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Re: Don't Believe the Hype. We're Still No. 1
Posted:
Mar 14, 2006 2:56 AM
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> If you really want real change, then you must
> ust begin by treating the existing system like a
> tumor. The first thing to do when treating a tumor
> is to cut off its blood supply. The first thing to
> do when reforming the schools is to cut off the flow
> of money. Unless you can reduce the flow of money,
> you will never get reform.
>
> Haim
I disagree. The Pentagon has the funding today, right now, to pump more money into contracts with education providers, for kids on base, either overseas or at domestic duty stations. Given average living standards on base these days, such increases would make sense; the situation is quite dire, due to war time priorities. Even the moms and dads are expendable. One could wish some relief for these people.
I'm sure you were talking about the civilian public system, not so much the military, and there's indeed a lot of overlap, although less so overseas. Still, I'm for boosting the monies spent on base cable television in line items for education, and not only in mathematics (e.g. A & B modules). American history also needs beefing up.
So in future, I'll be more careful to define my terms. I don't regard "our schools" (as you call them) as all in control of some tiny elite, not in New York State, not in our nation's Capitol (a building). Like, out here in Silicon Forest, we have this indigenous ISEPP beast, which just brought us Roger Penrose. I ran camera, Mentor Graphics packed the Schnitzer -- with high school kids, now walking the halls of Oregon's schools talking zero Weyl curvature (they shot 'Elephant' here, my friend Joe Cronin played the chemistry teacher).[1]
So if you want to starve something locally, closer to you, you go right ahead. All that money you don't want or need, given the fight you're fighting, is welcome out in our neck of the woods, where we face no such issues. Our public school system, though hungry, is not short on talent. We're teaching Python, we're teaching A & B modules, and Intel is smiling -- grinning even.
Kirby
[1] re the Roger Penrose visit (a recent one -- he's been here before, helped us with a Math Summit some years ago, also ISEPP planned (I gave a workshop on polyhedra)):
http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2006/03/isepp-presents.html
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