The Romans knew it and so, I believe did the Babylonians. Civilization is NOT possible without good plumbing. Plumbing - the management of water access and waste removal. No modern American home functions without it. But when things go wrong - your life can head south in a hurry.
Today my daughter experienced a leak in the home she and her husband purchased just 2.5 years ago. The main shut-off valve did not stop the flow. WTF?!?! Evidently a separate line with a separate shut-off was laid for the refrigerator and its ice/water mechanism. It took seven hours work by a master plumber to locate the line and shut off valve that was trapped behind sheet rock, stop the water source and fix the leak. The line was illegally (not according to code) installed.
At the end of the ordeal, my daughter was a basket case (she is my daughter, after all), the day had been wasted and the plumber's bill promised to be astronomic and she had a brand new hole in the wall.
Please tell me again why our educational system focuses on the "professional" fields and college educations while the trades are left to scramble?
Shut-off valves are only important when they are urgently needed. It is a VERY good idea to know where they are located and how they work. When it comes to plumbing, sooner or later shit will happen.
Here's what I think...
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
School Budgets and Taxes
Yesterday voters in my town rejected the proposed school budget. Last night the school board passed it anyway. State law permitted its passage because it was not more than 1.6 percent over last year's budget. The new budget entails a 9.8 percent school tax increase. It also contains significant cuts in programs and personnel. The increase is less about escalating cost than the deep cuts in state funds available to local school districts.
While our governor seeks to cap real estate taxes - the means by which school districts, towns, cities and counties fund their services, the state budget contains deep cuts in state aid to local education. This puts local school districts between a rock and a hard place.
Local funding of school districts inevitably results in wide swings in education quality. Wealthier communities are better able to support their public schools, poorer communities struggling under their tax burdens find it difficult. In our stratified society this means the quality of education students receive is usually tied to the size of the local community's wallet.
I have heard many members of my community complain about their school taxes because they do not have children or their children are grown. They believe that education should be the responsibility of the students' parents. This is wrong. A well educated populace is essential to a healthy society.
For now, our educational system is crumbling as fast as the rest of our country's outdated, under-maintained infrastructure. And while Washington and the state capitols cut the "fat" out of national and state budgets, the burden on localities grows heavier and heavier. This tax burden has the additional impact of exacerbating the housing crisis as homeownership becomes more expensive.
We all want the services. We just don't want to pay for them. If current trends continue we won't be able to pay for them.
While our governor seeks to cap real estate taxes - the means by which school districts, towns, cities and counties fund their services, the state budget contains deep cuts in state aid to local education. This puts local school districts between a rock and a hard place.
Local funding of school districts inevitably results in wide swings in education quality. Wealthier communities are better able to support their public schools, poorer communities struggling under their tax burdens find it difficult. In our stratified society this means the quality of education students receive is usually tied to the size of the local community's wallet.
I have heard many members of my community complain about their school taxes because they do not have children or their children are grown. They believe that education should be the responsibility of the students' parents. This is wrong. A well educated populace is essential to a healthy society.
For now, our educational system is crumbling as fast as the rest of our country's outdated, under-maintained infrastructure. And while Washington and the state capitols cut the "fat" out of national and state budgets, the burden on localities grows heavier and heavier. This tax burden has the additional impact of exacerbating the housing crisis as homeownership becomes more expensive.
We all want the services. We just don't want to pay for them. If current trends continue we won't be able to pay for them.
Free Play
The sounds of children playing used to echo through my neighborhood. Their imaginary games were never-ending serials of adventure, science fiction heros, family situations. The girls' activities usually centered around family situations and using Barbie dolls as props; the boys were more into adventure. Of course my daughter Jeanne was the exception. Princess Lea was her heroine, Star Wars was her favorite subject. Fortunately she found a kindred spirit in Billy, the boy next door.
My own childhood revolved around reenactments of favorite Saturday morning TV shows about cowboys and Indians. The hours we spent playing these games are some of my fondest memories. Over the years these sounds have disappeared from the neighborhood. The children living here now go to day care or after-school programs. Their free time has disappeared into a flurry of structured activity - sports, dance, academic enhancement.
Not long ago I went looking for my oldest granddaughter (swim team, dancing, scouting, academic achiever) and found her in the closet of her room, contendedly playing with her Barbies. I immediately apologized for my intrusion, told her what she was doing was a good thing, and left her to it.
It saddens me that a child today has to be reassured that imaginary play is acceptable. Sometimes, while driving to some activity, my husband and I have listened in as our two granddaughters in the back seat acted out some scenario that is obviously an ongoing drama. We exchanged a knowing glance and left the girls to it, relishing our eavesdropping role on a precious childhood ritual.
Today's children are all too often scheduled to the point where they have no time to explore the horizons of their imaginations. This threatens their ability to use the tool of play to work out in terms they understand the world they inhabit.
While their parents concentrate on giving them the best opportunities - in dance, sports, scouting, camp, scholastic activities - they are sometimes deprived of the greatest opportunity of all - to use their own, innate skills to adapt to and make sense of the environment in which they live.
Free play can be challenging to a parent. It can result in squabbles and disagreements that raise voices and are untidy. I believe it is the greatest gift a parent can give their children.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Free Play
The sounds of children playing used to echo through my neighborhood. Their imaginary games were never-ending serials of adventure, science fiction heros, family situations. The girls' activities usually centered around family situations and using Barbie dolls as props; the boys were more into adventure. Of course my daughter Jeanne was the exception. Princess Lea was her heroine, Star Wars was her favorite subject. Fortunately she found a kindred spirit in Billy, the boy next door.
My own childhood revolved around reenactments of favorite Saturday morning TV shows about cowboys and Indians. The hours we spent playing these games are some of my fondest memories. Over the years these sounds have disappeared from the neighborhood. The children living here now go to day care or after-school programs. Their free time has disappeared into a flurry of structured activity - sports, dance, academic enhancement.
Not long ago I went looking for my oldest granddaughter (swim team, dancing, scouting, academic achiever) and found her in the closet of her room, contendedly playing with her Barbies. I immediately apologized for my intrusion, told her what she was doing was a good thing, and left her to it.
It saddens me that a child today has to be reassured that imaginary play is acceptable. Sometimes, while driving to some activity, my husband and I have listened in as our two granddaughters in the back seat acted out some scenario that is obviously an ongoing drama. We exchanged a knowing glance and left the girls to it, relishing our eavesdropping role on a precious childhood ritual.
Today's children are all too often scheduled to the point where they have no time to explore the horizons of their imaginations. This threatens their ability to use the tool of play to work out in terms they understand the world they inhabit.
While their parents concentrate on giving them the best opportunities - in dance, sports, scouting, camp, scholastic activities - they are sometimes deprived of the greatest opportunity of all - to use their own, innate skills to adapt to and make sense of the environment in which they live.
Free play can be challenging to a parent. It can result in squabbles and disagreements that raise voices and are untidy. I believe it is the greatest gift a parent can give their children.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Dismantling Public Education in America
For years we have been told that American public education has fallen behind its global competitors and must be fixed. Programs like "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" were designed to fix the system's shortcomings. We were informed the United States had no hope of competing in the global marketplace without an educated populace.
But now... across the United States tens of thousands of teachers are being laid off as beleaguered states and municipalities confront unmanageable budget deficits. Funding for public schools and colleges is being slashed to the bone.
Teaching is labor-intensive. It involves long hours trying to interest pupils in something besides I-Tunes, YouTube, texting, trolling the mall and watching television. Not all teachers are created equal. Some few can stimulate the most obstreperous youngsters. Others can bore the pants off the most eager students. Most fall somewhere in between. The larger the class size, the more difficult the challenge.
The nuns at the parochial school I attended in the 1950s proved it is possible to teach large classes. They were able to create an atmosphere of rigid discipline. If you acted up in the line to lunch (military precision was expected), you probably got a not-so-gentle tap from the "clacker" every nun carried. For a classroom breach of behavior, you might be sent to stand at attention in the hall for 15 minutes, then submit to a tongue-lashing that flayed your soul. If misbehavior persisted, you would be sent to "Sister Superior." In class you could be held up to your classmates' ridicule and contempt. If all else failed? You were expelled and sent to the public school system, which had to accept you.
Public educators do not have access to such methods. They are expected to handle larger and larger classes and handle discipline problems without effective tools and with precious little support from either their administrators or communities.
Teachers pay a lot for their education - tens of thousands of dollars, much of it at public colleges. If there are no jobs, students are not going to make that sacrifice to enter the field.
So, as more and more teachers are laid off and the unions that support those that remain are weakened, we will experience further deterioration of public education.
Do we have an alternative? It's difficult to see one at this point. If the funds are not there, they are not there. In a society that no longer makes anything and in which minimum wage jobs and high unemployment have become the norm, the tax revenues do not support the costs.
Are we in deep doodoo? You betcha.
But now... across the United States tens of thousands of teachers are being laid off as beleaguered states and municipalities confront unmanageable budget deficits. Funding for public schools and colleges is being slashed to the bone.
Teaching is labor-intensive. It involves long hours trying to interest pupils in something besides I-Tunes, YouTube, texting, trolling the mall and watching television. Not all teachers are created equal. Some few can stimulate the most obstreperous youngsters. Others can bore the pants off the most eager students. Most fall somewhere in between. The larger the class size, the more difficult the challenge.
The nuns at the parochial school I attended in the 1950s proved it is possible to teach large classes. They were able to create an atmosphere of rigid discipline. If you acted up in the line to lunch (military precision was expected), you probably got a not-so-gentle tap from the "clacker" every nun carried. For a classroom breach of behavior, you might be sent to stand at attention in the hall for 15 minutes, then submit to a tongue-lashing that flayed your soul. If misbehavior persisted, you would be sent to "Sister Superior." In class you could be held up to your classmates' ridicule and contempt. If all else failed? You were expelled and sent to the public school system, which had to accept you.
Public educators do not have access to such methods. They are expected to handle larger and larger classes and handle discipline problems without effective tools and with precious little support from either their administrators or communities.
Teachers pay a lot for their education - tens of thousands of dollars, much of it at public colleges. If there are no jobs, students are not going to make that sacrifice to enter the field.
So, as more and more teachers are laid off and the unions that support those that remain are weakened, we will experience further deterioration of public education.
Do we have an alternative? It's difficult to see one at this point. If the funds are not there, they are not there. In a society that no longer makes anything and in which minimum wage jobs and high unemployment have become the norm, the tax revenues do not support the costs.
Are we in deep doodoo? You betcha.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Broken in Twain
New editions of Mark Twain's iconic Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, characterized as "school friendly" are about to be published. These versions change every use of the word "nigger" to "slave" and every "injun" to "Indian." Because, of course, those words are politically incorrect.
[Click on this post's title for more source material.]
Supporters of the editions claim they will make the frequently censored classics readily available to students. I heard one educator assert today on public radio that high school students are not mature enough to read the unexpurgated versions and to assign them would give teachers the impossible task of trying to teach the novels to their diverse student populations.
Thank heavens our children are being shielded from the unvarnished dialect of our most American of writers. How fortunate that their sensitive souls are protected from a forthright portrayal of racism in pre-Civil War America. The fact that not all black people of that time were slaves is a minor point conveniently to be glossed over.
Changing Twain's words to slave and Indian may disrupt the perfect replication of his subjects' dialect, but surely this is a small price to pay for a wider readership and more comfortable students and teachers.
Education is supposed to be challenging, you say? What a preposterous concept in 21st century America.
[Click on this post's title for more source material.]
Supporters of the editions claim they will make the frequently censored classics readily available to students. I heard one educator assert today on public radio that high school students are not mature enough to read the unexpurgated versions and to assign them would give teachers the impossible task of trying to teach the novels to their diverse student populations.
Thank heavens our children are being shielded from the unvarnished dialect of our most American of writers. How fortunate that their sensitive souls are protected from a forthright portrayal of racism in pre-Civil War America. The fact that not all black people of that time were slaves is a minor point conveniently to be glossed over.
Changing Twain's words to slave and Indian may disrupt the perfect replication of his subjects' dialect, but surely this is a small price to pay for a wider readership and more comfortable students and teachers.
Education is supposed to be challenging, you say? What a preposterous concept in 21st century America.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Why did we invade Iraq?
War is the continuation of diplomacy using other means, Carl von Clausewitz.
Why did our leaders decide to invade Iraq? Since the public is never trusted with the full picture, what follows is speculation.
Iraq probably seemed like a sure thing, a no-brainer.
Did any of these reasons justify the war? I certainly don't think so and didn't then. I believe going to war in Iraq was one of the worst foreign policy decisions this country ever made. This disastrous decision was made worse by the incredible incompetency of its execution.
Execution of the War
None of the civilians planning and starting the war had military or combat experience. Colin Powell, who did, was sidelined, then co-opted, then again sidelined. Generals who disagreed with the tactical and strategic methodologies of the invasion received short shrift -- many were reassigned or were forced into or opted for early retirement.
A pity none of the civilians had read Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz or had a background in military history. Even a good football coach knows that the best game plans rarely survive the first set of downs. Absolutely no flexibility to adapt to the unexpected was built into the campaign. Suggestions by commanders in the field for adjustments to conditions on the ground were adamantly resisted by Rumsfeld's War Department.
I reiterate my point in an earlier blog, successful civilian oversight of the military requires civilian commanders who are well educated in military matters. Otherwise they enter war room briefings unequipped to make good decisions. If they wait until they take office, it is too late. Events will overtake them.
Study of history and civics is absolutely essential to a viable society.
Why did our leaders decide to invade Iraq? Since the public is never trusted with the full picture, what follows is speculation.
Iraq probably seemed like a sure thing, a no-brainer.
- Despite the absence of evidence of WMD, Saddam's posturing made their existence appear highly likely.
- In a region dominated by religious states, Iraq was secular. The possibility of religious factionalism must have been judged remote.
- Iraq was governed by an extremely unpopular tyrant.
- Iraq had rich oil fields.
Did any of these reasons justify the war? I certainly don't think so and didn't then. I believe going to war in Iraq was one of the worst foreign policy decisions this country ever made. This disastrous decision was made worse by the incredible incompetency of its execution.
Execution of the War
None of the civilians planning and starting the war had military or combat experience. Colin Powell, who did, was sidelined, then co-opted, then again sidelined. Generals who disagreed with the tactical and strategic methodologies of the invasion received short shrift -- many were reassigned or were forced into or opted for early retirement.
A pity none of the civilians had read Sun Tzu or Carl von Clausewitz or had a background in military history. Even a good football coach knows that the best game plans rarely survive the first set of downs. Absolutely no flexibility to adapt to the unexpected was built into the campaign. Suggestions by commanders in the field for adjustments to conditions on the ground were adamantly resisted by Rumsfeld's War Department.
I reiterate my point in an earlier blog, successful civilian oversight of the military requires civilian commanders who are well educated in military matters. Otherwise they enter war room briefings unequipped to make good decisions. If they wait until they take office, it is too late. Events will overtake them.
Study of history and civics is absolutely essential to a viable society.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Pet Peeve: Productivity Gains
When I hear that American productivity has improved, I visualize...
1. Wringing the last drop of sweat from American workers.
2. Stagnating wages.
3. Elimination of benefits like vacation days, sick pay, health insurance and pension plans.
4. Off-shoring every job that can possibly be placed in a country that does not have minimum wage standards.
Labor-intensive sectors suffer competitive disadvantages in an era of productivity gains. The spiraling costs of education, health care and government are often blamed on inefficiency. But cost control frequently results in:
1. Larger classrooms per teacher, elimination of extracurricular programs, dropping "non essential" academic subjects like music, art, foreign languages.
2. Hiring more aides and fewer RNs, using physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners in place of physicians, decreasing the number of minutes per visit a health care professional spends with patients, heavy reliance on pharmaceutical therapies.
3. Privatizing military functions and prisons, infrastructure deterioration, underfunding watch dog agency budgets (FDA, EPA, SEC, etc.).
I suspect automation of repetitive tasks and increased efficiency through the placement of advanced technologies in factories and offices are no longer the major components of "productivity gains."
1. Wringing the last drop of sweat from American workers.
2. Stagnating wages.
3. Elimination of benefits like vacation days, sick pay, health insurance and pension plans.
4. Off-shoring every job that can possibly be placed in a country that does not have minimum wage standards.
Labor-intensive sectors suffer competitive disadvantages in an era of productivity gains. The spiraling costs of education, health care and government are often blamed on inefficiency. But cost control frequently results in:
1. Larger classrooms per teacher, elimination of extracurricular programs, dropping "non essential" academic subjects like music, art, foreign languages.
2. Hiring more aides and fewer RNs, using physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners in place of physicians, decreasing the number of minutes per visit a health care professional spends with patients, heavy reliance on pharmaceutical therapies.
3. Privatizing military functions and prisons, infrastructure deterioration, underfunding watch dog agency budgets (FDA, EPA, SEC, etc.).
I suspect automation of repetitive tasks and increased efficiency through the placement of advanced technologies in factories and offices are no longer the major components of "productivity gains."
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sexism in America - a reader weighs in...
Note: Mary Sulzer is a "parent activist" - that is she is actively involved in her children's education, both at home and at school, in addition to an incredible array of other youth activities.
Mary wrote:
"I have felt for a long time that the cause suffragettes suffered and died for, all the strides feminists like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem spent their adult lives working towards, have been totally erased by our current pop culture. One need only visit any local high school and view who these young girls choose to emulate... most of them look like they are auditioning for a hip-hop video!! And who can blame them; thanks to our sexualized society, they are getting that message at an early age thanks to movies, TV, magazines, Internet... what happened to striving to break the glass ceiling??? I think all of us of a certain age are totally disgusted with the way respect for women in general has been backsliding over the years... how did it get to this point, and how can we make changes??
"Sorry if the above seems to be a disjointed rant, but this subject is one we all should be concerned about. A whole generation of young people have less positive attitudes toward women. I spend a lot of time in the company of young males, and it seems as though "relationships" take a backseat to "hooking up." Was it always this way and I just didn't notice?"
Mad Malie answered:
"I think teenagers have always been at the mercy of their hormones. Despite that they also seem to want to make a difference and can be very idealistic. But the current generation has been assaulted by a barrage of unhealthy stereotypes and standards since early childhood. Add to that an education system that concentrates on creating automatons that pass tests without understanding the material and it is all part of the dumbing down of America. You can't argue with the idealism when you see those that enlist to fight for their country or the numbers that got actively involved in the Obama campaign. Unfortunately this idealism has sometimes been mercilessly used by cynical leaders."
Mary replied:
"You are so right on with regard to the current problems facing educators today. Good teachers are stymied and hamstrung by the rigid confines of the curriculum, which is one reason it is so hard to find inspiring, electric educators that students remember long after they have graduated. I am dismayed at how some teachers in the school system here choose to relate to the students... letting them call them by their first names, using inappropriate language (to seem cool to them). The claim is that SAT scores are rising, but what does that mean for kids who cannot learn the traditional ways, or worse think outside the box and are not encouraged and commended? It would be great if you could conduct a random poll to see what others thought of these issues, especially young women."
Mad Malie:
"Oh Mary, Mary quite contrary, you are making me think a series on education should be in the works!"
Mary wrote:
"I have felt for a long time that the cause suffragettes suffered and died for, all the strides feminists like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem spent their adult lives working towards, have been totally erased by our current pop culture. One need only visit any local high school and view who these young girls choose to emulate... most of them look like they are auditioning for a hip-hop video!! And who can blame them; thanks to our sexualized society, they are getting that message at an early age thanks to movies, TV, magazines, Internet... what happened to striving to break the glass ceiling??? I think all of us of a certain age are totally disgusted with the way respect for women in general has been backsliding over the years... how did it get to this point, and how can we make changes??
"Sorry if the above seems to be a disjointed rant, but this subject is one we all should be concerned about. A whole generation of young people have less positive attitudes toward women. I spend a lot of time in the company of young males, and it seems as though "relationships" take a backseat to "hooking up." Was it always this way and I just didn't notice?"
Mad Malie answered:
"I think teenagers have always been at the mercy of their hormones. Despite that they also seem to want to make a difference and can be very idealistic. But the current generation has been assaulted by a barrage of unhealthy stereotypes and standards since early childhood. Add to that an education system that concentrates on creating automatons that pass tests without understanding the material and it is all part of the dumbing down of America. You can't argue with the idealism when you see those that enlist to fight for their country or the numbers that got actively involved in the Obama campaign. Unfortunately this idealism has sometimes been mercilessly used by cynical leaders."
Mary replied:
"You are so right on with regard to the current problems facing educators today. Good teachers are stymied and hamstrung by the rigid confines of the curriculum, which is one reason it is so hard to find inspiring, electric educators that students remember long after they have graduated. I am dismayed at how some teachers in the school system here choose to relate to the students... letting them call them by their first names, using inappropriate language (to seem cool to them). The claim is that SAT scores are rising, but what does that mean for kids who cannot learn the traditional ways, or worse think outside the box and are not encouraged and commended? It would be great if you could conduct a random poll to see what others thought of these issues, especially young women."
Mad Malie:
"Oh Mary, Mary quite contrary, you are making me think a series on education should be in the works!"
Monday, July 12, 2010
I Think, Therefore I am Human
Having a thinking brain is unsettling. Our thoughts turn to mysteries - how does the world work? How did we get here? What is death - is it the end or a new beginning? Why do some people hate other people? What are the rules - of nature, of behavior, of society? How can we live well? What is valuable to life and what is damaging to it? Why are some people healthy and some sickly? Why are there rich and poor, strong and weak? Why are some people survivors and some not? How can we make things better? What makes them worse?
In the absence of absolute answers, we supply our own theories or adopt those of others. To supply our own takes work. Adopting others' should also take work. Easy explanations are seductive, but often too simplistic. To accept them uncritically is a betrayal of our gift - a thinking brain.
Education should stretch the capacity of the thinking brain, not stifle it.
In the absence of absolute answers, we supply our own theories or adopt those of others. To supply our own takes work. Adopting others' should also take work. Easy explanations are seductive, but often too simplistic. To accept them uncritically is a betrayal of our gift - a thinking brain.
Education should stretch the capacity of the thinking brain, not stifle it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
