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A flying elephant means tofu can soar, too

This YouTube video clip made by Tufts University applicant Michael Klinker was, well, just too good to pass up. Really.

The New York Times article, which talks about Klinker’s creation and college applicants using YouTube to gain admission to Tufts, is making the online rounds – for good reason.

I mean, a blue elephant – who has swirling helicopter blades – soaring through the air, doing a flip and hovering here and there?

I’ve argued – as have others - for greater innovation in the United States, especially as the country tries to regain firmer economic footing these days. Access to capital is, well, an obstacle and you can figure out on your own why dollars are so tight now.

But on the innovation front, Klinker has blended creativity, design, technology and aviation skills in an impressive way.

How so?

If you think that the flying blue elephant – and Tuft’s mascot was an elephant named Jumbo and owned by P.T. Barnum – is some small-time creation of a high school student, think again.

And listen to Robin Murphy of the Center for Robot Assisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University and keep an eye on the flying gizmos to which she refers.

It is possible for robotic helicopters to assist in finding humans.

In fact, some federal stimulus money is going to a small number of jobs for people to research human-robot interaction, especially for search and rescue, as CNN reported.

Klinker’s quest to enter Tufts and Jumbo creation – which uses the song from Dumbo in the video - have now come to national light.

The Times article talked about high school students using YouTube to convey a more personal sense of who they are to win the hearts and minds of the admissions committee members.

The Massachusetts school still asks students to submit traditional requirements.

But why did the Tufts University undergraduate admissions dean decide to give YouTube videos the greenlight?

The Times reported that Dean Lee Coffin gave his approval after he watched a YouTube video last year sent by someone and the clip featured, well, an impressive high school student.

I thought, ‘If this kid applied to Tufts, I’d admit him in a minute, without anything else.’

I’m glad he has an open mind to how young (and older) people express their creativity these days – and Coffin certainly knows about the online world with his own WordPress blog.

But I wonder if he realizes one unintended consequence of his comment. Being amazed by a YouTube video clip is wonderful.

But would he really admit an applicant by looking only at that video for a minute without reviewing any other aspect of the student’s academic and community work?

Um, Dean Coffin, do you know how many emails with a YouTube URL link you’re going to receive – both from applicants and parents who want their children to attend Tufts?

Consider it this way: If the easy access to the online world – with words, images, videos and sound – has roiled traditional journalism in recent years (remember that once a labor pool increases, the wages of those who were in it should, theoretically, drop), will it have an impact on college admissions?

Tufts does say that videos are optional.

The day also will come when online work becomes so common that people will no longer be amazed by what they see on YouTube, blogs or Twitter.

I remember the first time I saw a cell phone. It was in 1989. A person carried it in a briefcase-like box with a strap and walked behind the actual caller, who turned to grab the actual phone – which looked bigger than this old model.

Yes, technology impresses. It also changes.

One nice thing is that Coffin still supports quality writing as an undergraduate requirement to enter Tufts.

He told the Times:

We will never abandon writing….No matter what, it’s important to be able to express yourself elegantly in writing.

I like that because while you might have incredible New Media skills, and it’s terrific to have them, you still need clear communication - both verbal and written to convey your ideas, say, when you pen (or type) an essay or talk with someone face to face (presuming that this continues, as compared to texting).

In a Chinese context, it is possible that so many young people will rely on text language that you might lose a generation’s ability – or a large portion of one generation - to write beautiful calligraphy, as in characters seen in these rubbings from the Ming and Song dynasties and and poems at Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. 

I’m a strong supporter of the written word.

By that – and I feel obligated to say this these days – I mean the written word in a traditional sense with sentences, paragraphs, punctuation and the like.

Yes, I’ve typed up poorly written sentences before. I try to learn from them.

But what I hope will not creep into writing is the language used in text messaging.

I’ve heard that some applicants for a civil service exam used, um, text language when filling out the paperwork.

There is a time and place for everything.

In late 2008, a prospective student might have been fine in writing this on Coffin’s Tufts University admissions blog:

Love your site…after reading it i have seen there is no need to be afraid. Jan 1st is almost here..then May[keeping my finger crossed] Hope to see myself in the fall of 2009! Gud job Dean Coffin =]

But if that person used this type of language on the official application, then, well, you’d have to consider what was taught and learned.

Or we, as a society, might have to face the fact that the English language is changing because so many people are using symbols and words.

It is possible that the writer of that message was referring to shortwave transmission when “Gud” was used – you never know until you track the person down and ask.

Speaking of getting into college and parents who want to do everything in their power to help their children attend august institutions, have a look at this Gawker piece about Tina Brown.

She’s the former editor of Vanity Fair and the Gawker piece talks about her reported efforts a while back to win admission to Harvard for her daughter.

Um, a YouTube video might have been more direct and efficient.

Anyway.

We all should thank Klinker’s dad, who shot the video embedded in the Times article and watched on YouTube.

Without his dad, we wouldn’t have been able to see Jumbo become airborne.

We all know that parents do their best to make sure their kids are happy, safe and learning.

Full disclosure: I’m a dad.

I don’t know the Klinker family. But good luck with everything, Michael.

But would it be possible to make a tofu-shaped helicopter in the future?

Something that looks like this block or one of those cool Tofu Robots?

Thanks! =]