California Today, Texas Tomorrow-2

"The demographer who warned a decade ago about Texas' unhappy mix of dismal education achievement and high poverty is more concerned than ever. Actually, he's frightened. ... Some don't see much leadership from politicians or the private sector in attacking the trend line that demographer Steve Murdock says will result in three of every 10 workers not having a high school decuation by 2040. ... The state's public schools have more and more low-income kids and persistently high dropout rates--and unless that changes, the future of Texas will contain more long-term unemployment and poverty--and more folks depending on food stamps, Medicaid and CHIP, Murdock said. ... The trend line also is clear: School districts with large numbers of low-income students have higher dropout rates. Large school districts where low-income students make up at least 80 percent of the enrollment have dropout/attrition rates of 50 percent or more. ... 'Every kid deserves to be educated, and we're going to figure out what it takes and do it,' said Bill hammond, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business. ... If nothing changes, average Texas household incomes will be about $6,500 lower in 30 years than they were in 2000, according to Murdock's projections. That number is not adjusted for inflation, so it would be worse than it appears. ... He sees only two solutions: Texas must do more to prepare preschoolers anbd must boost grants to provide financial help for college. ... The exact extent of the dropout problem is unknown. ... Murdock said it's critical for Texans to understand 'that our future is tied to these kids' future'," Gary Scharrer at the Houston Chronicle, 21 June 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7063520.html.

Our future looks bleak. Disagreeing with Murdock, there is another solution.

Texas Schools Pass Stress Tests!

"Even with such low standards, the Texas Education Agency decided to rate hundreds of Texas schools and scores of Texas districts as 'academically acceptable' last year--the lowest 'passing' catagory--by counting thousands of students who flunked the TAKS as passing it. ... For example, TEA reported that statewide the number of 'exemplary' campuses, the highest rating, more than doubled from 1,000 in 2008 to 2,158 in 2009. But without the statistical projections that some failing students would later pass, the increase would have been only 44 campuses. ... [Scott] Hochberg said the new system is disturbing not only because of the large number of schools that are receiving upgraded ratings under it, but also because of the statistical formula itself. ... 'But they're not doing that,' [Hochberg] said.'If you're projected going up, you're counted as passing. But if you're projected going down, you're not counted as not passing'," Rick Casey at the Houston Chronicle, 20 June 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/7063167.html

Stress tests for Texas! Financial engineering for schools! I had noticed more schools with signs indicating they were exemplary. Yeah, sure. Accept no government statistic at face value.

TAKS Progress

"Texas schoolchildren generally performed better on the all-important TAKS test this year, but some superintendents, state lawmakers and statisticians are casting doubt on the gains. That's because the Texas Education Agency required students to answer fewer questions correctly to pass most section of the Texas Assessnment of Knowledge and Skills. In some cases, students could pass by getting fewer than half of the items right--an unusually low standard, according to several education researchers. ... According to a Houston Chronicle analysis of TEA data, the state lowered the passing standards more this year than they have in at least the last two years. ... TEA Deputy Associate Commissioner Gloria Zyzkowski said agency officials set the bars high enough so 'students can't pass the test by chance alone", my emphasis, Ericka Mellon at the Houston Chronicle, 8 June 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7041445.html.

Not by chance alone. That's reassuring. No government statistic should be accepted at face value. I note the standards are lowered yearly.

Butchering the Sacred Cow

"This will not be done because Americans do not really want major spending cuts. To demonstrate my point, let us consider America's sacred cow, tax-funded education. ... That would mean expenditures in the range of $800 billion a year. If we assume that about 80% of these expenditres are funded by governments at various levels, we are talking something in the range of $600-$650 billion a year. ... There is also nothing that says that a government has the moral authority to coerce parents who hold to one view of education, or one view of how the world works, to subsidize the educations of other families, whose children attend schools that teach a view of the world closer to that approved by the subsidized parents. To say this is to announce one of the most hated heresies of the modern world. I mean 'heresy' in the good old-fashioned way that is was meant in the Middle Ages and in virtually any society prior to the Enlightenment. This heresy involved calling into question the legitimacy of a priesthood, self-appointed and self-policed, which gains its money from the civil government. ... The modern priesthood is the educational establishment in each nation. Tax funding goes to those institutions that have been certified as reputable by the priesthood. ... The state regulates educational establishments, even including home schools, in order to preserve control over the content and methodology of education. In earlier centuries, a similar oligarchy was run in conjunction with state funding and also state coercion. Churches policed the society, including the morals of society, by means of a monopoly granted to them by the civil government. ... The modern educational system is far more compulsory than churches were in New England in 1665. The school bus system is indicative of just how compulsory it is. On this point, read my story of the two buses. ... In the modern world, anyone who suggests that all tax money should be withdrawn from the funding of educational programs is regarded as a crackpot. I am such a crackpot. I believe that the state does not have a moral right to compel parents to support other people's educations. If it were my decision, I would shut off the funding by the state for every school in the [US], including the military academies. This would add something in the range of $600 billion to the private sector. Governments would not be able to persuade parents and others to hand over their money at the point of a gun from one person in order to subsidize the education of another person. ... In order to discuss tax-funded education, I want to change the topic from tax support of educational institutions to tax support of churches. The logic that I am about to present applies equally well to both forms of institutional arrangements. But the public is unwilling to accept the logic of the disestablishment of churches when it is applied to disestablishment of education. ... Politicians rarely give much thought to the fundamental issues of life. They are too busy getting elected and reelected. They cannot devote the time necessary to sort out fundamental truths from fundamental errors. ... To allow this year's majority in the state legislature to set standards for what should be taught in the churches is to grant them too much power to shape the thinking of the voters. ... The politicians will use the power of civil government to extend the public's acceptance of those political views and political conclusions that are favored by the present majority in the legislature. This will turn politics into a battle zone between rival churches. ... Competition is basic to progress in every area of life. ... The public is kept from hearing new ideas, better ideas, and more effectively preached ideas precisely because congratations are not in control of the purse strings. ... It is worth noting that within five years of the decision of the Massachusetts government to cease funding the Congregational churches of the state, the government began funding local schools", my emphasis., Gary North at Lew Rockwell, 12 June 2010, link:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north853.html.

Certified? Like the PCAOB and CPAs? Monopoly? Sounds like Saudi Arabia. Political choice? Why do politicians like Keynesian economics anyway? Are government "economists" really priests? Five years. How interesting. Within four years of the Fed's creation we were in World War I.

KC's Scholastic Catastrophe

"Westport High is a magnificent old building, all brick and fine masonry, set high on a hill in the heart of town. It's more than 100 years old, just a few blocks from where Ernest Hemmingway lived before he went off to drive ambulances in the Great War. So one might expect an angry roar against its inclusion in a plan to close nearly half of Kansas City's 57 public schools this summer. Instead the vibe is more, What took you so long? ... School districts all over the country are wrestling with problems in urban centers, but Kansas City's plan has caught national attention because of its scope. ... The situation n New Orleans was 'created by a natural disaster. [KC] is due to a human-made disaster,' says Jack Jennnings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a public-school advocacy group. ... Money hasn't been the problem. In 1985, a federal judge ordered the state to pony up $2 billion to address decades of unconstitutional treatment of black children. ... Meanwhile kids weren't proficient in the basics--and still aren't. At a majority of the schools, fewer than one-quarter of the students were proficient in math and English last year. On any given day, the buildings are half empty. [KC] had some 75,000 public-school students in the 1960s. Today it has about 17,000", my emphasis, Karen Ball at Time, 14 June 2010: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1993877,00.html.

Wow. KC's public schools have 17,000 students and 3,000 employees, one for every six students. What do they all do? Look at the money KC spent at the behest of an ignoramus federal judge. The time will come when localities ignore federal judges' orders and dare the judges to imprison everyone in the locality. The waiting lists for jail grow daily. What was supposedly unconstitutional about KC's treatment of black school children anyway?

What Secret?

"It has been the dirty little secret of higher education for decades: Ten of thousands of college students can't do the work. ... But relatively few students who need the classes go on to earn a degree, raising questions about whether money spend on developmental education is a wise investment. 'It's all about efficiency,' said Jim Pickard, a program director at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 'What are we sending these kids to college for?' ... 'It's a matter of finances, and it's a matter of work force development,' said Donetta Goodall, vice chancellor of academic affairs and student success at Lone Star College, which serves suburban Houston and where about two-thirds of students require at least one remedial course. ... Well over half of community college students are unprepared for college classes--the number approaches 70 percent at Houston Community College--with low-income students more likely to need help than their wealthier peers. ... There are lots of reasons students aren't ready for college. ... And despite efforts to impose a more rigorous high school curriculum--including new standards requiring all students to take four years of math and science--not everyone who graduates from a Texas high school is ready for college. ... So there are, enrolled in college in the midst of a push from legislators, business leaders and others to produce more college graduates. ... In Texas, the pressure is heightened by a projected $18 billion budget deficit and a growing population of low-income Latinos, historically the group least likely to earn a college degree. ... Developmental education is one of the biggest stumbing blocks. Fewer than 10 percent of students who require more than a few remedial classes even make it to college-level classes, [Diane] Troyer said", my emphasis, Jeannie Kever at the Houston Chronicle, 23 May 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7018694.html.

"We've lowered the education requirements so all can pass. By doing so, we have taken education out of the education system. ... We continue to dumb down the education system, and are producing better idiots", James West letter to the Houston Chronicle, 30 May 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7028573.html.

Who is suprised by this? Why do we need more college graduates? Could IQ be a reason? What's the problem? Felipe Calderon (FC) said, "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican there is Mexico", NYT, 3 September 2007. What percentage of Mexicans are college graduates? Why should a higher percentage be realized in the US? Calderon's statement is noteworthy. I believe FC made a DECLARATION OF WAR! Some other Americans see it that way too. Currently 12% of 18 year-old Mexicans are enrolled in higher education. What percentage of Mexicans who coincidentally are north of the border does say FC think should be enrolled in college in the US?

Yes West.

Ode to Obama

"First came a stimulus bill that, while aimed mainly at ending a deep recession, also set out to remake the nation's education system and vastly expanded scientific research. Then President Obama signed a health care bill that was the biggest expansion of the safety net in 40 years. And now Congress is in the final stages of a bill that would tighten Wall Street's rules and probably shrink its profit margins. If there is a theme to all of this, it has been to try to lift economic growth while also reducing income inequality. ... By focusing on long-term problems, Mr. Obama and the Democrats have given less than their full attention to the economy's current weakness and turned off a good number of voters. ... Still, the turnabout since Jan. 20--the first anniversary of Mr. Obama's inauguration and the day after Scott Brown, a Republican, won a Senate seat in liberal Massachusetts--has been remarkable. ... Today, he looks more like a liberal answer to Ronald Reagan. ... Every major piece of the Obama agenda is meant, in part, to push back against inequality. ... The financial regulation bill, meanwhile, would take several steps likely to reduce Wall Street's profits--and Wall Street has created more multimillionaires in recent decades than any other industry. ... Most striking, the administration is trying to improve public education by introducing more market competition. ... These education changes--combined with increased spending on science research--are meant to lift economic growth. ... Economists have long considered education and technology to be main ingredients in growth", my emphasis, David Leonhardt (DL) at the NYT, 22 May 2010, link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/business/economy/22leonhardt.html.

What can I say? Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism wanted this pieced shredded, so here goes. "In the [1930s], [FDR] created the [SEC] and [FDIC]. Now [America] was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the [American continent], and the Spirit of [Obama] was hovering over the waters. And [Obama] said let there be [a stimulus bill], and there was a [stimulus bill]. [Obama] saw the [stimulus bill] was good, and he separated the [United States] from the [recession]. [Obama] called the [stimulus bill] '[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act]' and the darkness he called 'recession'. And there was evening and, and there was morning--the first [few months]. And [Obama] said, 'Let there be [no] expanse between the [ethnic groups educational attainments] to separate [group] from [group]. So [Obama and Duncan] made the expanse [shrink] and [no longer] separated the [group] under the expanse from the [group] above it. And it was so. [Obama] called the [ended] expanse [academic achievement]. And there was evening and morning--the next few months", Genesis, 1:1-10 (NIV) with apologies to the original.

DL's piece is so bad. It isn't even good pro-Obama propaganda. It's almost a parody. The current "Wall Street reform bill" looks like a show piece to mollify the peasants with pitchforks. Expand scientific research while reducing NASA spending? Sure. What big expansion of the "safety net"? It's a rearrangement: kill old white women and expand medical care for illegal aliens and their children. Focusing on "long-term problems"? The "never let a crisis go to waste crowd"? What about the combined social security and medicare actuarial deficits variously estimated at $60-115 trillion? His education bill is just another teachers' unions payoff. It will not improve education in the US, which is a big waste of money. We need more, not fewer dropouts. Voxeu had an interesting 18 May 2010 piece on education, link: http://voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/5058. One author, Robert Barro is a Harvard economics professor. The other, Jong-Wha Lee, got his PhD at Havard. "The estimates for the group of advanced countries, East Asia and the Pacific, and South Asia are the highest at 13.3%. In contrast, the estimated rates of return are only 6.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 6.5% in Latin America". Hmm. Hey Barro and Lee, have you read IQ and the Wealth of Nations? I think I can explain what you found! For that matter, have you read Vance Packard's The Status Seekers, 1959, about degrees and "signalling"? The bloom is falling off the educational rose.

Whose History?

"The State Board of Education's proposed revisions for K-12 social studies curricula have come under fire from the radical left. ... Studies have revealed how unbalanced America's humanities departments are. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a large margin. In the history department at the University of Texas at Austin, out of 50 registered voters, only one is a Republican. Moderate and conservative Democrats are also rare. This political slant is reinforced by the economics of scholarship: Academic historians have been trained and have invested their careers in a profession that counts as legitimate only those subfields that support the leftist orthodoxy. Military history, for example, has almost entirely died off; not a single professor of history at UT-Austin lists military history as a primary speciality, while dozens list sexuality, ethnicity and anti-colonialism. ... Thus, robber barrons, the New Deal and the civil rights movement are in, but the contributuions of inventors and entrepreneurism, the decline of the family and the failures of welfare programs and public education are out. The new standards represent real progress. They don't go far enough in challenging orthodoxy, but they are a step in the right direction. ... This artificallly inflated controversy points to a larger issue: The people must not develp the habit of blind deference to so-called academic experts. ... The fundamental question is this: Shall we continue to have a government ruled by the people, or shall we instead, yield to a self-perpetuating caste of quasi-official experts", Robert Koons (RK) at the Houston Chronicle, 14 May 2010, link:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/7004327.html.

Henry Ford said "History is bunk". Amen. RK is a UT philosphy professor.

California Today, Texas Tomorrow?

"If you want to see how profoundly the state's population is changing, look at the faces of the children in Texas public school classrooms. In all but rural areas, Hispanic enrollment is rapidly surpassing that of whites. Hispanic schoolchildren make up nearly 49 percent of Texas' 4.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade students, according to the Texas Education Agency. ... Now, they must confront the realization that the state is not adequately funding education of a growing population that is generally poorer and less proficient in English. ... The shift appears to be driven by birth rates and immigration, not simply 'white flight' to private schools. The gap grows every year and is wider in the early elemanetary school grades, where Hispanic children now make up a majority. ... But the combination of high numbers of limited english-proficient students, even higher numbers of children from low-income families and persistently high dropout rates worry some educators and demogaphers. During the past decade, enrollment from low-income families has grown to 2.8 million, or nearly 59 percent of all students. The number of English-language learners has increased to nearly 816,000. ... Manuel Rodriguez Jr, president of the Texas Mexican American School Board Association and a member of the Houston ISD board [said], 'millions and millions have been spent on dropout prevention measures, and it hasn't changed the numbers.' ... Steve Murdock, now on the faculty of Rice University [said], 'The demographics are very overpowering, and we clearly show signs of falling farther behind. It is, as we have noted, the major challenge to Texas' future'," my emphasis, Gary Scharrer at the Houston Chronicle, 16 May 2010, link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7007046.html.

"If the American Dream is upward economic mobility and arrival in the middle class, the grim statistics show only a small percentage of Texas' Hispanics are on the road to success. As the state's Latino population continues to expand over the next two decades, if current treands stay the same, Texas is in danger of developing what one academic describes as a 'permanent underclass.' Widespread poverty could pull down the standard of living for all Texans. ... Hispanic girls accounted to 62 percent of all births to teen mothers in 2006, the most recent year reported by the National Center for Health Statistics. ... St. Mary's University political scientist Henry Flores said ... 'Texas has been the cradle of the Hispanic middle class, what there is of it nationally. ... But if you look at the overall percentages of Hispanics of higher degrees and professional occupations, it's very, very small.' ... 'If things don't change, you're going to see a continuing Hispanic underclass'," RG Ratcliffe at the Houston Chronicle, 17 May 2010: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7008236.html.

Quoted without comment.

Isn't creating an underclass what our "open borders" advocates want? "Feature, not bug", as Yves Smith says. If we didn't have enough poor people, what would our poverty warriors fight? What's Flores' problem? Absent an underclass, what would he have to study? See my 4 April 2008 post:

http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2008/04/no-mexican-child-left-behind.html. As Texas demographics approach Mexico's, Texans average living standard will approach that of Mexicans. It's that simple.

Collegescam

"In a town dominated by the University of Missouri's flagship campus and two smaller colleges, higher education is practially a birthright for high school seniors like Kate Hodges. ... But in June, Hodges is headed to the Tulsa Welding School in Oklahoma, where she hopes to earn an associate's degree in welding technology in seven months. ... The notion that a four-year degree is essential for real success is being challenged by a growing number of economists, policy analysts and academics. ... They pose a fundamental question: Do too many students go to college? ... President Barack Obama wants to restore the country's status as the world leader in the proposrtion of citizens with college degrees. The US now ranks 10th among industrial nations, behind Canada, Japan, Korea and several European countries. ... And while the unemployment rate for college graduates still trails the rate for high school graduates (4.9 percent versus 10.8 percent), the figure has more than doubled in less than two years. ... At Rock Bridge High School, one of Columbia's two high schools, 72 percent of the class of 2008 moved on to four-year colleges, with another 10 percent attending community college. That college attendance rate is consistent with national statistics. ... Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder blames the cultural notion of 'credential inflation' for the stream of unqualified students into four-year colleges. His research has found that the number of new jobs requring college degrees is less than the number of college graduates. Vedder's work also yielded something surprising: The more money states spend on higher education, the less the economy grows--the reverse of long-held assumptions", my emphasis, Alan Zagier at Yahoo, 15 May 2010, link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100513/ap_on_bi_ge/us_too_much_college.

I keep saying compare the US to our new peer group members: Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, etc. What's the problem? What did Vance Packard tell us in 1959, see my 23 August 2008 post: http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2008/08/college-investment.html. I am not surprised with Vedder's result. I've believed college is largely a waste of money for about 40 years. Consider: college attendance is subsidized. Should that tell you something?

America is Lake Wobegon

"Having no substance of its own, the left is inherently parasitic; like a cancer cell or virus, it survives by posing as a healthy member of the same host it then attacks and ultimately destroys. This pattern of 'mimic-attack-conquer' has given us liberty-hating 'liberals,' leftist mainline chruches that publicly embrace what their own teachings explicity prohibit, and educators whose goal is to ensure that all children get left behind. ... Under the direection of leftist educators, the very institutions, charged wth the liberation of young minds from the chains of ignorance and groupthink, have become increasingly effective indoctrination centers and breeding grounds for rigid, unreflective political orthodoxy. ... The seven liberal arts have deep roots in the ancient world, and are divided into two groups. The artes triviales, or Trivium, consist of grammar, rhetoric and dialectic. They correspond roughly to what today are called 'the humanities.' ... Having mastered the elementary lessons of the Trivium, the pupil was prepared for the study of the more advanced Quadrivium, or artes quadrivales, of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. ... These were considered the proper pursuit for free minds pursuing knowledge and wisdom, and were contrasted with the illiberal arts, artes illiberales, which aimed only at mastery of a particular subject or skill set. ... I will never forget the open sneer from a former colleague--an intelligent and multi-talented feminist history professor--that greeted my advocacy of 'free and unfettered discourse.' The very idea struck her as absurd, and she acted as though I was running some kind of intellectual con. She averred that 'free and unfettered discouse' was code for permitting the expression of bigoted, racist, and otherwise 'illegitimate' points of views. For such closed-minded academics, the liberal arts' commitment to free inquiry is itself a serious threat, and is treated accordingly. ... Grammar, even broadly conceived, has yielded to multiculti gibberish in the freshman English classroom. Rhetoric, if taught at all, consists principally of learning to denounce politically incorrect opinion, not to evaluate, refute, or engage constructively with them", Daniel Fernald at Amercan Thinker, 8 May 2010, link:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/defining_dumbness_down.html.

Yes Fernald. We have more uneducated college graduates than ever before. Who needs them?

What's The Good News?

"The share of new high-school graduates enrolled in college reached a record high last year, likely reflecting the weak job market they faced. ... Many of those searching for jobs were unsuccessful. The 2009 high-school graduates who didn't go to college faced a 35% unemployment rate. ... The outlook for high-school dropouts was even grimmer. Some 383,000 people dropped out of high school between October 2008 and October 2009, and their jobless rate was 55.1%", Sara Murray at the WSJ, 28 April 2010, link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703832204575210244203411342.html.

Would anyone explain to me why we need unskilled laborers from Mexico in view of these statistics? What's our current unemployment rate again?

Christie Ain't Old Hickory

"With Rush Limbaugh fawning over him on talk radio and Fred Barnes comparing him to Ronald Reagan, New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie [CC] is being hailed as a conservative hero. ... In 1993 Christie Whitman, like [CC] in 2009, won the Republican nomination for governor by tacking to the right in the primary. ... But here the comparison gets interesting. Ms. Whitman actually cut state income taxes across the board--before losing favor with conservatives thanks to her spending policies and judicial picks. ... The most important political issue in New Jersey--the one that drives debates about income taxes, property taxes, and local government power--is education. The core of the problem is a string of state Supreme Court decisions, the most sweeping of which were issued by judges Ms. Whitman put on the court. ... Suburban homeowners pay income taxes to support the urban schools while also paying some of the highest property taxes in the country to support local schools. ... Four years ago, the Abbott districts were receiving 56% of the income tax money that had been meant to relieve local property taxes, while the suburban districts got 44%. Under [CC's] budget for next year, that 56% rises to 60%. The Abbott districts get about $4.8 billion in aid, while the other 500-plus other districts must split up $3.2 billion. Thus Asbury Park will receive $28,232 per-pupil from the state next year, while Mendham, the governor's hometown, will get $2.32 per pupil. ... [CC's] fortunes will rise and fall depending on whether he can take back control of school funding from the courts and give suburban towns an equal share of state aid. But if taxes continue to rise, his prospects will fall--no matter how much he pleases commentators who don't pay New Jersey property taxes", Paul Munshine at the WSJ, 1 May 2010, link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575211783113726408.html.

Hey, Gov. Perry, my Gov. Perry. You want to win 2012's presidential election? Kick Texas Supreme Court in the keesta and refuse to enforce our "Robin Hood" funding rules. The problem is not New Jersey's judges. It's the governor not telling the judges loudly and clearly, "You do not set tax or spending policies. They are politicial decisions. I will ignore your rulings and begin impeachment proceedings against all of you who supported this. I am addressing a joint session of New Jersey's legislature 9:00 AM tomorrow morning. And have a nice day". Support a VAT? Do you believe a VAT will lower your income taxes? Do you want to buy this nice bridge I have over the East River? It's just $10 billion. Cheap. See also my 22 November 2009 post: http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2009/11/christies-potential-andrew-jackson.html.

Stanford's 96%

"It sounded like a great idea: Stanford education professors would create a model school to show how to educate low-income Hispanic and black students. Or, as it's turned out, how not to. ... How did it happen? Stanford New Schools, run by the university's school of education, seems to stress social and emotional support over academics. ... With an extra $3,000 per student raised privately, students enjoy small class, mentoring, counseling and tutoring, technology access, field trips, summer enrichment, health van visits, community college classes on campus, and community service opportunities. The goal is to send graduates to college as critical thinkers, lifelong learners, and 'global citizens.' ... In comments on the news stories that have run, I see a common refrain: It's impossible to teach these kids. Not even Stanford can do it. ... The 96 percent college admissions rate is meaningless, since it includes community colleges, which take anyone, and California State University campuses, which admit students with a B average or better, regardless of test scores. ... EPA Academy students got into CSU on their grades, while much stronger students with lower grades were shut out, says [Michelle] Kerr, now a Stanford-trained high school teacher. ... The median scores for SAT takers are in the high 300s in each section, about the 15th percentile. ACT scores average 15, equally low. ... Will Stanford education professors learn from their mistakes? I fear they'll write off the elementary, claiming the program didn't get enough time, and continue to claim the high school as a success", Joanne Jacobs at Pajamas Media, 24 April 2010, link: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/a-model-school-flops/

"One of the most reflective responses of the left to any social problem is to blame under-funded education. What the left means by this, of course, is not really education, but indoctrination, which is the primary purpose of public education and college education in America today. The vast transfer of wealth from parents and taxpayers to the public schools and uiniversities is one of the most regressive sorts of social tariff in our society. ... State and local spending on public education is more than $15,000 per pupil. Federal spending on public education was almost nonexistent a few decades ago, but now it is growing fast. America, in fact, spends more per capita on public education than almost any nation in the world. Are we getting much for that investment? Not according to test scores. ... The cost per credit hour in the average university is about $300, or about $9,000 per college year. This expense has increased 1,000% over the last decade. Americans are 'investing' an enormous amount of money in the education of our children. Is this a wise policy?," Bruce Walker at the American Thinker, 26 April 2010, link: http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/rethinking_education.html.

Small classes. Wow. My old grammar school, PS 191, had 1,400 students in the late 1950s. It's website says it now has 276. I bet every one of them enters Harvard after high school, except those who decline the "H-Bomb" for: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Chicago, MIT and Amherst. Sure. Shades of the Africentric Toronto school, my 12 October 2009 post: http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2009/10/lake-wobegon-does-toronto.html.

Now its war story time. In 1994 I was doing accounting research in Cal State Northridge's (CSUN) library. Three young ladies (YL) came up to me. One said, "Mistah, can you help us learn about whales"? "Yes, young ladies. Which Wales?". The YL look confused. I asked, "The country or the sea mammal"? "The sea mammal". I took the YL to the "WH" card catalog drawer. In 1994 CSUN had a real card catalog! The YL do nothing. I write out w-h-a-l-e-s on a piece of paper and hand it to the YL. The YL do nothing. It now dawns on me the YL do not know the alphabet. I open the card drawer to whales and tell the YL they can find all the books they need now. Will someone tell me why these YL were in college?

Walker, the answer is no.

Taksei on NASA

"What speaks the most to me, becasue I once ran an endless 21-kilometer half-marathon, is that the Orion Nebula is 24 light years across and 1,344 +- 20 light years distant. ... These are numbers that can sit honorably at the same table and have a drink or two with the [US'] national debt, currently estimated at $115 trillion. Tying the Orion Nebula and Obama Nation together is also the vast canyon of dust that the latter is being transformed into under much hopeychangey hot gas. ... The nebulous hot gas bullets were piercing the clouds of credulity already in August of 2008, when Presidential candidate Barack Obama during a campaign rally with NASA workers criticized thre Bush Administration for inadequate support of NASA and promised to change that (more here). ... We do not know to what extent the BHO administration has tackled and contained this idiocy. On the other hand, we do know that NASA now has a black chief and a female deputy chief, so at least we started out with what really matters: racial and gender justice. ... The funds are simply not there when you have to provide medical insurance to several million citizens of Mexico, to continue the wealth transfer mirage of Fannie 'n' Freddy and to offer free college education for every possible moron with high self-esteem and low competence at the multiplication table", Takuan Seiyo at Gates of Vienna, 25 April 2010, link:

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/04/vast-canyon-of-gas-and-dust-inshallah.html.

Here here Taksei. Your superior Wharton ways are coming through. I agree. The US pays Mexico tens of billions annually in "war reparations". Well Rev. Al., why don't you demand this stop and direct the reparations to your people.

Good Question Pat

"With the support of 70 percent of its citizens, Arizona has ordered sheriffs and police to secure the border and remove illegal aliens, half a million of whom now reside there. ... 'We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,' said Gov. Jan Brewer. 'But decades of inaction and misguided policy have created an unacceptable situation.' ... Barack Obama ... is siding with the law-breakers. He is pandering to the ethnic lobbies. He is not berating a Mexican regime that aids and abets the invasion of the country of which he is commander in chief. Instead, he attacks the government of Arizona for trying to fill a gaping hole in law enforcement left by his own deriliction of duty. ... He has called on the Justice Department to ensure that Arizona's sheriffs and police do not violate anyone's civil rights. But he has said nothing about the rights of the people of Arizona who must deal with the costs of having hundreds of thousands of lawbreakers in their midst. ... The state has a fiscal crisis caused in part by the burden of providing schooling and social welfare for illegals and their families, who consume far more in services than they pay in taxes and who continue to pour in. Even John McCain is now calling for 3,000 troops on the border. ... If Arizona does not get control of the border and stop the invasion, US citizens will stop coming to Arizona and will begin to depart, as they are already fleeing California. ... Whose country is this, anyway?," Pat Buchanan at Vdare, 26 April 2010, link:

http://www.vdare.com/buchanan/100426_whose_country.htm.

Well said Pat. As far as Obama is concerned, non-Minority Americans are just cows to be milked for money to be given to "his" people.

Multistate Debt Crisis

"California, New York and other states are showing many of the same signs of the debt overload that recently took Greece to the brink--budgets that will not balance, accounting that masks debt, the use of derivatives to plug holes, and armies of retired public workers who are counting on benefits that are proving harder and harder to pay. And states are responding in sometimes desperate ways, raising concerns that they, too, could face a debt crisis. ... Connecticut has tried to issue its own accounting rules. Hawaii has inaugurated a four-day school week. California accelerated its corporate income tax this year, making companies pay 70 percent of their 2010 taxes by June 15. And many states have balanced their budgets with federal health care dollars that Congress has not yet appropriated. Some economists fear the states have a potentially bigger problem with their recession-induced budget woes. If investors become reluctant to buy the states' debt, the result could be a credit squeeze, not entirely different from the financial strains in Europe, where markets were reluctant to refinance billions in Greek debt. ... California's stated debt--the value of all of its bonds outstanding--looks manageable, at just 8 percent of its total economy, But California has big unstated debts, too. If the fair value of the shortfall in California's big pension fund in counted, for instance, the state's debt burden more than quadruples, to 37 percent of its economic output, according to one calculation. ... Unstated debts pose a bigger problem to states with smaller economies. ... State officials say a Greece-style financial crisis is a complete nonissue for them, and the bond markets so far seem to agree. All 50 states have investment-grade ratings, with California the lowest, and even California is still considered 'average,' according to Moody's Investors Service. The last state that defaulted on its bonds, Arkansas, did so during the Great Depression. ... Some states have taken even more forceful measures to build creditor confidence. New York State has a trustee that intercepts tax revenues and makes some bond payments before the state can get to the money. California has a 'continuous appropriation' for debt payments, so bondholders know they will get their interest even when the budget is hamstrung. ... In fact, New Jersey and other states have used a whole bagful of tricks and gimmicks to make their budgets look balanced and to push debts into the future. ... Some economists think the last straw for states and cities will be debt hidden in their pension obligations", my emphasis, Mary Walsh at the NYT, 30 March 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/business/economy/30states.html.

Why shouldn't Connecticut have its own accounting rules? Doesn't Zimbabwe Ben? Who cares what state officals or the rating agencies say? NY's trustee does nothing for me. His existence is purely cosmetic. Do you still want to own muni bonds?

Newsweaker Still

"The relative decline of American education at the elementary- and high-school levels has been a national embarrassment as well as a threat to our nation's future. ... Within the [US], the achievement gap between white students and poor and minority students stubbornly persists--and as they population of disadvantaged students grows, overall scores continue to sag", Evan Thomas & Pat Wingert at Newsweek, 15 March 2010, link:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234590.

What idiocy. The magazine cover indicates "We must fire bad teachers" to save American Education. Really? How about accepting that there is no "achievement gap" at all and that as American demographics change, test scores will fall. Period.

Obama, Corporatist

"Socialists believe that the way to paradise is for governments to own 'the means of production'. ... Today's neosocialists are smarter than their ancestors. Instead of outright takeovers, they are achieving much the same goal through rigid regulations. ... Entitlements go hand in hand with sweeping, overbearing regulations. President Obama wants higher education in this country to be free of charge, which is why his Administration is pushing for a government takeover of student lending. ... Senator Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) recently unveiled package of financial regulatory reforms is a neosocialist's dream. It is also destructively stupid. The bill doesn't address the key causes of the recent economic crisis: the Fed's too loose monetary policy, the behavior of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in buying or guaranteeing almost $1.5 trillion in junk mortgages and the failure to properly regulate credit default swaps and other derivatives. ... In the name of fighting Washington's too-big-to-fail doctrine for major financial institutions, Dodd's bill is a de facto institutionalization of them. ... Thus these biggies, like Fannie and Freddie, will have lower costs of borrowing--debt is by far the biggest component of their capital--which will put their smaller competition at a crippling disadvantage. ... Thus the paradox of today: bargain-basement rates of interest for larger firms and higher costs--or no credit at all--for smaller borrowers. ... Chief among its tasks would be assessing the risk of banks and their products and activities, yet Washington has demonstrated that it is incapable of judging risk. ... Sensible debt-to-equity ratios, including stiffer equity requirements for volatile short-term debt, and clearinghouses for almost all derivatives would effectively accomplish what Dodd's monstrosity purports to do and manifestly does not", Steve Forbes (SF) at Forbes, 12 April 2010, link:

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0412/fact-comment-steve-forbes-neosocialists-obama-obamacare-marx-impressed_print.html.

Amazing. I agree with SF. The Dodd bill will not reform the TBTF banks. Feature or bug?

Take Peer Review, Please!

"Last fall, emails revealed that scientists at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England and colleagues in the US and around the globe deliberately distorted data to support dire global warming scenarios and sought to block scholars with a different view from getting published. What does this scandal say generally about the intellectual habits and norms at our universities? ... Fashionable ideas, the convenience of professors, and the bureaucratic structures of academic life combine to encourage students and faculty alike to defend arguments for which they lack vital information. They pretend to knowledge they don't possess and invoke the authority of rank and status instead of reasoned debate. ... Only a handful of the nation's leading univeristies--Columbia and the University of Chicago at the forefront--insist that all undergraduates must read a common set of books and become conversant with the main ideas and events that shaped Western history and the larger world. ... But how can students who do not know the basics make intelligent decisions about the books they should read and the perspectives they should master? ... By far, though, the most important reason is that faculty generally reject the common sense idea that there is a basic body of knowledge that all students should learn. This is consistent with the popular campus dogma that all morals and cultures are relative and that objective knowledge is impossible. ... Good students quickly absorb the curriculum's unwritten lesson---cutting corners and vigorously pressing strong but unsubstantiated opinions is the path to intellectual achievement. The production of scholarship also fosters intellectual vice. Take the peer review process, which because of its supposed impartiality and objectivity is intended to distinguish the work of scholars from that of journalists and commercial authors. ... But any competent scholar can determine an article's approach or analytic framework within the first few paragraphs. Scholars are likely to have colleagues and graduate students they support and whose careers they wish to advance. ... There is no check to prevent them from benefiting their friends by providing preferential treatment for their orientation and similarly punishing their enemies. That's because the peer review process violates a fundamental principle of fairness. We don't allow judges to be parties to a controversy they are adjudicating, and don't permit athletes to umpire games in which they are playing. In both cases the concern is that their interest in the outcome will bias their judgment and corrupt their integrity. So why should we expect scholars, especially operating under the cloak of anonymity, to fairly and honorably evalute the work of allies and rivals? ... Harvard University Press tells a reviewer the name of a book manuscript's author but withholds the reviewer's identity from the author. It would be hard to design a system that provided reviewers more opportunity to reward friends and punish enemies. ... Then there is the abuse of confidentiality and the overreliance on arguments from authority in hiring, promotion and tenure decisions. Owing to the premium the academy places on specialization, most university departments today contain several fields and within them several subfields. ... Often unable to form independent professional judgments--but unwilling to recuse themselves from important personnnel decisions---faculty members routinely rely on confidential letters of evaluation from scholars at other universities. Once again, these letters are written--and solicited by scholars who are irreducibly interested parties", my emphasis, Peter Berkowitz (PB) at the WSJ, 13 March 2010, link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704131404575117314262655160.html.

PB is at the Hoover Institution. I agree with PB. The Sixth Amendment gives us the right to confront our accusers. Why not apply it here? As bad as academic peer review is, CPA peer review is worse. It's a sham to protect the Big 87654 as is the current PCAOB. See William Aiken's 1982 comments at my 1 September 2008 post:

http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2008/09/dead-elephant-in-living-room.html.