Dangerous Waters

A colleague, Jeff Harrell, talks about an article in The Austin American Statesman about state job cuts. The article advises for employees to jump ship and try to find another job in the private sector. Jeff disagrees with the article as do I. Don't jump ship because we are already treading in deep water and I don't see any other boats around. Times are tough and our economy is looking bad. Hold on to what you have and lets hope we make it out of this storm alive! This is the "Never Ending Blog" signing out...

College

Through the course of this class our instructor has created a creative way in getting his students to educate themselves in the world of politics and our National Government. On that note, who is implementing our college curriculum? Who decides what we “must” learn in order to achieve a “degree”? Who is providing the information for the curriculum? Why is it that every year almost every teacher is required to choose an “updated 28th edition” book for the class? Why is it that we must achieve a degree in order to find a decent job with benefits? How much debt will I be in after receiving my degree? How much money does the government invest in student loans? How can a piece of paper allow my future employer know I am qualified in the area I am applying for? Why do employers trust degrees from colleges? Do teachers need to make a quota to pass their students? What hand does the Government play with in colleges? Does the Government have a hand in colleges? Do colleges have to file their taxes? Do individual colleges profit off students? What are Colleges goals for its students? Why do I feel intimidated to achieve a degree in order live in America’s standards? Can I achieve knowledge with out obtaining a degree? How has achieving a college degree evolved? How does one achieve a degree? Where does the information one learns from college come from? How has our Government been shaped by college students?

Cutting Education's Funding

In one of my colleague’s posts, Raymond brings up the question to his middle school students, “ Is it a good idea to cut education spending. “ To my surprise all of them agreed it was a bad idea and it shouldn’t happen. It makes me happy to know that kids, our future, can all agree on this. I think it is hard enough in what our teachers must accomplish in the classroom and to take away resources and put more kids in the classroom with less teachers is just absurd. Along with Raymond and his students , I agree that cutting funds for our future generations is a bad idea! In Raymond’s words, “ please keep your carving knives out of our public schools.“

http://natureofstate.blogspot.com/

Who's controlling this monopoly? Certainly not the banks!

I believe the U.S. National Government is not setting a good example for future generations by bailing out industries that “are essential to keep our country operating”. If you have ever played monopoly, the objective is to accumulate most of the property on the board so you have a steady income. As the game continues, things happen, and sometimes you have to mortgage your property to the bank or straight up sell some property to an opponent. When the roll of the dice has changed you slowly get knocked out of the game. Now, what’s going on here in America is our government has decided to change the game up. They made the choice to give money to failing companies under the notion that if these corporations were to fail, which they already are, would cripple the economy and America. So the same people who’s “roll of the dice isn’t working for them” are still operating and managing the still failing corporation just with more money. Our government is teaching future generations that if you start a corporation and it is successful for X amount of time and is being used by everyone in society and if it starts to fail… DON’T WORRY. Every citizen who pays taxes will help you out with out their consent because the government will just give you money since your so essential to our nation. When you change the game to make things easier you will find that the end is much more devastating than if you had not bent the rules. And so the never-ending game continues... with new rules and bailouts.

Taking it all in

We are all instruments composing one song

Air and liquid forming one bubble

Trailing one star



With love and fear travelling parallel with one another

One wonders if it is a race

Intertwined

Coming to an end


Only to crash upon a shore

To wash back into the blue

To begin a new

BOO Standardized Testing!

Grassroots Mom had posted a blog, A 5th Grader says No to NCLB, talking and providing evidence of how standardized testing is being graded here in America. Her 11-year-old son first came up to her wanting to make a movie about high stakes NCLB testing, in Pennsylvania called the PSSA. Specifically, wanting to document how test was hurting his education and that of his schoolmates. This got Grassroots Mom to do some research about the upcoming PSSA testing and the No Child Left Behind Law that G. W. Bush had passed when he was in office, which effects every child enrolled in public schooling. In her blog she provides links to other blogs that explain how the PSSA test are being graded and I have to say that the evidence is a bit disturbing for our future generations. Her researched had brought her to the discovery of DRC, Data Recognition Corp, which is the company that is getting paid to print and grade the test these kids take every year in Pennsylvania. The contracts between the state and DRC are sickening with a $200 million contract in 2009. Soon she comes across an article of someone who is blowing the whistle on the multimillion-dollar essay scoring business. DiMaggio, whistle blower, wrote a book about how he graded the standardized testing and how things were being operated at these grading centers. Very disturbing article! Grassroots Mom’s blog is not bashing standardized testing, but actually is unraveling how standardized testing is being graded and paid for. If the graders of these standardized testing have to meet a certain grade curve just to get paid then how is this benefiting the children taking these types of test? I applaud Grassroots Mom for her curiosity and dedication to wanting to know the inside scoop of standardized testing. The Never Ending Game calls for the abolishing of standardized testing and the money that would have been given to DRC be put back into the school and used appropriately.

The Budget Smokescreen

David Gergen, a former adviser to four presidents, is a senior political analyst for CNN. He is a professor of public service and the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. In an article, The Budget Smokescreen, he talks about the depressing situation shaping up in Washington with the nation’s finances. He informs us, American citizens that the immediate issue is that the federal government will begin shutting down services next Friday unless Congress and the White House can come to an agreement on a spending resolution. “ The sad part: in the end, the amount of money being fought over is only a tiny fraction of the nation’s budget deficit.” Gergen believes what is really beneath the surface of this potential shut down of the federal government is “ who can win over the public and potentially gain the upper hand for the political fights still ahead”. He then acknowledges that Clinton has used this tactic in 1995 to help the Democratic Party. But the problem for both parties is that the opinion of the public is unshaped due to what has recently happened in the Middle East and now with Wisconsin’s bill introduced taking away collective bargaining from public employee unions. Gergen spots out the smoke screen happening in Washington and raises the question, why is our government dodging the debates over Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and taxes? And I for one agree. It seems the never-ending game must continue. How much longer will the American people comply with the behavior out of Washington? Only time will tell.