President Obama has good intentions with respect to education, but his reform efforts have little merit. An example is the idea to increase the number of math and science teachers in the K-12 system. The president wants to brings thousands of science and math teachers into the k-12 education pool. To make his vision come true, he has proposed a $10,000 tax credit so that 100,000 math and science teachers will leave more lucrative positions to pursue teaching careers.
Will 100,000 new teachers somehow transform the pipeline leading into the chemistry and physics classes? The answer is, "No." Even if there are 100,000 new math and science teachers, will it necessarily improve math and science instruction? The answer is again, "No." Having taken classes at the community college, state college, and university levels, the best teachers were generally at the community college level. This is because community college instructors generally have better presentation skills than college and university professors. They don't necessarily have the breadth of knowledge of the university professor, but they are better teachers. The point is, that instruction isn't always about knowledge, but presentation.
That isn't to say that knowledge isn't important, but one cannot escape the idea that building the entire product is important, not merely the end product of the education process. The k-12 education reforms are based on
whims. By improving the process of education, we'll inprove the education that students receive. We keep looking for education saviors in the form of charter schools, higher standards, and now "super teachers." Why not find the best lessons and know what works best. I guess we'll try anything but common sense.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Masters and Disasters - terms of the time
The internet is a wonderful tool to see what people are thinking about. For instance, if you look up search terms on "Google Trends," it shows you how much people are looking up certain terms. It might not be surprising that since 2007 there has been an inverse relationship between the search term job and investment. As people spend more time worrying and looking for jobs, they don't look to invest their money as much.
Back in 2004, more people put in the search term retirement, but that is also a downward trend as we head into 2009. It is interesting that in 2004, people were using the search term public education a lot, but that topic does not capture peoples' attention like it did five years ago. There has been a slight increase in interest in charter schools since 2004, but the idea has not captured the publics' imagination. It hasn't helped that charter schools as a whole have not been a successful alternative to public schools.
The truth is that people do not have faith in education's ability to bring the American ship back to stability. Why should they? What jobs will be available in America's future? Although we still are a great manufacturing power, we have shuttered domestic plants to follow low-cost labor in locations through the world. We allow our corporations to set up operations in foreign lands that builds the coffers of countries like India and China. That is where the jobs are.
Corporations with international connections can build merchandise cheaply and then sell it back to the United States. This is beneficial to the corporation and its shareholders (the wealthy), but creates a jobs vacuum in the United States. Wages go down, tax revenues go down, and we can no longer afford services to people who are poor. There are more and more who qualify for government assistance, and therefore, more government programs are needed. Unless we have good jobs that can keep American households at the middle class level, we cannot sustain the republic without taxing the stuffing out of the wealthy. What sort of a future are we giving to the youth of America? What type of future should we prepare them for?
Today, the internet's primary search term is related to who wins the Master's golf tournament. The truth is that a 21 year old Irishman named Rory McIllroy is now winning the Masters by four strokes going into the last round. Will he hold on? The second most popular term is insanity. The economic pathway that we've been moving down is certainly not sane, so we might as well watch the Masters and watch the rest of the world clean our clocks. We can listen to Kelly Clarkson sing her first number one country hit. The truth is that to turn the American economy around will take a huge change in attitude. Free trade is not free to us. Free trade strips our country of jobs, capital, and equality. We cannot sustain an economy in which half the households cannot afford to pay taxes.
Back in 2004, more people put in the search term retirement, but that is also a downward trend as we head into 2009. It is interesting that in 2004, people were using the search term public education a lot, but that topic does not capture peoples' attention like it did five years ago. There has been a slight increase in interest in charter schools since 2004, but the idea has not captured the publics' imagination. It hasn't helped that charter schools as a whole have not been a successful alternative to public schools.
The truth is that people do not have faith in education's ability to bring the American ship back to stability. Why should they? What jobs will be available in America's future? Although we still are a great manufacturing power, we have shuttered domestic plants to follow low-cost labor in locations through the world. We allow our corporations to set up operations in foreign lands that builds the coffers of countries like India and China. That is where the jobs are.
Corporations with international connections can build merchandise cheaply and then sell it back to the United States. This is beneficial to the corporation and its shareholders (the wealthy), but creates a jobs vacuum in the United States. Wages go down, tax revenues go down, and we can no longer afford services to people who are poor. There are more and more who qualify for government assistance, and therefore, more government programs are needed. Unless we have good jobs that can keep American households at the middle class level, we cannot sustain the republic without taxing the stuffing out of the wealthy. What sort of a future are we giving to the youth of America? What type of future should we prepare them for?
Today, the internet's primary search term is related to who wins the Master's golf tournament. The truth is that a 21 year old Irishman named Rory McIllroy is now winning the Masters by four strokes going into the last round. Will he hold on? The second most popular term is insanity. The economic pathway that we've been moving down is certainly not sane, so we might as well watch the Masters and watch the rest of the world clean our clocks. We can listen to Kelly Clarkson sing her first number one country hit. The truth is that to turn the American economy around will take a huge change in attitude. Free trade is not free to us. Free trade strips our country of jobs, capital, and equality. We cannot sustain an economy in which half the households cannot afford to pay taxes.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Pensions reform... and then what?
When listening to the current fervor over government reforms, it is someone akin to watching a nature program where a fish is grazing along the bottom of the ocean and out of nowhere a shark comes and eats the fish. We have become the sharks who are calling for public employee pension reform. We're all ticked off about the fish who are happily grazing along and eating. These happy grazers, public employees, are going to be comfortable. Damn those fish! They have too comfy a lifestyle. Let's make those fish work harder and longer! The truth is that the public has become the sharks.
The truth is that with uncertainty in the economy, what we are all experiencing is a bit of envy. Why should public employees have such a nice place to feast? We don't the rest of us have such a nice place to retire. There is the problem. The United States has bought into a free-market mentality that has screwed up the jobs market so badly that we're ruined the economy here. It is impossible to have a nice garden inside a glass bubble when the rest of the economy has been ravaged. That is what people dislike.
However, what then? So, if we cut out employee unions we essentially expose the public employees to the distress in the economy that everyone is feeling. Does this fix the problem? Has the economy gotten better?
Is everyone in a better garden now? The answer is no. Like anyone, we all hate paying taxes, but the reason the tax base has been destroyed is because middle class jobs are being destroyed.
Our legislators signed legislation sat by idly while corportate raiders pillaged pensions funds, signed treaties and agreements to ship manufacturing jobs overseas, allowed horrendous fiscal policies during the real estate boom, and all of this has benefitted the financial markets and the wealthy. The wealthy get more money as corporations build their products overseas. It is argued that what is good for business is good for America. That should be revised to "rich" Americans.
The rich do pay taxes, but don't reinvest the money in local economies the way middle class people will. While the wealthy may pay a capital gains tax on dividends or profits, the middle class pay a large number of taxes that benefit local economies. Without decent wages from manufacturing jobs, governments receive less tax revenue. That's the way it is.
If we don't revive the manufacturing element in American society, unless we are rich, we will all be fighting for scraps. So we can go after the public employee unions, but then what? Where are the jobs for our kids supposed to come from? The destruction of our economy has taken many years. We need to look at the root causes if we are going to fix the problem.
The truth is that with uncertainty in the economy, what we are all experiencing is a bit of envy. Why should public employees have such a nice place to feast? We don't the rest of us have such a nice place to retire. There is the problem. The United States has bought into a free-market mentality that has screwed up the jobs market so badly that we're ruined the economy here. It is impossible to have a nice garden inside a glass bubble when the rest of the economy has been ravaged. That is what people dislike.
However, what then? So, if we cut out employee unions we essentially expose the public employees to the distress in the economy that everyone is feeling. Does this fix the problem? Has the economy gotten better?
Is everyone in a better garden now? The answer is no. Like anyone, we all hate paying taxes, but the reason the tax base has been destroyed is because middle class jobs are being destroyed.
Our legislators signed legislation sat by idly while corportate raiders pillaged pensions funds, signed treaties and agreements to ship manufacturing jobs overseas, allowed horrendous fiscal policies during the real estate boom, and all of this has benefitted the financial markets and the wealthy. The wealthy get more money as corporations build their products overseas. It is argued that what is good for business is good for America. That should be revised to "rich" Americans.
The rich do pay taxes, but don't reinvest the money in local economies the way middle class people will. While the wealthy may pay a capital gains tax on dividends or profits, the middle class pay a large number of taxes that benefit local economies. Without decent wages from manufacturing jobs, governments receive less tax revenue. That's the way it is.
If we don't revive the manufacturing element in American society, unless we are rich, we will all be fighting for scraps. So we can go after the public employee unions, but then what? Where are the jobs for our kids supposed to come from? The destruction of our economy has taken many years. We need to look at the root causes if we are going to fix the problem.
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