We need a new conversation about education

We've been talking about Education in economic, market-based terms for nearly a century in this country. Why? Competition has no place in educational access. We cannot and should not place education in the realm of a market. Students are not customers. Our love of economic analysis reflects a deep cultural belief in deservingness, and no other developed nation requires citizens to prove that they deserve an education. To do so is undemocratic and it's immoral. 

Educational policy leaders need to stop engaging in this sort of choice-based talk. Put in terms of choice, we are saying having a substandard option is permissible, and that choosing no education would be possible as well. Saying parents choose schools is like saying people of Flint choose the water.  

As a country, it's time to act as though we value education, at every level, for every neighborhood, as a basic common good, and not a matter of making "the best choice." We cannot compete globally without quality education, but more importantly, we are at risk of failing as a country from within. To be clear, this is not merely some historic policy position. No Child Left Behind essentially punishes schools in lower income neighborhoods by gatekeeping access to federal money through the use of our beloved test scores, a metric that reflects affluence more than any single other factor. 

The state of education in America is so abysmal, it is a miracle that we are in the global ranks at all. A century of deservingness-based policies have decimated human rights in America, and our inclusion on the OECD list seems suspect given that "today’s United States has proved itself to be exceptional in ... problematic ways that are shockingly at odds with its immense wealth and its founding commitment to human rights. As a result, contrasts between private wealth and public squalor abound."

"US infant mortality rates in 2013 were the highest in the developed world.

Americans can expect to live shorter and sicker lives, compared to people living in any other rich democracy, and the “health gap” between the US and its peer countries continues to grow.

US inequality levels are far higher than those in most European countries."

A national commitment to education is a national commitment to its citizens, and the United States needs to right her course through an about-face approach, leaving marketplace competition at the wayside and valuing her people over profit for the first time since the founding of the country. The moral failure of leadership has been with us since we threw tea into a harbor. It will only end when we choose to treat citizens as the reason for our nation to exist instead of as liabilities on a balance sheet.

Let's face it - this is fraud.

Carrier, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, won the $5.1 million award in 2013 after vowing to expand production of energy-efficient gas furnaces at its Indianapolis facility. “Now, they’re going to build them in Mexico instead of building them here,” says Chuck Jones, the president of Indianapolis’s United Steelworkers Local 1999. “It’s a damn shame all the way around. . . . They blind-sided us — 1,400 people and their families are going to be disrupted. . . . There will be no more jobs in Indianapolis.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431248/stimulus-funded-green-manufacturing-carrier-plant-indianapolis-closes-shop

But here, feel better by reading the backstory to Labyrinth

I've Got Sunshine

When you consider that more energy is emitted from the sun and hits the Earth in one hour than all of mankind utilizes in an entire year, some very interesting questions come up. If the technology to capture a sizeable portion of this energy exists and we have the means to do so economically, then why hasn’t the planet transitioned to solar power yet?

The Union of the United States of America

Last night I ran across a rant about people buying steak and lobster with food stamps. This was my response. [Apparently I vented my spleen on someone else's post, something I usually don't do. Apologies to Tree, and many thanks to her for bringing the whole situation to my attention, since I clearly needed to get this out of my system.]

Now, I have never been on food stamps, so some people will say I don't have a right to an opinion; that has never stopped me before, so feel free not to read on if you think I'm out of line.
Basically I would rather see them spend it on steak and lobster to celebrate than on junk food. Call me crazy, but wholesome food is a good thing for tax dollars to buy. In European countries, the real first world, families are given a stipend to help support young children; health care and education are free and available; daycare is subsidized. These are not perks or entitlements; this is a country that ensures the well-being of its citizens, which, if you think for a minute, is the Prime Directive of government. There is no excuse for belittling someone for paying for food. Other people need to sit down and shut up and reconsider why their noses are out of joint.
If I had my way, we would have thirty hour work weeks (including lunch, not excluding it) and six weeks of vacation for everyone. Infants would be subsidized at one-half the poverty level each year from birth until five (yes! Each and every one of them!). Minimum wage would be determined by the poverty rate, which would reflect the real cost of basic food and housing and gasoline, so that if you work a minimum wage job you can support a family [PovertyRate/1500=MinimuWage; it's not rocket science here]. Public schools and libraries would be palaces and teachers, librarians and police/emergency responders/military would be amongst the highest paid professions. Why? Because our citizens deserve to be through with worrying about bread and shoes and need to focus on learning, have time to be creative, and focus on being whole with themselves and their families.
Don't tell me we can't afford it. We spend more bickering with each other than other countries do on being decent. And this is The United States of America. We have every reason to expect to be able to hold our heads high as the wealthiest is the world.
If you think taxes are class warfare, you are absolutely right. Our founding fathers levied huge taxes on the wealthy, and plundered the hoard reflected in large estates with good reason - they were deliberately undermining the ability to create and maintain an aristocracy, for they knew first hand the evils it causes and brings. And most of them were not the poor huddled masses but were quite wealthy themselves. It was a matter of understanding that in this New World, no one would be hungry. No one. Not because of race, color, creed, or gender. Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton and Henry knew from the inside of the upper class the wrongs and dangers of allowing the very rich to sneer at the very poor, and there is only one way to ensure the basic necessities are not trampled: do away with the lower class altogether; dismantle extreme unearned wealth of inheritance; throw open the lanes of access to all that life has to offer; let the only dividing line amongst citizens be a matter of brains and hard work. Never would they have imagined the way we have mucked it all up. It is about what you do once your access is unfettered - a citizenry with no excuses would be an amazing sight to behold, a beacon to the rest of the world, and we are betraying their vision by impeding anyone from basic necessities.
Please feel free to send this to those who want to marginalize the citizens of the United States. I wonder why some people cry so loudly against taking care of our own.