I had a comment on my original blog that asks how someone who has only taught for 3 weeks his whole life would know the answer to fixing our education system. This reminds me of the professors that would look at me like I was some moron for questioning someone like them with all their experience and me with very little. The fact is that I have had very few if any original thoughts on most of these issues. I might add something such as what I will discuss today. But for the most part these ideas have first been tried in other countries, second come from top ranked economist that study the effects of competition in any sector of an economy, and three have been well thought out and not just thrown together and written about.
I asked in the last post why we do not depend on the private sector to educate our children to be able to work in the private sector that we love so much. We hate government ran operations and love most of our private ran operations. Yet I hear liberals talk about how we "can not allow such an important institution be left to the free markets of private competition to operate." What? Private competitive corporations do things efficiently. We should beg them to get into the business of educating our young people!!
If each parent received a "voucher" for each of their children that was estimated to be the amount spent per student in that school system already, that parent should then be able to take that voucher to any school of their choice. This includes both private schools and current "government" schools. For you who say that there is a separation of church and state and thus it would be unconstitutional for that money to be spent at a religious private school of some sort, please stay tuned for future blogs that will explain the fallacy in that argument. Schools would thus compete for your child attending their school. There would be an owner of the school that would hire a principle to run the everyday operations of the school like a CEO would a business. If that principle is not living up to what the owner wants then he is fired. Same thing with teachers that do not perform. Teacher unions would become a non-issue as the CEO would not allow for tenure if he did not want it. Sure there would be Unions that would compete for memberships and promise some of the same promises they do today. But as today in the private sector, unless an owner wants to hire union workers, he or she would not have to. Plus their influence on curriculum would be at a minimum and most importantly could not guarantee tenure.
Schools would not only compete for students by trying to run the best schools and get the best teachers to help teach your child. They would also try to do it while saving as many resources as possible. This is because the school can charge less than what the voucher is worth. Any left over funds could be kept by the school or given to the parent in a form of cash. Thus to incentivize parents to bring their children there, they will get good teachers and do it for as cheap as they can without sacrificing success in academics and sports, and thus convince parents by advertising so much money back in cash from that voucher. Due to this newly created market, money and resources will not be wasted and efficiency will be met.
Your child will receive the best education that can be attained at the best price. If the school is not satisfying the customer, you will shop somewhere else. This would allow those students stuck in failing schools to move out of them into a successful school. The value of the voucher will increase by an inflation amount each year to cover growth in prices. If schools wanted to charge more than what a voucher is worth they could. It is a free market after all. Raises in prices would be needed for really good schools that were successful and saw a large increase in the amount of students attending or wanting to attend. Their school might become over flowing and need new construction. Due to high demand the price rises for a time, thus raising the extra funds needed to build new classrooms so that in just a year or two, more students could then attend it that could not have before at a lower price with the rise in supply of room.
In the next blog I will summarize the proposition and explain more benefits for parents, students, and yes teachers such as myself. Please tune in later.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
White Men Can't Run
Dinesh D'souza recently wrote an article entitled the above title of this blog. He bases it on a book written by Amby Burfoot that chronicles how whites have been less successful in sports that require lots of running. If you watched the Olympics these past couple of weeks and for the past few decades you will learn something that is very interesting and yet almost never spoken about. People originally from Western areas of Africa win most all the races of any type. They are also the people who usually play receiver, defensive back, and running back on the football field. They now even dominate the Defensive line, especially the Defensive End position. Blacks from West African decent dominate in the game of basketball as well. How many times has a mostly Western African descendant basketball team lost in the Olympics? I believe the United States loses one game for ever twenty something they win in the Olympics and world championships. Most of the players- black
The book that D'souza sites in his recent column investigates the reasons for this. Their body type, skeleton and muscle make-up are the main reasons for this. Such a simple answer. Hmmm.. lets see.... one particular ethnicity has a particular build that benefits them to run faster, run longer and jump higher.... That is probably why they compete so much better in those sports that require faster runners, longer runners, and higher jumpers. Why does no one talk about that? D'Souza believes it has something to do with pointing out those advantages would mean that people would point out advantages that the average white person might have over a black person. Thus racism would abound somehow.
Random thought: Why do we hear so much about how many more black coaches we need, black quarterbacks should get a chance, and how few black swimmers there are, but yet nothing about white runners, white basketball players, and white skilled players in football? Maybe D'souza is on to something. This I do know. I'm tired of people being so politically correct that they refuse to simply state the obvious out of fear that the truth might not comfort a political mindset that they have. That being that discrimination still abounds in this terrible country that so many of them think we have.
The book that D'souza sites in his recent column investigates the reasons for this. Their body type, skeleton and muscle make-up are the main reasons for this. Such a simple answer. Hmmm.. lets see.... one particular ethnicity has a particular build that benefits them to run faster, run longer and jump higher.... That is probably why they compete so much better in those sports that require faster runners, longer runners, and higher jumpers. Why does no one talk about that? D'Souza believes it has something to do with pointing out those advantages would mean that people would point out advantages that the average white person might have over a black person. Thus racism would abound somehow.
Random thought: Why do we hear so much about how many more black coaches we need, black quarterbacks should get a chance, and how few black swimmers there are, but yet nothing about white runners, white basketball players, and white skilled players in football? Maybe D'souza is on to something. This I do know. I'm tired of people being so politically correct that they refuse to simply state the obvious out of fear that the truth might not comfort a political mindset that they have. That being that discrimination still abounds in this terrible country that so many of them think we have.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Fixing our education system part 2
Ask yourself a question. What is it that I like best about this country? Just keep it simple nothing too deep.. You know like our grocery stores. Food is always there, they are never out of anything, and it is somewhat cheap considering what goes into the process of actually getting that food there on the counter for you to push a buggy by and pick up. We love our retail stores. Wal-mart, American Eagle, Express, Old Navy, etc.. You name it we love it. Have you gotten mad there before? Maybe when they did not let you take something back or could not get help as fast as you wanted it. But you still shop there out of choice. We have a wide selection of brands to choose from. You can choose to shop for looks, comfort, or price. If you need something cheap.. there is Wal-mart. You might not like their service as much (although I have been treated well there) but if you want to shop for service, go to the stores I mentioned above. Wal-mart is there for its low price. And if you like something in between or a store where you can pick out something of many different brands, you have J.C. Penny, Sears, Belk, Maceys, etc.. You name it, the United States has it.
Why do we like those places so much? I'll tell you why. Because if we didn't, you would go somewhere else and that place would go broke and out of business. So they have to do what they need to do (Wal-mart: keep prices low, Express: Keep up with the trend) to make you happy. Anything ran by the government we usually do not like. The Post Office, Airport Security, Road Construction that takes so long to complete, Medicare, Department of Agriculture, Tax Policies to keep up with, and of course the big one.. Our SCHOOLS! Why do we dislike these things so much? Because those institutions are ran by government which has a monopoly on most of that. If you don't like it.. they lose their job right? NO. It stays no matter what. There is no incentive for them to be productive beyond staying just above water and out of trouble. Which brings me to my point.
Lets allow the private sector to educate our kids. The Private sector runs most of the things we like in our country, why not allow the private sector to prepare our students to work in or run those companies we like so much, in the future. We depend upon the private sector for our food to eat, healthcare to stay healthy, make clothes to cover us, build our homes so they don't collapse on us. Oh but DO NOT dear let the private sector educate us! I don't get it to be honest.
How about this: Government funds our education system with "vouchers" that are sent out to every parent that has a kid that is of school age. Wherever that parent wants to take that child they can do it and the voucher counts as money. The Voucher will equal the amount that is spent on average in your local school system per child. Hypothetically lets say... $8,000 a child. That money now goes to wherever that parent chooses to send their child. This means schools will be competing for your child to go to school there so they can receive that voucher. Currently, students are required to go to a specific school that they are zoned in. This means there is no incentive for that school to do everything it can to impress and make that student and more importantly that student's parent happy with the education he or she is receiving.
Just like our business sector that must do everything it can to out do the other. Our schools would now start trying to out do other schools to get you to send your child there. This helps everyone and every school.
In the next blog I will explain why this works and the benefits to this new system. I promise there will be things in the blog that you have never thought of. I hope you tune in
Why do we like those places so much? I'll tell you why. Because if we didn't, you would go somewhere else and that place would go broke and out of business. So they have to do what they need to do (Wal-mart: keep prices low, Express: Keep up with the trend) to make you happy. Anything ran by the government we usually do not like. The Post Office, Airport Security, Road Construction that takes so long to complete, Medicare, Department of Agriculture, Tax Policies to keep up with, and of course the big one.. Our SCHOOLS! Why do we dislike these things so much? Because those institutions are ran by government which has a monopoly on most of that. If you don't like it.. they lose their job right? NO. It stays no matter what. There is no incentive for them to be productive beyond staying just above water and out of trouble. Which brings me to my point.
Lets allow the private sector to educate our kids. The Private sector runs most of the things we like in our country, why not allow the private sector to prepare our students to work in or run those companies we like so much, in the future. We depend upon the private sector for our food to eat, healthcare to stay healthy, make clothes to cover us, build our homes so they don't collapse on us. Oh but DO NOT dear let the private sector educate us! I don't get it to be honest.
How about this: Government funds our education system with "vouchers" that are sent out to every parent that has a kid that is of school age. Wherever that parent wants to take that child they can do it and the voucher counts as money. The Voucher will equal the amount that is spent on average in your local school system per child. Hypothetically lets say... $8,000 a child. That money now goes to wherever that parent chooses to send their child. This means schools will be competing for your child to go to school there so they can receive that voucher. Currently, students are required to go to a specific school that they are zoned in. This means there is no incentive for that school to do everything it can to impress and make that student and more importantly that student's parent happy with the education he or she is receiving.
Just like our business sector that must do everything it can to out do the other. Our schools would now start trying to out do other schools to get you to send your child there. This helps everyone and every school.
In the next blog I will explain why this works and the benefits to this new system. I promise there will be things in the blog that you have never thought of. I hope you tune in
Friday, August 22, 2008
Fixing our education system
As I complete my second week of my first ever teaching job, I have made some adjustments to my philosophy on education. The adjustments: I can now say that I have experience in our education system and thus my convictions are now stronger than ever that our nation needs to adopt education reform that goes a little like this:
Although our nation spends more money per child for education than every other nation (I'm pretty sure that is correct), Our country still ranks only 19th in the world in terms of education. It is true that all students are educated here and in many of the other countries, poor and disabled students are not counted in the study thus skewing our overall students' performance down. But that does not account for us being ranked as low as 19th. What would I do to change and enhance our education system in America?
Only one thing needs to be changed as far as I can see. This one thing will lead to many other revolutions taking place to fix all the problems with our education system. The troubling thing is this one change is opposed by Teacher Unions, which in addition to Environmentalist, Feminist, and radical civil right activists, have a strangle hold on the Democrat Party. This change would thus require getting Democrats out of Washington. The only way to do that is for republicans to change their recent ways and re-adopt the ideas of economic freedom, restricting government spending, bring back moral standards that end the corruption, and standing up for what you believe in the public square. Republicans such as the president did not defend their policies strongly enough when they were still in power and the democrats took the opening and paraded against the policies of the republicans, and voter opinion shifted. If republicans would get back to their conservative roots and defend themselves in the public square, they will take back the congress and then expand their power. We then need a president that would be revolutionizing not someone like the current president who created comprehensive education reform called: No Child Left Behind.
When this is accomplished, the greatest legislation reform in decades and maybe over a century will take place. This legislation would do only one thing: It would eliminate, with the exception of funding, the entire role of government in our education system. No longer would government ever make any kind of decision in regard to our education system. Government would have only one role. That is that wherever a child decides to attend school, the government would send that school money for that child. That government being the state government as the federal government will never again fund any part of or control any part of our education system. Each individual state will have their own program and decide how best to run their education program. Within a few short years, every state will have adopted a policy of funding the school per student who CHOOSES to attend there. Yes that is right. The child and parents of that child will be able to decide where they attend school. There will never be any such thing as "zoning" for any particular school. Every child can determine, whether currentyl private or currently public school they want to attend.
In the next post I will explain to you why and how having school choice will revolutionize our education system here in America. This change will bring us to the #1 education system in the world, even when you include in it special and handicapped students.
Although our nation spends more money per child for education than every other nation (I'm pretty sure that is correct), Our country still ranks only 19th in the world in terms of education. It is true that all students are educated here and in many of the other countries, poor and disabled students are not counted in the study thus skewing our overall students' performance down. But that does not account for us being ranked as low as 19th. What would I do to change and enhance our education system in America?
Only one thing needs to be changed as far as I can see. This one thing will lead to many other revolutions taking place to fix all the problems with our education system. The troubling thing is this one change is opposed by Teacher Unions, which in addition to Environmentalist, Feminist, and radical civil right activists, have a strangle hold on the Democrat Party. This change would thus require getting Democrats out of Washington. The only way to do that is for republicans to change their recent ways and re-adopt the ideas of economic freedom, restricting government spending, bring back moral standards that end the corruption, and standing up for what you believe in the public square. Republicans such as the president did not defend their policies strongly enough when they were still in power and the democrats took the opening and paraded against the policies of the republicans, and voter opinion shifted. If republicans would get back to their conservative roots and defend themselves in the public square, they will take back the congress and then expand their power. We then need a president that would be revolutionizing not someone like the current president who created comprehensive education reform called: No Child Left Behind.
When this is accomplished, the greatest legislation reform in decades and maybe over a century will take place. This legislation would do only one thing: It would eliminate, with the exception of funding, the entire role of government in our education system. No longer would government ever make any kind of decision in regard to our education system. Government would have only one role. That is that wherever a child decides to attend school, the government would send that school money for that child. That government being the state government as the federal government will never again fund any part of or control any part of our education system. Each individual state will have their own program and decide how best to run their education program. Within a few short years, every state will have adopted a policy of funding the school per student who CHOOSES to attend there. Yes that is right. The child and parents of that child will be able to decide where they attend school. There will never be any such thing as "zoning" for any particular school. Every child can determine, whether currentyl private or currently public school they want to attend.
In the next post I will explain to you why and how having school choice will revolutionize our education system here in America. This change will bring us to the #1 education system in the world, even when you include in it special and handicapped students.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Saddleback Forum with Pastor Rick Warren
Last night Pastor Rick Warren of Sattleback Church in Lake Forest, California, hosted a forum with the Republican and Democrat presidential nominees. If you missed it go to Foxnews.com and watch it. I would say that it was the best forum that I have ever watched in my short history of following presidential politics. I'm not the only one, Charles Krauthammer, columnist and foxnews employee, said it was the best in history. Look for this forum to be used in the future as presidential nominees will be happy to participate in it. During the forum and this Sunday morning as I study World History before leaving for church, I have watched morning coverage of the forum and one thing sticks out to me.
Some believe that the questions were centered around John McCain's strengths. The people that I have seen say this have emphasized that they do not think Pastor Warren did this on purpose but that the questions that he cares about centers around conservative principles. In other words it was not a conspiracy but that McCain was in a comfortable environment talking about points that are more comfortable to him than Barack Obama. Some would defend Warren and say that it was fair and balanced and that it was a great forum I do not know what you are talking about. Conservatives will say that for the first time Obama looks weaker than McCain and your just upset so your making that up!
Not me. I agree with the skeptics. The forum was set up in McCain's favor. I believe that it was a conspiracy. But not a conspiracy against Barack Obama or in favor of John McCain. The conspiracy was that the questions centered around WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE! The questions were tough and centered around leadership, experience, wisdom, seeking more wisdom, belief system, world view, whether evil exist and how do you deal with it, philosophies of life. The questions were tough and to the point. And the questions centered around what is most important about an individual to see if he or she are qualified to be President.
If you are upset that the questions centered around McCain's strengths and Obama's weaknesses, then maybe you democrats should think twice before nominating a postmodern, pragmatist, young, inexperienced, far leftist, communist and Marxist sympathizer like Barack Obama. It is that simple. And I am not being a partisan anti-Obama guy. The man has admitted that he hung out with Marxist professors for guidance. A pastor of a church like Saddleback was perfect for asking questions like that because a Pastor is an occupation that requires the same qualities that a president must have. In one word- Leadership. This and the other topics are Barack's weaknesses because Barack Obama is a weak presidential candidate.
P.S. But he looks good and is a great speaker when he delivers a planned speech!
Some believe that the questions were centered around John McCain's strengths. The people that I have seen say this have emphasized that they do not think Pastor Warren did this on purpose but that the questions that he cares about centers around conservative principles. In other words it was not a conspiracy but that McCain was in a comfortable environment talking about points that are more comfortable to him than Barack Obama. Some would defend Warren and say that it was fair and balanced and that it was a great forum I do not know what you are talking about. Conservatives will say that for the first time Obama looks weaker than McCain and your just upset so your making that up!
Not me. I agree with the skeptics. The forum was set up in McCain's favor. I believe that it was a conspiracy. But not a conspiracy against Barack Obama or in favor of John McCain. The conspiracy was that the questions centered around WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE! The questions were tough and centered around leadership, experience, wisdom, seeking more wisdom, belief system, world view, whether evil exist and how do you deal with it, philosophies of life. The questions were tough and to the point. And the questions centered around what is most important about an individual to see if he or she are qualified to be President.
If you are upset that the questions centered around McCain's strengths and Obama's weaknesses, then maybe you democrats should think twice before nominating a postmodern, pragmatist, young, inexperienced, far leftist, communist and Marxist sympathizer like Barack Obama. It is that simple. And I am not being a partisan anti-Obama guy. The man has admitted that he hung out with Marxist professors for guidance. A pastor of a church like Saddleback was perfect for asking questions like that because a Pastor is an occupation that requires the same qualities that a president must have. In one word- Leadership. This and the other topics are Barack's weaknesses because Barack Obama is a weak presidential candidate.
P.S. But he looks good and is a great speaker when he delivers a planned speech!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Just moved!
Sorry I have been away so long. I got a phone call from the principal at Sequoyah High, close to Sweetwater, Tn, to come in for an interview just three Mondays ago. I interviewed on Tuesday and found out that I had the job just two Mondays ago and had to move by Tuesday and start getting my class set up and attend a lot of meetings. Finally last week was my first week of teaching but I have had to work extra hard to be prepared for that. So I have been away for a time.
I hope you are following the price of gas fall. I predicted it a couple months ago when President Bush lifted the executive band on drilling. This was a step in the right direction and made speculators bid lower prices for oil due to the possibility that Congress will finally get their act together and lift their ban on drilling. If that happens Oil prices will fall another 25 dollars quickly just as it has 25 dollars just recently. Gas will dip another $.25 over the next couple or three weeks unless the markets change again. But as of now it should be close to an average of 3$3.30 which means around where most of you live it will be closer to $3.15. This will still take a few weeks and it also depends on nothing changing between now and then. Lets hope that happens.
It is my opinion that John McCain is polling this close to Obama because of the drilling thing. With the War in Iraq going well the attention has shifted to the economy. The economy is being hampered dramatically by gas prices amongst other things. Republicans have an advantage on oil prices and thus unless Obama switches his position on it as other economic positions, the polls should remain close. Something that no one could have predicted a few months ago with the hype of Obama stirring around the liberal leaning media.
I will soon hopefully have my work here caught up and start blogging again soon. I will soon start a series on our founding documents and the impact of God in our country early on in our history. I will discuss the originality of the phrase : Separation of Church and State. It should be interesting. I hope you tune in.
I hope you are following the price of gas fall. I predicted it a couple months ago when President Bush lifted the executive band on drilling. This was a step in the right direction and made speculators bid lower prices for oil due to the possibility that Congress will finally get their act together and lift their ban on drilling. If that happens Oil prices will fall another 25 dollars quickly just as it has 25 dollars just recently. Gas will dip another $.25 over the next couple or three weeks unless the markets change again. But as of now it should be close to an average of 3$3.30 which means around where most of you live it will be closer to $3.15. This will still take a few weeks and it also depends on nothing changing between now and then. Lets hope that happens.
It is my opinion that John McCain is polling this close to Obama because of the drilling thing. With the War in Iraq going well the attention has shifted to the economy. The economy is being hampered dramatically by gas prices amongst other things. Republicans have an advantage on oil prices and thus unless Obama switches his position on it as other economic positions, the polls should remain close. Something that no one could have predicted a few months ago with the hype of Obama stirring around the liberal leaning media.
I will soon hopefully have my work here caught up and start blogging again soon. I will soon start a series on our founding documents and the impact of God in our country early on in our history. I will discuss the originality of the phrase : Separation of Church and State. It should be interesting. I hope you tune in.
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