Welcome to our radio show, today's topic will be education and we
will cover a number of side topics along the way. Just so you know the
ground rules, and they are very simple; I talk and you listen. After 30
minutes I will open up the phone lines, or if you are reading this
transcript online as an online article that you may leave a comment
below for an upcoming future program. Okay so let's begin, as you know I
don't like to waste time.
I
guess it goes without saying that a nation is only as strong as its
education system was 20 years prior. And that makes this topic very
important, especially because it is now October 25, 2012 and we have an
election coming up in only 10 days. Although both candidates are very
strong for education, our path forward will be determined by the
presidential leadership which follows. President Obama is very strong
with his belief in the need for education, especially giving everyone a
fair chance, regardless of ethnic background, or socioeconomic status.
In fact, he himself could not have become president without his college
education.
His opponent Governor Mitt Romney is also strong in
education, in Massachusetts while he was governor they boosted their
state to the number one slot, a remarkable achievement for any state.
Further, both presidential candidates believe that we need ongoing
research in our universities and colleges, and we must carefully focus
on math and science for our technologically advanced future. Very few
could deny those are good policies, but it won't be free. Local school
districts and states have complained that the federal government all too
often passes laws such as; NCLB - No Child Left behind Act, and similar
mandates without funding them or sending money to the schools.
Most
teachers unions claim that the heavy hand of the federal government is
too much oversight and too restrictive for their teaching in the
classroom, and they are afraid that too many teachers are teaching to
the test to ensure that all the kids are able to read, and therefore it
becomes more of a "no child allowed to advance" doctrine. Of course,
those are hardly the only problems, as we see right now college tuition
has gone through the roof, and the default on student loans is now at
10%. Regardless if you are a left-leaning socialist professional
academic, you only have to look at that number to realize that it is;
unsustainable. To borrow a trendy socialist term, now then, the let's go
ahead and talk about what's going on with regards to these high tuition
costs.
1.) Students Rally to Ensure That Budget Cuts Do Not Hurt the Community Colleges
There
was an interesting article in the Los Angeles times on October 16, 2012
by Carla Riviera titled; "A Dash for Classes - Community College
Students Are Commuting - By Bus, Car and Train - To Multiple Campuses
Because of Severe Budget Cuts." This is simply because the community
colleges have cut classes and the number of teachers out in California.
Therefore the students have to go to two or three different community
colleges to get the classes they need, and then merge the transcripts
later so they can graduate. Interestingly enough this problem has been
going on for decades and it was even a problem after I graduated high
school from what I remember.
Now the teachers are gathering with
the students in protest. They are telling the California legislature
that they are angry, and if they don't get their money, they will show
up en masse to vote against those that have cut, or will cut the
community college budget in the future. There was another article a
little over a week before on October 14, 2012 in the same newspaper
titled; "Prop 30 Inspires Student Voter Drives - Gov. Jerry Brown's tax
hike proposal is being touted as the only way to avoid tuition hikes,"
by Larry Gordon. So what we have now is the teachers union which is
lobbying for more money, and the students who were going to vote to get
more college at a lower cost.
Do you know what this means? It
means that the taxpayer will now have to pay more to subsidize these
college students, but I ask as a taxpayer; why it's my problem, I'm not
going to school? Why should I have to subsidize someone else's
education? There are student loans available, everyone else is getting
student loans, and the community colleges don't cost that much anyway.
Further, why don't some of these students go out and get a job? Well, it
just so happens that there are not that many jobs available because our
economy is in shambles, mostly because the economic stimulus didn't
work, as the Obama Administration spent the money on things which did
not drive employment numbers as was planned.
Another thing I find
unfortunate is if these students get away with registering to vote in
large numbers, then they will realize that the squeaky wheel gets the
oil, and that socialism can work for at least them and as long as they
continue to demand more things from the government in the future, having
other people pay for it, that their protests and activism will help
them over others. This is a bad message for our future. They are
basically voting to raise taxes on everyone else so they can get lower
costs for college for themselves. Do you see the problem with this?
In
other words, what I'm saying to you is if I get a whole bunch of
friends together, and we tell the government that we want free iPads and
new Corvettes, and we will only vote for the politician that promises
us these things so we can have them? No matter that everyone's taxes
will be raised so me and my friend get what we want. You might think
that that was an outlandish example, and I've taken this argument too
far, but essentially it's the same thing isn't it?
Further, what
bothers me about paying for everyone else's college, if these college
students usually end up voting for left-leaning politicians, because
many of the college professors and teachers vote that way, and therefore
they are becoming indoctrinated to vote a democrat straight ticket, and
that indoctrination I am paying for as a taxpayer as well.
Well
as you can see, we just can't get away from the politics of education,
and the lines to the politics are everywhere aren't they? Right now the
unions are lining up to support the Democrats, and the taxpayers are
getting tired of paying for underfunded pensions, Cadillac health care
benefits or government employees, and the demands of some of these
unions. It's almost an outright street brawl, and in some places it's
already come to blows. At some point we have to realize that it's not
about the teachers unions, or the voters, it's about a good healthy
education system to propel this great nation forward.
2.) Why Don't We Teach Kids Economics in High School, and Make Sure They Can Balance a Checkbook before Graduating?
Have
you ever considered that perhaps we could have foregone the real estate
debacle if people had just understood simple interest, and amortized
loans? What if people knew how to make a family budget, knew how to do
their own taxes without taking them to a tax preparer, or had better
understood business cycles and economics? If so, fewer people would've
engaged in liar loans, or no doc loans, to buy homes they would've
realized that when you borrow money, you have to pay it back. If you lie
about how much money you make, and take the loan anyway, that you will
not be able to repay it.
Worse, many folks took out ARM loans,
this is where the payments start out low, and increase after a few
years. Those type of loans are really good for commercial construction
because companies can build a building such as a carwash, restaurant, or
some other commercial building and make lower payments until they get
the business occupied, and up and running and making money. There are
lots of good reasons for these types of loans, but they aren't so good
for single-family dwellings, especially to low income people, or people
who could barely qualify anyway.
Some of the people who bought
homes on these ARM Loans didn't even have enough money to buy a chicken
coop for $1400 much less a $400,000 home. However, with loans easy to
get, and so many people willing to take those loans thinking they could
flip those homes and sell them for more as the market kept pushing
prices up - you can see why that was unsustainable, even if Wall Street
found a way to repackage those loans which were not worth the paper they
were printed on to sell them as investment vehicles.
The whole
thing was bound to crash, and even Alan Greenspan mentioned; "I can't
believe bankers would act like that," and yes, neither can I except;
those bankers only held those mortgages for a very short amount of time
before they were bundled and sold again. Of course, this also gets back
to personal responsibility, financial management, and an understanding
the value of money. One could ask what on earth are we teaching in the
schools, and why did people take those loans out in the first place?
Well,
there was an interesting article the Wall Street Journal on October 20,
2012 by Matthew Dolan which was titled; "Teaching the ABCs of College
Costs - As Rising Tuition Puts More Students Deeper in Debt, Schools
Offer Courses to Explain Their Budgets, Financial-Aid Plans." Well,
that's good isn't it? Why do I say that? It's because I see a bubble
brewing with college tuition and the trillion dollars of student debt
which is now outstanding, 10% of that is in default. That means $100
billion, and this is the start of the big bubble burst.
All the
while, these kids are getting out of college sometimes with $100,000
worth of student loans, but no jobs. Next, we have the Obama
Administration telling everyone they need to go to college, and that all
of our high schools need to prepare kids to go to college. Why I ask?
If there are no jobs when they get out, we've essentially put them into
economic enslavement, and they will not be able to pay their student
loans. There is no honor in recommending that to the next generation of
kids coming up.
Further, where it is good that some of these
colleges are doing this and offering these courses, any prudent,
reasonable, and responsible consumer, college student, or parent should
have already considered all this. Are people really that dumb, that they
can't figure this out without someone teaching a class to explain it to
them? I find that rather unfortunate. After all, the same people are
voters, which might make sense now seeing as half of our population are
busy voting for socialists who are promising them things which will
never occur at the time when we are approaching a financial debt cliff.
Do you see my point yet?
4.) Politicians and Sociologists Tell Us
That the Path to Success Is Going to College and We Must Not Deny
Immigrants or Minorities the Opportunity
But again, I ask; is
going to college really an opportunity? Or is it just an opportunity to
enter economic enslavement? There was an interesting article in the LA
times on 10-14-2012 which was titled; "Some Are in Denial About
Precarious State of Schools - rate readers blame illegal immigrants,
union, officials and more. But if prop 30 and 38 fail, the situation
will be dire," by Steve Lopez. Nevertheless, why should taxpayers give
more money to an unsustainable situation? It's not working as it is, why
throw more money at it? And realize this is out here in California, but
the same issue are going on across the nation.
The presidential
candidates seem to think that the federal government can help out? But
in the last four years the Obama Administration has already been deficit
spending by $1 trillion per year. The federal government can't even
bail itself out, how is it supposed to bail out our schools unless our
economy gets back on its feet? And how can our government get back on
its feet if everyone keeps voting for socialist type initiatives,
getting free stuff, more social programs, all paid by the government?
Who's paying for that? If we keep raising taxes, people will have fewer
dollars to spend on goods and services therefore there will be fewer
people employed making those goods or providing service.
That
means all the people getting out of school won't have jobs, they will
not be available, but those kids will still have $100,000 in student
tuition debt. Can anyone see this isn't working? Do you know why? It's
because socialism doesn't work, and we need to get the federal
government out of our schools, but because this is such a serious issue.
Since parents and communities aren't getting satisfaction locally, they
are looking for the federal government to step in. But may I ask; when
has the federal government ever done anything right in any program
they've ever done nationwide?
That giant blob of bureaucracy can't
run our schools, nor should we wish them to try from a centralized
point out of Washington DC. All they give us is mandates, and they don't
fund them to our satisfaction, which is provides more bureaucracy in
our schools, and that means less teaching. Why would anyone agree to
that? There has to be a better way? So I ask; can technology fix these
challenges?
5.) What about More Technology in the Classroom, Coupled with More Online Learning?
There
was an interesting article on October 21, 2012 in my local paper; the
Desert Sun. The article was titled "Teaching with Technology - Schools
look to boost use of computers, other gadgets without breaking the
budget," by Michele Mitchell. Could a combination of teachers and
technology allow for these larger class sizes with more learning outside
the classrooms? What about more online videos, using those same
technologies? What if those kids could take home those iPads, tablets,
and laptops? What if they use their own personal tech devices on their
own time, and come to school less often?
Is there a way to do more
online supervised learning, is that the answer? Can our students learn
faster, in such accelerated programs? The smart kids often say that
school is boring, that they are slowed down by kids that don't learn as
fast or maybe don't even speak English that well because they are ESL or
"English as a Second Language". Is technology really the way out? In my
area some of the school districts are asking for a vote on what they
call; "Measure X" which would provide for "a $41 million bond for
improving the district's high-speed Internet service and infrastructure,
also to purchase teacher laptops and an iPad for every student."
Still,
is floating a bond and borrowing more money really the way to go? When
you borrow money you have to pay it back, and the bondholders are
guaranteed a return on their investment. The problem is that many of
these school districts are already laden with legacy cost, underfunded
pensions, and budgets which are not only unsustainable, they aren't
working right now. Improving Internet service, and purchasing more
computer infrastructure, or even buying laptops which will be obsolete
in two years. Or purchasing iPads which will get destroyed, broken, and
also be obsolete, or be riddled with hacking challenges could turn out
to be a waste of $41 million couldn't it?
What about higher
education? There seems to be a revolution going on with online lectures,
and online teaching. Another interesting article to read was written by
L. Rafael Reif titled; "What Campuses Can Learn from Online Teaching,"
published on October 3, 2012 which noted; "searching for that sweet spot
where cyber students around the world pay a small fee that helps make
the residential college more affordable." In other words, universities
and colleges can subsidize some of their costs by selling inexpensive
online education lectures and courses to people in other countries, or
folks that can't afford to go to college, but need that information to
put on their resume so they can get a job, or advancement at their
current employment. That's interesting concept isn't it?
6.) Special Education Case Law Is Also Challenging the Budgets of School Districts
The
rate of autism in children is skyrocketing and this is putting a huge
burden on our K-12 schools. The question now is; what is appropriate
education, and can those school districts afford one-on-one instruction?
Many parents of autistic children say that's the only way to do it, if
they are to get it right. Parents of regular students say that their
students also deserve one-on-one education especially when it comes to
computer skills. Who's right and who's wrong? Well, they're both right,
the problem is we can't afford it. What's the answer?
It appears
that technology might be the answer, and one-on-one instruction for
autistic children could be done with avatars. In fact, some autistic
children learn quicker this way, and the avatar draws them out of
themselves and helps them with their socialization, making learning much
easier. What about for regular kids learning on the computer? Well,
artificial intelligent avatar instruction is getting better at answering
questions, even anticipating the questions that the student might have,
helping them along making sure they understand everything as they go.
Perhaps
you doubt that the technology and artificial intelligence has come this
far, well then, I suggest that you read a very interesting article in
Smithsonian Magazine July-August 2012 issue by Bryan Christian which was
titled; "Rise of the Chat Bots - Could You Be Fooled by a Computer
Pretending to Be a Human? Probably."
There was an interesting
article, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on September 10, 2012;
"More Isn't Better for Special Ed," which stated; "a new study shows how
school districts can get better results," meaning there are other ways
to get all this done, but often it's difficult when the parents are
arguing, the school district is bathed in bureaucracy, and there is case
law, lawyers, and federal mandates that are unworkable for any
individual given student, teacher, parent, or school district. Do you
see my point?
7.) Is the Old Way of Teaching Going to Work in the New Paradigm of the Information Age?
If
you ask me, and I know you didn't, but I'd say that the old way of
teaching where kids sit in rows of desks facing forward looking at the
back of a teacher writing on a chalkboard is simply not going to cut it
in the future. These kids want to be entertained, and their attention
span has dropped due to video games, TV, and computers. With all these
electronic toys, gadgets, and mobile phones, they need constant
stimulus. Not boring lectures, monotone speeches, or the old theory of
depositing information into the brains of little humans through rote
memorization, and constant testing. That isn't working, and we all know
it.
The younger kids will learn faster if they are involved, for
instance I'd like to recommend an article in the July-August issue of
Smithsonian Magazine 2012 which was titled "Why Play Is Serious" by
Allison Gopnic which stated "a leading researcher in the field of
cognitive development says when children pretend, they're not just being
silly - they are doing science," it also had a famous quote from Edmund
Burke "The first and simplest emotion we discover in the human mind is;
Curiosity." And so, once again I'd like to point to technology to solve
that problem.
Engaging these children in virtual-reality should
be the future of teaching. Not so much a participatory augmented reality
gaming center at the school, but rather an immersion scenario while
learning. Okay, but now we're getting back to costs aren't we? We
already noted before that one school district, near me was floating a
$41 million bond just to speed up the Internet service and provide iPads
for the kids. Now I'm suggesting a full on virtual-reality in the
classroom, is that right? Yes, that's true. Now then, first we are going
to have to address the legacy costs.
8.) More Money for Schools Will Not Necessarily End Up in the Classroom My Friend
What
a lot of people don't understand is that a good portion of the money
spent in our schools does not go into the classroom. It goes for
administrative costs, school bus fuel, transportation budgets, new
buildings, air-conditioning, school meals, campus maintenance, and the
biggest cost seems to be paying for all the teacher benefits, and legacy
costs. Still, if we set up a virtual reality system, we could cut
teacher costs and the cost for teacher aides.
In colleges there's
no reason that those classrooms could not run 17 hours per day. At night
they could be used to show movies like an IMAX, and during weekends
they could be used for conferences. These classrooms could also be used
for simulated training by corporations which were also school sponsors.
They can also be used for research. We have to do something with the
costs in our colleges.
There was an interesting article in the USA
Today on October 24, 2012 which was titled "College Costs Up - At
Slower Rate," by Mary Beth Marklein. The article had a graph which
showed that college tuition costs were up by 6.5% in 2008-2009, 7% in
2009-2010, 8% in 2010-2011, 8.4% in 2011-2012, but only by 4.8% for this
current school year 2012-2013. Still, this current school year we are
at 4.8% in increased tuition costs, and that means we are right at 7% on
average over that span between 2008 and now. That's still too high, and
it's unsustainable.
Okay so, let me ask you; "why do we need a
professor" one who is giving the same lecture 2-times each year, that
he'd given for the last 10-years? Why not just use a professor who is a
hologram, pre-taped? And why not rent out that hologram to people at
home in their living room virtual-reality gaming center? And wouldn't it
cost a lot less to set up a virtual reality gaming center in your own
home, then it would be to send your kid off to college knowing that when
they came back they'd be in debt for $100,000, or you'd be out that
amount of money if you had to pay?
Seriously, maybe we need to
rethink the whole thing? Not only that but the students can learn at
their own pace, if they wanted to do a marathon of lectures, they might
be able to finish an entire course in a week. You might be laughing when
I tell you that, but I can tell you when I was in college I did 33
credits in one semester, I went to two different colleges to merge the
transcripts so they'd sync up. Today, I studied just as hard as I did
when I was back in school, even though today I am retired. It's not
impossible, and our students and young people need to take
responsibility for their future.
Those who work harder will finish
quicker and they will have the knowledge, education, and even feel as
if they have the job skills because they learned in a virtual reality
environment. What more do they need? Are we sending kids to school just
to have a good time, keep them out of the job market, and spend money -
propping up an old antiquated education institutional system which is no
longer working for us, or are we going to get busy and get on with the
21st century? If something isn't working, and you continue to do the
same thing over and over again while expecting different results, we all
know that to be the definition of insanity.
Do you know what's
even more insane? $1 trillion in accumulated student debt in our
society, kids graduating with $100,000 worth of student loans but no
job, and no way to pay that money back, and rising tuition costs of over
7% per year. Folks that's not working, it's a bad joke. It's one we
need to take care of and do something about. These students don't need
more debt, they need more options, and we need to leverage our
technology to make this happen. If we truly want to prepare our students
for the future, we don't need to educate them in the past, doing things
the old way.
Well, apparently my 30 minutes are up now (minus
commercial breaks), and I'm done talking as we are at the top of the
hour, and now it's time for you to chime in, to bring some intellectual
discourse to these arguments, and your educated opinion into this
ongoing discourse.
The rules as you know are quite simple; no
preaching to the choir and no obvious talking points of opposition. In
other words I don't wish to rehash old arguments; we already know what
they are. Rather, I wish to focus on fresh ideas. That's your mission if
you choose to accept it, now I will open up the call lines. If you are
reading this radio show transcript in an online article you may post
your comments and questions below.
