Education (June 22, 2011)

Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.  [Beck seems a bit more somber than usual.]  Tonight, we're gonna talk about the education program in this country.  We have an audience full of college-aged Americans who are chomping at the bit to have their voice heard and have their chance up to bat.

But first, we have -- it says eight, but I don't actually think it's eight, and I don't think I have an eraser here -- we have seven shows left.  Six after tonight's program.  And I have so much to cover.

I wanna show you something.  Come on over here, I want to show you something that we're going to cover next week that everyone said I was crazy for.  Remember, this was back in January.  They'll never put a caliphate together!  Next week I'm gonna show you this [booklet].

This is about the Caliphate.

 This is a book printed in the United States about how we can put a caliphate together.  And I love this -- Conspiracy of High Treason (document).

The goals here of this, which is the same group that you're gonna see here in a minute -- is [reading off document]

to dismantle the Jewish state  completely, uprooting it so no Jew remains or is ever allowed in Jerusalem.  But remember, I'm the crazy one.

I want to show you this.  We found this today.  This is from a conference that is coming up in the next couple of weeks in Great Britain.  Same group that did one here in America.  Remember the word, uh, what is it, kalifah or kalif -- he points to cover of booklet -- that means one global Islamic government that will look over the entire world.  Watch what they're pushing for now in Great Britain.

[video, in the style of a commercial]

1953 a group arose to re-establish the Khilafah.  6 decades of challenging tyranny.  [pictures of Gadaffi, et. al.]  6 decades of resisting oppression.  [picture of rubble and revolt.]  6 decades of exposing colonialism.  [pictures of Clinton, Bush, Obama shaking hands with dictators.]  An Islamic call spanning the globe.  East to West, 44 countries.  Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain presents: An International Conference.  Our Vision For Change.  [scary music/drums play throughout video.]

[Editor's note: for more still pics, go to here

Our vision for change.  If there's one thing that America an the whole world needs to understand -- there is a competing force and vision for change.  In the Middle East, and in our own country and all around the world, there is a vision of a caliphate.  It is not nuts to prepare and to monitor and to be warned -- because, as we will show you next week, there are forces, radicalists, communists, and socialists have gathered together to destroy the West and to destroy Israel.  We're putting some things together that will prove that absolutely without a shadow of doubt for next week's program.

I'm gonna show you this one piece we just got from Louis Farrakhan, a speech.  I want you to hear and get this through your neighbor's head.  There is a competing vision for how our world is run.  The world is now up for grabs, because America is weak.  If Israel falls, ask yourself this question: will it embolden the Islamic world and all that have stood against America and the idea that man could rule himself?  Or will they say, 'No big deal.'

There are more people on this planet right now who believe America's days are over than believe America's days and brightest days are ahead.  Listen to the warning of Louis Farrakhan.

[video]

This fictitious dream of a few that rule the many will continue their rule, their time is up.  I will say it again, loud and clear: your time to rule is up, and your rule will end in war.

More next week.  A lot to do tonight, let's go.

DUN DUN DEHN DUN

Well, Hello America.  Welcome to the program.  We have a lot to talk about tonight.

Last night we talked about energy, and there's a lot to talk about with energy.  We talked about the administration's hostile policy towards our most important energy sources.  Our economy is about to crumble, and they are making it in Washington harder gain access to energy that we have.  They're closing down our coal plants because of regulation.  We get, by the way, 50% of our electricity from coal.

They have made oil permits very difficult to get. [pie chart from yesterday's show].

And we are in the midst of an energy crisis.  A lot of this is self-imposed.  We have a ton of untapped energy resources that we could use to help.  But for some reason we refuse to be independent.

Tonight I want to talk about another untapped resource: great minds.

Great minds.  And the people of this country who, at first, retired.  All of that knowledge, all of that skill, all of that experience -- wasting away.  What, so they can hit a little white ball around a field?  Sit on a beach?  I mean, what are ya doing?  I hate to be the bearer of bad news -- but what else is new -- the boat called America is sinking, and we're a little short on life rafts.  Could ya help.  Could ya get into the game?  And I don't mean necessarily go back to work, I mean, could you help others?  Could you mentor someone?

 I don't want to talk about the untapped resource tonight of the retired.  I want to talk about someone else that wants to get into the game.  The other side of the retirees: the youth.  The 25 and under crowd.

Something that a lot of people in America won't be willing to admit, but I will.  Those of us who are in our forties, fifties, and above.  In many ways, we have failed our kids.  Mainly because we didn't know. We just didn't see it coming.  As parents, we had this bizarre expectence that everybody, that our kids will just feel the way we do, learn all of this stuff through osmosis, and America will always be here.

So we gave our kids a gentle shove out into the world, sending them to the wolves, without a clue.  We let the school, we let television, Sesame Street, society, anyone but us raise our kids, because we wanted to have it all.  It was a lie, and we bought it.

Now our kids don't have the same understanding that we do, and they're entering a very different world unprepared, because everybody got a stupid trophy.  Now, we bought into the lie that a college education is the only chance for success and without it, you're screwed.

Before the elites have a cow, I believe there are many things you do that require extensive studies.  This morning we were talking about this new jet -- I don't know if anybody saw it -- there's this new jet that they say can fly at incredible speeds, or they're working on it, I don't know, about 30 years away or so.  And we were talking about at what speed does steel break down.  At what point does metal breakdown?  Do we have a new alloy that can withstand those extreme conditions?

Well, you have to have a college education to even answer that question.  People pushing the limits just didn't find them on the streets at a McDonalds and all of a sudden they're like, 'I like birds and big shiny things in the sky.  I'll make something that flies fast.'  You do need a little higher understanding.

But at the same time, we endorse an educational system now that is increasingly only about memorization.  Dates.  It's not about critical thinking.  It's about passing a test.

A system that ushers high school students into college while only 12% have a solid grasp on their nation's history.   And then, we just repeat the process at college.  Only this time, everybody who can pass the test and recite dates, now they owe hundreds of thousands of dollars.  And it's only getting worse.

The cost of a college education is rapidly rising [line graph] more than inflation and even more than the cost of healthcare.  But I don't hear a peep about it in the media.

When I adopted my son, Raif, he's six years old now.  My wife and I got together with a financial adviser and we tried to be responsible.  We said, 'Okay, so how much do we have to put away every month to save up for college for him.'  And we thought we were way ahead of the curve.  We were like, hey, you know, he's just been born, eh.  The financial adviser said, 'Well, at the cost of education as it's rising now, you should put away the full amount now and you may have to add more when he's ready to go to college.'  You've got to be kidding me.  Except, you don't hear a word about that.

Something else you don't hear -- does everybody need a $50,000 education?  Do you need to go to Harvard, Yale, Columbia... I mean, what's wrong with learning a trade?  What's wrong with an education that isn't Ivy League?  What's wrong with an apprenticeship?  Is that not the best way to learn -- to actually watch people do the thing you want to do?  Watch them, learn from them, day in and day out.

This administration has now made it tougher for even interns to find an internship.  This is not only hurting the companies of our country.  It is hurting the youth of our country, because they are losing an invaluable experience.  Almost everything I learned of value I learned at someone's side, watching them.

If you've ever seen the show Deadliest Catch, it's some of the hardest working people you'll ever see.

These are sea fishermen.  One of the captains, who recently passed away, Phil, once talked about how he got into the business, and he got his start by going down to the docks as a teenager and begging to get work.  He actually did it, and it worked.  He had this crazy idea that he would work for free, just to learn, because he knew the experience would pay off.  But we don't teach that anymore.

The system is broken.

Tonight, we're gonna talk to the untapped resource.  Find out how they feel.  'Cause that's what we're supposed to do -- let's listen, let's find out how everybody feels.  Nah, let's really not. 

We'll find out how they feel, and then let's see if anybody has a plan, let's see if anybody has an idea, see if anybody's doing anything about it....  See if anybody has any ideas.  Also, we're gonna show you an 11 year old, somebody who's actually going, 'I can make a difference.'  He's 11.

So, if you're 40, you might ask yourself, 'What the heck is wrong with me if the 11 year old thinks he can make a difference.'  Why aren't you?

Let's talk to the untapped resource of America.

Okay [looks at audience] who has massive debt? [Some raise hands.]  Okay.  Who believes that massive debt is really going to pay off?  [No hands.]  Come on, nobody?   Not a soul.  Tom?

Tom: Well, for me I think it will pay off.  It's an investment.  I'm paying now for the education which will help me earn that money back at some point down the road.  Or, at least, I'm hoping that it will be earned back at some point.

Beck: Who went to college to find your way? [A few hands.]  Oh, I'm gonna figure out what I'm gonna do.  Okay.    Allyson, in the third row, you did that?

Allyson: I did. [Giggle.]

Beck: Did it work out for ya?

Allyson: Um, yes.  Except I ended up choosing a profession that's kind of hard to make money.  I am a theater major.

Beck: Oh.

Allyson: Yeah...

Beck: That's a lot of money. [Audience laughs.]

Allyson: I mean, I love what I do--

Beck: That's good!

Allyson:--it's just gonna be one of those things where it's hard to find work to pay off the debt and to insure security later on.

Beck: May I ask you, Allison, you graduated from college?

Allyson: Yes.

Beck: If I said to you, 'Hey, Allison, I want to sell you a house today for $100,000', what would you say?

Allyson: I can't afford it.

Beck: Okay, you can't afford it.  I can give you loans.  Don't worry about it.  You can pay very small amounts, don't worry, we'll make it affordable for you.  I just want to sell you this house.  Give you this house.  [Allison keeps trying to protest, Beck pushes it farther.]  You gotta have a house.  If you don't have a house, everybody has to have a house.

Allyson: It's true, it's true.

Beck: You want a house.  Yes.  So you're gonna have a house.  And I'm gonna help you pay for it.  You just have to pay, very small.  You're skeptical, sure.  But would you not also say, 'Okay, well if I have to have a house..."  What would you ask?  Payment?

Allyson: I would ask payment, what's the interest?...

Beck: How about, 'Where is it?'

Allyson: Yes, where is it.

Beck: How many bedrooms?  Does it even have a kitchen?  Nobody would go out, I've never ever gone out and spent $100,000 on anything that I hadn't known exactly what I wanted.  And what I wanted it for.  I mean, no one goes out and says [dumb voice] 'Ya know what?  I think I'm gonna go out and buy a house.' and then just pick a house in some random city in some random country with god knows how many bedrooms or even a kitchen.

Beck: Does anybody think that's what's happening in our society with education when you spend $100,000 or more?  Brian?

Brian: To a degree, I think it is.  I talk to kids all the time who, they ask me what I'm into.  I say radio/TV, I'm doing radio shows at Monmouth (?) University, and I'm getting heavily involved.  And I ask them, and they say, 'Oh, I'm not really sure what I want to do -- and these are seniors in college.'  'You know, I'm not sure what I want to do, but I know I need to go to college.'  So I'm thinking, you're spending thousands of dollars and you don't even know what you want to do, and your time's almost up in college?

Beck: Anyone know anybody who is going to graduate school just to place-hold?  Down here, Raj?

Raj: I know a lot of people who are going to graduate school for the simple fact of well, 'I don't have anything else to do.  Might as well kill time and hope the economy's better when I finish grad school.'  I know a lot of people who are doing that.

Beck: What happens to the end and they're now more in debt?  I mean, that's an expensive place-holder.  You could go to the library every day and probably rent a sweet house on a beach and end up with less debt and more knowledge at the end of your years in graduate school, and be in better condition.  Yes?

guy: Most students go to college for the purpose of getting a job after college, and a lot of kids don't know what they're doing when they go to college, and a lot of kids do figure out what they want to do after college.  But, y'know, I don't think kids are motivated to do-- or they don't realize what they can do, because they are so set in line with a system that tells them they have to get a job, and the only way they can get a job is through college.

Beck: Who believes that?  Who believes that the only way you can get a job-- Sally, you believe that?  The only way you can get a job is through college?

Sally:  Absolutely.  I think that unfortunately, it's playing within the rules for now.  I mean, I could tell you an example of someone who has-- I mean, education has become so institutionalized in a way that it's definitely failed me beyond belief.  I mean, my GPA does not say anything about who I am.  I found an organization called The Youth Empowerment Movement.  We went to Egypt this past December.  We rallied young youth in Tahrir Square.  We marched with the people.  And that doesn't say anything about my GPA.

Beck: So what does that tell you?

Sally: This is my twelfth time changing my major, actually, and I'm a senior in college. And I don't think I'm even gonna be able to graduate on time, which means I'm gonna be spending another year paying for college.

Beck: If you don't believe you can make it in America without a college education, you're wrong.  I have.  And I know many, very successful people...  Do you know what you need?  Anybody seen The Green Lantern?  By the way, don't see it.  It's a horrible movie, I don't recommend it.  But has anyone seen it?  [No one raises a hand.]  Oh guys are so much smarter than me, that's [something] college education.  I went, and I saw it.  And you know what the power of the Green Lantern Light is?  The power is imagination & will.  It's the best superhero out there.  If you imagine it and you will it and you don't give up, you'll do it.  Especially if there's more than one.  Especially if there's more than one of you.  Just do it.  You gotta be smart... Jonathon?

Jonathon: I don't want to say this as if it's something so easy, but the truth is, our nation was founded on the principle of entrepreneurship, and we can do anything by ourselves.  We don't need somebody to employ us.  We can come up with an idea.  We can be innovative.  We can invent.  What do you think people are doing around the world?  Waiting for people to offer them jobs?  We have to go out and think and imagine, like you said, and come up with our own ideas and by leaders in this world again.

Beck: I have to tell you guys.  You have-- would you say, who thinks your generation has less opportunity than my generation did?  [1/4 raise hands.]  Good for you who didn't raise your hand.  I think you have more opportunity.  Because you have access--  I remember the fax machine.  [Audience giggles.]  I remember, honestly, you know the guys who started Fed Ex?  Did you know that they couldn't get a loan.  Do you know why?  No bank would give them a loan to start their company.  Do you know why?  [Silence.]  Quote, from every bank, like eight banks, "Nobody needs anything overnight."  [Laughter.]  Okay?  The world has completely changed.  You have instant access and can network with people all around the world.  That's unique.  It provides you with a unique opportunity, if you choose it.  Back in a second.

COMMERCIAL

So Raj and I were just talking, and this is a group of -- everybody under 25? [Audience nods, one guy pumps his fist.  Heh.  Don't trust anybody over 25?]  A group of 25 year olds.  Eileen, she works on our stage here at Fox, she said, 'Ya know what you should do is talk about the opportunities, because so many feel like they don't have opportunities and they're under 25.  So we are.  And Raj and I were talking about this during the commercial break, and you brought up the point that--

Raj: I think what you're talking about memorization is right on.  I mean, I learned a lot in college, but only 15% of it were in classes.  We don't, we're not taught what a mortgage is, we have no idea how to balance a checkbook, we have no idea how to use a credit card.  I mean, some people just learn it from their parents, but there's no one teaching you this stuff, however we could probably recite the entire periodic table at the end of honors chemistry.

[Editor's note: I had to take a ridiculous class in high school -- well, I thought it was a horrid wast at the time -- in which we were taught, and tested on, things like how to write a check and how to balance a checkbook.  I had the choice of taking that or Economics.  My schedule was already heavy, and I didn't want to add a weighty class like Econ, so I opted out with the lame class that the non-honors kids took.  Also, Raj is justifying my still-present resentment that I had to take Bio and Chem in undergrad.  Sorta.]

Beck: But that goes away  quickly.

Raj: Right.  Practical stuff that you need, where is that?

Beck: Can I ask you guys a question?  Who are you waiting for?

[Me: Kids are told that they have to do stuff within the system, and they don't know how to branch out on their own path.  Unless you have clear-cut goals like Fireman or Doctor, there is so much available that you don't know how to chop down the trees to make your own path.]

Audience: [Inaudible]

Beck: Who said that?  [Guy raises his hand, boom mic goes to him]  Why do you say that?

Guy: One thing I learned in college is that there are actually a lot of great opportunities in the world.  I lived in a great house with a lot of great people who knew a lot about a lot of different things.  And I saw so many opportunities.  I started a website company with my partner here, Gerald Wringel, and--

Beck:  Are you two evil capitalists?  [They smile.]

Guy: NO.

Gerald: We're trying to help the world, actually.

Guy: That's the premise of our company -- firstdynamicwebsites.com -- is to provide websites for small business owners for a marketable cost, because the market right now is so saturated with people who take advantages of small businesses all across the nation, so we're looking to help these people.

Beck: I have news for you.  Don't ever, ever -- if anyone ever asks you if you're a capitalist again, YES!  Yes, I am.  Do you know what system has saved more lives and cured more people of illness and provided more people with warmth and food than anything else on the planet?  CAPITALISM!  Now, capitalism can be evil, or it can be good.  Just like the internet.  You can get porn, or scriptures.  It's up to you.  [Audience giggles.  Porn.  He said porn.  Heh.]  Don't shy away from being capitalists, you're doing it the right way.  Good for you.  Now.  You both went to college?  You went to Rutgers.  Is this what you planned on doing?

Gerald: No, this is not what we planned on doing at all.  Actually, the idea came together when we had a meeting.  It was myself, Mark (is that "guy"?), and our other partner, Mike, and we were just sort of spitfire throwing ideas together about things that could make money, and this was something that we found as a source of pain for small businesses today.  And we feel that between the three areas that we've studied and have internships and experience in, we'd be able to combine that together and create a business that could actually help people.

Beck: Here's the question again that I asked, and Mark was the only one who answered.  Who are you waiting for?  Nobody.  Why are you waiting for anybody?  Do you believe-- who here believes man can rule himself? [Audience raises hands.]  Oh, well as soon as we teach you how to balance a checkbook, as soon as we feed you a job... create one!  You guys have everything going for you.  You have it up here [head], you're the most free in the world -- as of 5:25 -- Do it.  Take charge of your own life.  Yes?  Jesse first.

Jesse: Isn't it too much to ask that universities give us everything that's exactly pertinent to what we're gonna do in the future?  I mean, 'cause universities can't predict what we're gonna need in the future.  They're just gonna make us aware of things that maybe we weren't before.  And isn't there a cost to self-education?

Beck: Well, I don't think I understand you're question.  Should they be--

Jesse: If you're studying by yourself at a library, can you really get as good of an education as you can, say, at a good university somewhere?

[Me: You're almost there, kid.  Bring up that at a university you have mentors who provide insight into the books you're reading, help you connect the dots, have knowledge to share that's not in books.  This is the one part of Beck's argument that he doesn't clearly understand, since he's not experienced that part of college.]

Beck: I think if you have mentors, I think you can.  [Me: woo!]  I will tell you, I took one semester at Yale, and my professor said to me, "why are you here?"  I was thirty, I was paying for it myself, and I just wanted answers.  And he said, "Why are you here?" 'cause I was really disruptive in the class.  And I said, "'Cause I'm searching for some answers."  And he said, "What are you reading?"  And I told him, "I'm reading all kinds of different things.  One thing I remember was Immanuel Kant.  Has anyone ever read Immanuel Kant.  [Some nod.  I nod.  God, I hate hate hate Kant.]  You wanna hang yourself or what?  [Me: HA!]  Try reading that by yourself, without any guidance at all.  And he said, "Who's guiding you through that?" and I said, "Nobody", and he said, "How's that going?" and I said, "Not, not really good.  Not really good."  There are things that you do  need some help on.  It'd be nice.  But you certainly don't need a $50,000/year guide for all of that, and most of us don't need all of that stuff.  Is there a problem with -- is there shame in being a blue collar worker?

Audience: No.

Beck: Is there shame in being a mechanic?  Is there shame-- is there a job here you won't take?  Will you clean a toilet?

Audience: Yes.

Beck: Okay, good.  Are there people, do you believe, 'cause, lemme tell you something-- if we have to go to space and you're putting me in charge of the calculations, you're burning up on the launch pad.  Can't do, I'm not good at math, I'm not good at a lot of different things.  I don't have the skills to be.  So why do I need the same education as someone who wants to be an astronaut?  They don't.  You want to be a physicist?  Have at.  I don't.  Why are we trying to put everybody into the same category?  You MUST have this education.  Why can't we have an apprentice-- somebody-- you, you [points to someone] want to do television and radio?  You come work for me.

[Me: Does Beck really not see the merits of a liberal arts education -- of having a well-rounded depth/breadth of knowledge so that you are able to be awake to what's happening in the world?  Or is it not worth the investment?  I understand what he's saying -- but...]

Beck: Why can't... I've done it here with Jon.  Jon worked at, he was going to Columbia?

Jon: Yeah I was going to Columbia and I've interned here for two years now.  But at Columbia, a lot of what I learned was how to memorize something, how to regurgitate what the professors' what we took notes on the next day for an exam.  But they really don't teach you how to think critically or how to think independently.

[Me: Was my education in rhetoric unique in that it DID teach me those things?  Seriously, someone tell me.]

Jon: And frankly, I don't really think they want you to think critically or independently

[Me: Ding!  That was my grad school experience.]

Beck: Jon was a superstar -- I don't have any idea how he did in school -- he was a superstar for me.  I hired him.  Nicole [looks to someone in the audience] superstar.  NYU. [mimes blowing his brains out, audience giggles].  Superstar.  Love to have her.  Raj, I have no idea what his education is.  I didn't even ask him if you graduated from college, did I?  Done.  You're smart.  Great.  Succeed.  You start finding people who think like that, you start gathering, and you guys [points to Gerald and Mark] who are the entrepreneurs?  You be those people.  You teach.  You have a responsibility to teach.  You don't need all of the [hand wave].  America was founded against the guilds.  We don't have gatekeepers here.  You do it yourselves.  Back in a second.

COMMERCIAL

Welcome back to the program.  America, I'm with a bunch of Americans that have either are either just getting our of college or have just gotten out of college and our wondering, 'What the heck is happening now?  What do I do now?'  We've been talking a little bit about what are you waiting for and how do you feel about the system.  Marco was telling me about going to college during the commercial break and feeling like you're not exactly being told the truth.

Marco: Right.  Back in '08 I was working on the Giuliani campaign and we were trying to start a political club on campus because there were no political clubs, and we decided to open the John Jay College Republican club, but the moment we said it's a Republican club, all of a sudden everything changed -- we were told that it was illegal because it was a public school, but then again there other schools like BMCC which is also a community school that had a Republican club on campus.  And then as far as our school, we needed a Democratic club ("co-?") president in order to have a Republican club.  And then our discussion was you have a Christian club and not a Muslim club, you have a fiction club and not a non-fiction club, so where do you stand?  So the only way we made it happen was pretty much we told them Fox News heard about this -- and you know, it was during the elections, it was a hot subject -- and said they wanted to make a story of it.  And within five minutes we received a phone call that, all of a sudden, there was a misunderstanding.

Beck: So what did that teach you, besides to maybe exaggerate the truth... a little bit...

Marco: Well, one of the lessons was to don't give up.  Keep doing what you believe.  If you really believe in it, it's gonna happen.

Beck: See, I contend that life experience is far more than what you're putting in college.  You [different audience member] were saying a few minutes ago that you're an accountant, and you're-- well, tell your story.

Guy: I was an accountant before I went to college, and because I wanted to be a CPA, I had to get a Masters.  And, basically, I learned more during my time working as an apprentice than anything during college.  I was more professional before I went to college.

Beck: Vanessa.

Vanessa: I just finished up my senior year of college, and trying to find an internship was impossible.  For an internship, they ask for a year's worth of experience.  

Beck: Can I tell you something?  We didn't have an internship program in my business, because five years ago, I couldn't get anybody to work.  I'm not kidding you.  People would come-- I would have given my left arm to work in a national radio program, television program, just to be able to see how it worked.  People wouldn't even show up for work.  Now, things have changed.  People are, we're greatly blessed to have great interns.  Keep looking.  And may I challenge the companies of America.  There is a whole new generation of success coming your way.  We're trying to institute a policy in my company that I'll hire the very top of the interns, and I hire them in, it's a guarantee.  Some companies will fire the bottom 30% of their company every year, get rid of the deadwood.  I'd rather reverse that, get the best of the best every year.  [To the camera] Why aren't you looking at interns?  [Hand goes up.] Yes?

Girl: The thing about internships is the living standards have gone up so much yet we don't get paid.  We're working for free without compensation.

[Me: Do you have an iPhone?  Hmm?]

Beck: Oh my goodness, isn't that so much worse than paying $100,000 for an education?

Girl: BUT, the thing is, so what are we supposed to do?  We're living here, in New York, and we're working for free for 40, 50 hours a week, to get nothing, basically.

Audience: inaudible.

Beck: Thank you.  Who said that?  Jonathon?  Say it again.

Jonathon: You're getting experience.

Beck: You're getting something I would have given my right arm for.  [To an intern in the audience] What are you getting as working for an intern for me?

Girl: It's not about learning in a textbook, it's not about getting money in your bank account.  I think, for me personally, I've learned responsibility tenfold.  I've learned so much more than I could ever learn in a classroom.  

[Me: Who pays your NYC rent?]

Beck: You're -- you were an intern, we hired you, Natasha.  What did you get?

Natasha: Nothing, at first.  

Beck: Wrong answer.

Natasha: MONEY-wise. [laughter.]  I worked for almost two years for you, and you thankfully hired me.  But I also was dealing with school and had a job at the same time, but it was more valuable to me to come in every single day to Mercury to work for you.  

Beck: But in the end, you don't owe me anything.

Natasha: But I do.

Beck: No, you don't.  [Natasha gives him the sweetest look!]  No, you don't.  You owe yourself, now, to do something with it.  Um, Austin.

Austin: The thing that I've come to find about internships is that it's a time to really apply, just like an apprenticeship, and most companies now when you want to get hired, they require you to have both a college education and an apprenticeship through an internship.  So you learn at school the principles and the memorization, and then you learn how to apply it in an internship, and anybody I've talked to about jobs or job opportunities, it's all about that.

Beck: Lemme tell you something.  We're gonna come back in a sec and we're going to introduce you to somebody who is eleven years old.  And anybody who might be watching and oh, well, I can't do it -- eleven.  And already has decided, 'I'm going to change the world.'  We'll meet him next.

COMMERCIAL

[Me: I wonder if it's the kid from Alaska that organized the singalong and it publishing a book about sea creatures.]

ME: Fifteen minutes left in the show.  More transcription in a few hours! + pics and links