I never thought I'd be someone who would teach others about capitalism - I'm constantly whining about its excesses, the failings of the market and the triumphalist tripe that is sprouted by many business gurus.

But there I was today at a suburban Melbourne school, teaching a class of Grade 5 & 6s about money - entrepreneurship in particular. As part of the Students In Free Enterprise World Cup I'm heading to in Germany in October, our team decided to get some hands on teaching with students in our focus community.

It was awesome fun - Scott, I can see why you enjoy teaching! Although myself and the opther techie, Steffan, were supposed to be there filimng and recording, we soon jumped in on the presentation (1 1/2 hours never went so quick) to talk about how these kids made money, if profit was good or bad (apparently Bill Gates is too greedy), supply and demand, marketing, and the consolidation of McDonald's property assets.

Yay! Perfect addition to last week's Year 9 Outdoor Programme on which I worked - 6 days of cruising through the bush, hiking, rock-climbing, abseiling and rafting with an amazing nice group of 15 year old guys! Wonders never cease to amaze

:d Mossy

I've done a whole heap of talking over the past few weeks. From Soccer Club trivia to Uni, ipisi to VCEnet and beyond, it seems as though I'm spending most of the day with my mouth moving. Which leads me to wonder; am I saying anything worth listening to?

The answer is ... I hope so. But I'm not sure.

The question was brought up by a couple of great opportunities that have been presented to me over the past week or so. On Wednesday, I went on Radio 3AK in Melbourne for 30 minutes to talk about how young people are using the internet (and gave TIG a plug :p), which was fantastic, and the three of us in the studio had a great time. But listening to the couple of talk back callers that we had, I was struck by the thought that people are more interested in talking about their lives, ideas and interests than listening to others. They appear to listen only so that they may have their turn in the sun.

Maybe it's being overly cynical about how people in my area behave, but it was driven home again by the second amazing opportunity I was given this week. I've been asked to join the University of Melbourne's SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) team, who as national champions are heading off to Mainz, Germany to compete in the world championships in October. The program is amazing, as it empowers university and college students to become socially responsible entrepreneurs and teachers through corporate upskilling (excuse the jargon). It's high calibre, it's exciting, but it's also self-congratulatory ... it appears to me that people are constructing these projects primarily to win kudos and the world championships, only seeing their social benefit as an added bonus. Which is conflicting, as the program is brilliant, generates great PR and interest in the sector, and does have meaningful outcomes for disadvantaged groups and the students involved. But it all seems just a little kitsch and artifical.

I think I'll reserve judgement on the state of humanity though (at least until October :p) and leave the readers and listeners, the hardy souls such as yourself, to tell me I'm wrong.

Mossy