Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman
"Investing in Education?"
During a recent medical diagnostic test, the technician explained she was a former elementary school teacher, whom lost the game of teacher layoff musical chairs. She had to reinvent herself, and her current par-time diagnostic work pays better than her full-time old job. I also have a couple of teaching nieces. One of them last year had to take a second job to make ends meet.
I realize that paying lip service to "underpaid teacher" is an American political ritual. Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue: pay teachers more so better students want to become teachers.'
I completely disagree for a number of reasons. First. good students don't necessarily make good teachers. Second, we have thrown a lot of money at public schools with little improvement in student performance. Why not triple Congressional and Presidential salaries to lure better people into politics?
Third I want education majors motivated for intrinsic reasons. I initially intended to major in secondary education at OLL and was strongly considering a teaching order like the Jesuits or the Oblates; I expected teaching would pay enough to maintain a reasonable standard of living, but one does not consider a religious vocation for the purpose of accumulating wealth. I certainly did not major in math and philosophy because all the wealthy mathematicians or philosophers I knew,
Luce points out (and I agree):
The effects of technology are only just beginning to be felt in education and healthcare – the two most labour-intensive areas of the US economy that both suffer from productivity stagnation.We need to reward based on merit: performance and productivity; union contracts and tenure often tie the hands of management, and in many cases school administrations are bloated. An example dysfunctional policy is paying teachers more simply for getting a second education degree.
Charter Schools Bring Competition to the Public Sector
Political Humor
According to a new traffic study, it takes longer to get to work in Washington, D.C., than any other city in the country. On the other hand, they don't do any work once they get there, so it’s pretty much a wash. - Jay Leno
[Unfortunately,the bigger problem is the devil finds work for idle hands. ]
The Department of Justice is trying to block Anheuser-Busch from buying Corona. So they did what everyone else does — got their older brother to buy it for them.. - Jimmy Fallon
[Obama is still peeved stockholders kept Anheuser-Bush from acquiring Obama's Own Brew.]
People are still trying to figure out why the power went out Sunday at the Super Bowl. Today they found out the reason. Turns out China cut off the electricity for nonpayment of our bill. - Jay Leno
[Why not the Federal Reserve, the Senate and the White House?]
The power went out for 35 minutes in the Superdome. It was the most highly viewed power outage since Obama's first debate with Romney. - David Letterman
[Obama was pushing for an even 700 teleprompter speeches during his first term, until his teleprompter wouldn't power on.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Supremes, "Where Did Our Love Go". The first of a string of 5 #1 hits starting in 1964... When the Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown songwriting juggernaut met the greatest girl group ever, the result was pure magic.
