio as they skate and pose streetside…

Jenna Bush Hager, daughter and granddaughter of former presidents and about to become a mother, says she is happy being a member of the press on the “Today” show.

The service’s music feature is still hidden from the public, but it appears to be a way to learn what music is becoming popular.

Call for a Pluralistic Teaching in Economics.

Mohsen Mahbob

We, students in economics from various horizons, would like to express once again our discontent with the way economics is taught in universities and other academic institutions.

For more than ten years now similar initiatives have been continuously publicized in several countries all around the world with no movement on the issue, thus underlining the pervasive nature of the problem and the on-going dismay with the lack of necessary change.

By choosing economics as our major we hoped to gain a better understanding of real economic mechanisms. We are saddened to recognize that this has not been the case at all: the most striking example of it being our incapacity to apprehend the current economic crisis with the analytic tools that we are taught. Far from making up for these flagrant loopholes, courses across the world have stubbornly remained almost the same. The crisis is not only one of the economy, it is also a crisis of economics and a crisis of our classrooms!

We thoroughly believe that our understanding of real socio-economic processes as well as our critical mind would greatly benefit from a more pluralistic teaching. For that purpose, we suggest to integrate more pluralism in our courses, on three different levels.

1. Different paradigms, aside from the so called Neoclassical theory and its different ramifications, should be introduced thoroughly to the students as early as possible in order to allow cross-paradigmatic analyses and foster critical thinking.
2. Reflexive disciplines such as epistemology, history of economic thought and social and economic history should acquire special importance in standard programs and not be considered as side and marginal.
3. Discussions with other social and human sciences (sociology, anthropology, history, geography, philosophy…) should be more systematic and a possible way to do so would be to introduce thematic courses. The very objects of economics, such as unemployment, inequalities, consumption choices and others are inherently manifold and require a corresponding plural approach allowing for transversal investigations.

We do not reject the use of mathematics, formal models or statistical methods in economics. We simply first and foremost wish to be granted the chance to fully grasp the bases and stakes underlying our economic system.

We hereby call upon all our fellow students from all horizons and all academic levels sharing the same concerns and frustrations. We invite them to join us and to help us mobilize the broadest level of support in order to rethinking our discipline and the way it is currently taught and having pluralistic economics teaching in all higher education systems as soon as possible.

Students of PEPS-Économie (Pour un Enseignement Pluraliste dans le Supérieur en Économie / For a Pluralistic Teaching in Economics in Higher Education)

Reach them at pepseconomie@gmail.com

Read more on Adbusters.org

The Future Lions global student creative competition is calling for 2013 entries. AKQA, in collaboration with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is hosting Future Lions for the eighth year in a row. This year’s theme, ‘Destiny Awaits’, encourages students to invent bold ideas that will create the future.

The annual Future Lions competition challenges students to develop an idea for advertising a brand in a way that would not have been possible five years ago. There are no rules in terms of media or technology, no restrictions around product or target audience and no entry fee. Winning concepts will be honoured at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the Debussy Theatre in June.

Celebrating the competition’s emphasis on creativity and innovation, AKQA is proud to announce WIRED UK as official partner for Future Lions 2013.

Last year the competition achieved a record number of over 1,100 entries from 40 countries, making it one of the world’s largest student competitions. An influential platform for emerging talent, Future Lions winners are highly sought after and quickly employed by many of the world’s leading agencies.

A campanha “Brilliant Machines” da GE, lançada em novembro do ano passado contendo dezenas de robôs famosos, acaba de ganhar mais um integrante.

Hugo Weaving reencarna o inesquecível papel de Agente Smith, do clássico “Matrix”, para promover as soluções hospitalares da empresa. Teoricamente, a presença de Smith é pra fazer você se sentir mais tranquilo e seguro dentro de um hospital todo conectado, ainda que pareça estranho confiar sua saúde a um vilão que faria qualquer coisa para te plugar em uma máquina.

De qualquer forma, é uma proposta criativa e ousada para um segmento que muitos entortariam a casa.

A criação é da BBDO New York.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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